A judge wouldn’t let Trump put his name on the Kennedy Center. So he closed it.
Closing the Kennedy Center is narcissistic even for someone like Trump. His huge ego now stands between Americans and our right to enjoy one of the most beautiful landmarks in Washington, D.C.
A federal judge wouldn’t let the man-baby in the Oval Office put his name on the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts. So President Donald Trump shut it down.
Trump claimed on Truth Social that it was closed “for safety reasons.” He also said renovations won’t happen unless his name can be on the front of the building.
So there.
Closing the Kennedy Center is narcissistic even for someone like Trump. His huge ego now stands between Americans and our right to enjoy one of the most beautiful landmarks in Washington, D.C.
Yes, I’m mad.
I grew up in the nation’s capital. D.C. residents are in and out of the Kennedy Center like Philadelphians are in and out of the Kimmel Center. During college, I worked as a tour guide and I never passed by the building without marveling at its beauty.
I’m grateful that I got to spend time inside twice in recent months. The first time was in June after I took a train to Washington, D.C., to see for myself what was going on with the Reflecting Pool and Trump’s renovation fiasco there.
Afterwards, I headed to the Kennedy Center to see if Trump’s name had been removed as a court had ordered. It was hard to tell for certain because a giant white tarp had been placed in front of the building.
I gazed up at that for a bit before deciding to venture inside. Many performers cancelled their shows following Trump’s hostile takeover of the venue’s board of directors purportedly because the center’s programming was too “woke.”
A uniformed guard directed us to a massive sunlight-filled dining room with glorious views of the skyline. Our jaws dropped. We practically had it to ourselves. We were the only visitors. A cafeteria worker piled an extra large helping of teriyaki salmon and rice on my plate, while my sister placed an order for a smash burger. We carried our trays to a table near one of the gigantic windows so we could enjoy the view. The food tasted as good as homemade.
Afterward, we decided to explore the interactive exhibit dedicated to the art and ideals of President John F. Kennedy. We took our time wandering around. Perhaps we sensed that with all of the orange spray-tanned storm clouds hovering over the institution, this might be a moment to savor — and that a major change was imminent.
Reading about the Kennedy era made me nostalgic. My late parents had been huge fans because of Kennedy’s work advancing the cause of civil rights. My mother admired the grace and style of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy so much that she considered naming me after her.
Kennedy personified youthful optimitism. He inspired Americans to be civic minded and urged people, “to ask not what your country could do for you but what you could do for your country.” Kennedy founded the Peace Corps and created the U.S. Agency for International Development, which the Trump administration decimated last year.
The two presidents couldn’t be more different. Kennedy, a Democrat, was a decorated hero of World War II; Trump never served, reportedly getting five draft deferments, including one by claiming he had bone spurs.
Trump intentionally stokes racial divisions. He launched his presidential campaign in 2015 by calling Mexicans rapists and drug dealers. Kennedy sent federal troops and U.S. marshals to the Jim Crow south to protect Black civil rights demonstrators.
I went back to the Kennedy Center about a week later, after returning to the National Mall to write about Trump’s Great American State Fair — which wasn’t so great. This time around, we arrived too late eat, so, we grabbed a few bags of chips and sat in a lobby for a bit.
Again, I took my time at the exhibit about the life and legacies of the Camelot era. I noted how the first lady back then transformed the White House Rose Garden into an oasis.
There are no oases allowed in the Trump era, however. He tore up the roses, poured cement over the garden, and rendered it lifeless.
Sounds a lot like what he’s doing to the Kennedy Center.
