GOP Bill Seeks to Rename Kennedy Center for President Trump

Like him or hate him, you have to admit that if nothing else, President Donald Trump is certainly entertaining. Perhaps in recognition of that, a new House Republican bill would strip former President Kennedy’s name from the Washington institution created in the 35th commander in chief’s honor and instead have it forever known as the “Trump Center for the Performing Arts.”

The bill, recently introduced by Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.), aims to “designate the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the ‘Donald J. Trump Center for the Performing Arts.’”

“You would be hard pressed to find a more significant cultural icon in the past 40 years than President Trump,” Rep. Onder said in a statement announcing the bill. “President Trump’s love and mastery of entertainment have stood the test of time and allowed him to capture Americans’ attention for decades.”

The theater name change is part of a bill introduced by Onder under the Make Entertainment Great Again (MEGA) Act. Onder noted in his bill proposal that President Trump has intended to “to preserve the integrity of the fine arts by ending woke programming and rebalancing the Kennedy Center’s $234 million budget” since being elected chairman.

In a previous statement, Onder called Trump “a patron of the arts and a staple of the pop-culture landscape.”

President Trump was appointed chair of the Kennedy Center in February, as the center’s longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter, was swiftly fired from her position. Trump loyalist Richard Grenell was then appointed the center’s interim president.

House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee approved an amendment earlier this month to the interior, environment, and related agencies’ annual spending bill that would rename a space inside the Kennedy Center — the prominent Washington arts hub’s famed opera house — the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.”

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) called the potential opera house designation an “excellent way to recognize [Melania Trump’s] support and commitment to promoting the arts.”

The opera house amendment was met with fierce condemnation from Trump critics, including Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s 32-year-old grandson.

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces — but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers,” Schlossberg wrote in a social media post.

“The Trump administration stands for freedom of oppression, not expression,” Schlossberg said.

JFK’s niece, Maria Shriver blasted the move, calling it “petty” and “small minded.” This is insane,” Shriver said. “It makes my blood boil. It’s so ridiculous, so petty, so small-minded.” Shriver is the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver. She is also the former wife of former Republican Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Trump, in an unprecedented move, overhauled the Kennedy Center’s board and named himself its chair in February, accusing it of being too “woke.”