The White House announced Thursday that Washington’s iconic John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts will be renamed the “Trump-Kennedy Center” after President Donald Trump.
The extraordinary naming of a major cultural venue after a living president is just the latest effort by the 79-year-old Republican to stamp his identity on the US capital in his second term.
He has also demolished the East Wing of the White House to install a grand ballroom and is looking to build a grand triumphal arch.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Kennedy Center board — which Trump purged of Democrats earlier this year before installing himself as chairman — had “voted unanimously” for the change.
She said it was “because of the incredible work President Trump has done over the last year to save the building. Not only from a standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially and its reputation.”
“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and congratulations to President Kennedy as well, because this will be a truly great team long into the future! The building will undoubtedly achieve new levels of success and greatness,” she added.
The towering white monument is named after President John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963. The center, located on the banks of the Potomac River, opened in 1971.
In recent months, Trump has made a number of references to renaming the center.
Earlier this month at the opening of a peace institute that had also been renamed after him, Trump referred to it as the “Trump-Kennedy Center” before adding: “Oops, excuse me.”
During his first term, billionaire Trump never attended the annual fundraising gala for recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, as many of those artists strongly opposed his policies.
This time, Trump moved quickly to make the center his own, stripping the board of its Democratic appointees and ousting its president, as part of a broader attack on federally funded cultural institutions he deemed “woke.”
Trump then presented the honor himself this year, giving awards to “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, disco legend Gloria Gaynor and rock band KISS.
A few days earlier, at the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on December 5, Trump received a new peace prize from soccer’s governing body and gave a speech on stage.
