MaddowBlog-Handpicked Kennedy Center board members vote to rename it the 'Trump-Kennedy Center'

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The president’s obsession with self-aggrandizement and self-glorification is pitiful, and it’s getting worse.

Trump wants the Kennedy Center to be named after him. And DC’s football stadium. And Dulles Airport. And the WH ballroom.

He also wants his face on both sides of a commemorative legal-tender coin, and his White House has made official inquiries into adding Trump to Mt. Rushmore.

Subtle it is not.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-18T19:36:04.459Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-kennedy-center-renamed-board

Over the summer, Donald Trump referred to an upcoming event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and quickly added, “Some people refer to it as the Trump-Kennedy Center, but we’re not prepared to do that quite yet. Maybe in a week or so.”

As it turns out, it took a little longer than that. The Associated Press reported:

President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted Thursday to rename Washington’s leading performing arts center as the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House said.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the vote on social media, saying it was because of the ‘unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.’

This did not come out of nowhere. On the contrary, the president has spent months talking about this name change, online and in public, suggesting it was only a matter of time before Team Trump tried to formalize the Republican’s wishes.,,,,,

Second, there’s no reason to assume this is legal. Congress created the name for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and at no point did lawmakers delegate powers to the center’s board to rename the institution unilaterally.

Leavitt’s statement was an opening salvo, but there’s no reason to assume this is a done deal.

Stepping back, it’s worth appreciating the broader pattern. Last month, the White House said Trump wants a football stadium to be named after him. He also likes the idea of renaming Dulles Airport after him, and by some accounts, the president wants the upcoming White House ballroom to be named after him, too.

What’s more, this is the same president who wants his face on both sides of a commemorative legal-tender coin, and whose White House has made official inquiries into adding Trump to Mount Rushmore......

What the incumbent president doesn’t seem to appreciate is that many people loved Washington, so he never felt the need to slap his own name on stuff — others gladly did it for him. Trump, on the other hand, fears being forgotten, which has led him to make pitiful appeals.

I’m not in a position to say with any confidence whether the president will get his wish on any of these fronts, but his efforts are a timely reminder to those who might’ve forgotten: Trump’s obsession with self-aggrandizement and self-glorification is pitiful, and it’s getting worse.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. trump has been planning this name change for a long time

Living for the day when that vile gargoyle's name is crowbarred off the building.

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) 2025-12-19T17:15:06.437Z

Those metallic letters in the correct font didn't happen overnight. This has been planned for a long time. So when Donald says he is "surprised" and "honored" by the name-change, he is lying. It was his plan all along.

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) 2025-12-19T17:23:05.037Z

[Norrrm]

2. "Trump, on the other hand, fears being forgotten,"... Infamous is also famous.

Quisling is not forgotten
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, are not forgotten.
Joh Wilkes Booth is not forgotten.
Judas is not forgotten.
Benedict Arnold is not forgotten.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. MaddowBlog-One day later, officials scramble to add Trump's name to the Kennedy Center

It’s worth describing what transpired at the Kennedy Center accurately: A group of people vandalized one of the nation’s premier performing arts centers.

It’s worth describing what transpired at the Kennedy Center today accurately:

The president’s operation just vandalized one of the nation’s premier performing arts centers. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-19T20:59:47.413Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/one-day-later-officials-scramble-to-add-trumps-name-to-the-kennedy-center

More importantly, Team Trump characterized the name change as a done deal, which it was not. Congress created the name for the Kennedy Center, and at no point did lawmakers delegate powers to the center’s board to rename the institution unilaterally.

The president’s operation, which has never been overly concerned with following laws, didn’t appear to care: By Thursday night, the center’s official website had been changed to include Trump’s name.

By Friday morning, crews were already hard at work. The Washington Post reported:

The Kennedy Center installed President Donald Trump’s name on its exterior Friday morning, a dramatic change to a building established by law as a ‘living memorial’ to a slain president. […]

A blue tarp was stretched across a portion of the building the next morning as a small team on scaffolding started the work. Loud drilling could be heard nearby. Inside the building, large letters spelling ‘Trump’ could be seen on the floor of the entry hall, according to a photograph obtained by The Washington Post.

It’s hard to know where to start with an initiative this ridiculous, but one of the first things that jumped out at me was the speed with which this came together. The president’s operation managed to acquire the materials, arrange the crews, secure the equipment and begin the installation work over the course of roughly half a day.

....Nevertheless, by midday Friday, the crews were gone and the arts center’s façade was changed.

I’m currently outside of the Kennedy Center:

— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) 2025-12-19T19:46:00.030Z

.......At this point, we could talk about the weird double “the.” We could also joke about the fact that this is now apparently a “memorial center” to two people, one of whom is alive.

While we’re at it, we could draw attention to the fact that the fonts don’t exactly match — and given the Republican administration’s interest in type settings, this is tough to overlook — while simultaneously noting the encouraging fact that the placement of Trump’s name will make it easy to take it down in the future without disturbing the original lettering.....

The president and his team have already gone to outlandish lengths to vandalize the White House. They’re now adding additional buildings to their target list.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. You have to be dead to have your name on a memorial

[sakabatou]

5. I want to see the name taken off and the WH restored