John F Kennedy’s niece promised to personally remove Donald Trump‘s name from the rebranded Trump-Kennedy Center – the moment he leaves the White House.
The president’s name was affixed to the Kennedy Center in Washington on Friday, one day after his hand-picked board members voted to rename the arts venue in spite of legal complications.
Kerry Kennedy, the niece of President Kennedy and sister of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, said she’ll destroy the redesign at the first opportunity as many trashed the new naming.
‘Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder,’ she wrote on social media.
Kennedy added: ‘Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!’
She wasn’t the only one to mock the move from Trump Friday, with some noting how out of place his name looked when added to the front of the arts center.
‘Not the biggest sin going on here, but why couldn’t they use the same typeface? Look at the difference in the Ns,’ wrote one.
Multiple people compared it to the movie Zoolander’s building, ‘The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good.’
Kerry Kennedy, John F Kennedy’s niece, promised to destroy Donald Trump’s name from the front of the newly-renamed Trump-Kennedy Center the second he’s no longer president
The president’s name was affixed to the Kennedy Center in Washington on Friday, one day after his hand-picked board members voted to rename the arts venue in spite of legal questions
Most Democrats cried of Trump not following the law, as the naming of the building is controlled by Congress.
Earlier Friday, workmen on scissor lifts added metal lettering to the building’s facade, before dropping a blue tarpaulin to reveal the sign saying ‘The Donald J Trump and the John F Kennedy Memorial Center For the Performing Arts.’
Trump said Thursday that he was ‘surprised’ by the rebranding — even though he personally purged the board of the center after calling it too woke, and had already talked about having his name added to it.
The 79-year-old Republican even appointed himself as its chairman of the board earlier this year.
‘Today, we proudly unveil the updated exterior designation — honoring the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and the enduring legacy of John F. Kennedy,’ the center said on its newly rebranded X account, along with photos of the lettering.
Naming a national institution after a sitting president is unprecedented in US history. Landmarks like the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and indeed the Kennedy Center were all named after their deaths.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared earlier Thursday that the Kennedy Center’s Board of Directors voted unanimously rebrand the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, in a move that was expected to outrage DC’s arts community and Democrats nationwide.
The Kennedy Center Board is made up of both voting and non-voting members. The unanimous vote was cast by those loyal to Trump, while non-voting ex-officio members did not cast ballots.
Trump said Thursday that he was ‘surprised’ by the rebranding
One of those members, Democrat Congresswoman Joyce Beatty posted a video to X voicing her opposition.
‘For the record. This was not unanimous. I was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move,’ Beatty wrote.
‘Also for the record, this was not on the agenda. This was not consensus. This is censorship,’ she added.
Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell responded to Beatty, noting that ‘all ex officio Members never get to vote.’
Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump told reporters that he was ‘honored’ when he learned that the Kennedy Center’s Board voted to add his name to the iconic building.
‘The board is most distinguished people in the country. I was surprised by it. I was honored by it. We saved the building,’ Trump added.
During the Kennedy Center Honors earlier this month, Trump himself was asked by reporters if the entire Kennedy Center should bear his name.
He responded at the time that the decision should be left up to the institution’s board.
Earlier Friday, Workmen on scissor lifts added metal lettering to the building’s facade, before dropping a blue tarpaulin to reveal the sign saying ‘The Donald J Trump and the John F Kennedy Memorial Center For the Performing Arts’
Security personnel speak with a protester as workers add President Donald Trump’s name to the building
Grenell told the Daily Mail earlier this month that Trump’s real estate background saved the 54-year-old landmark from demolition.
‘When I arrived at our building, people and our engineers said we should tear down the Kennedy Center, completely start over, and go to Congress and ask for massive amounts of money,’ Grenell said.
Grenell took Trump on a tour to assess the damage firsthand. ‘We went downstairs, I showed him the sewer system that is collapsing,’ he said.
Unlike the controversial decision to tear down the East Wing of the White House, Trump opted to save the Kennedy Center.
‘I can save it,’ he told Grenell, choosing renovation over demolition. Trump asked Congress for $250 million for the project in the ‘One Big Beautiful’ bill that passed just before the bicameral July 4 recess.
Moments before making history as the first sitting president to host the Kennedy Center Honors, Trump told reporters the Center ‘could never be built again.’
Trump, who long emblazoned his name on his skyscrapers and casinos during his career as a property magnate, has shown little hesitation about doing the same thing as president.
He has stamped his mark on the Kennedy Center since the start of his second term as part of an assault on cultural institutions that his administration has accused of being too left-wing.
During his second term he has given his name to a Washington peace institute, trust funds for children he has branded ‘Trump accounts’ and a ‘Trump Gold Card’ for high-paying immigrants that he showed off on Friday.
Trump has also embarked on a huge overhaul of the White House, knocking down the East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and this week putting up plaques rewriting the history of his presidential predecessors.
