Washington is blowing a collective gasket over the Trumpian takeover of the capital’s iconic cultural institution overlooking the Potomac River.
Less than 24 hours after members of the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — all appointed by President Donald Trump — voted to rename the center in his honor, construction workers began affixing the president’s name to the building, starting with, in all capital letters,“The Donald.”
The work began in the face of fierce opposition to the official name change: “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” — a move the board says reflects the “unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he would introduce legislation prohibiting naming federal buildings after sitting presidents.
Democrats and members of Kennedy’s family have described the effort as blatantly illegal — an opinion that even some congressional Republicans agree warrants additional examination, including Speaker Mike Johnson, who told MS NOW he’d “look into” whether the decision requires an act by Congress.
“There’s a question of whether or not it’s in law. Is it statutory? Do we have to change the law to do these sorts of things? And I’m sure we’ll get all the answers to that in due time,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Friday.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, said she and her colleagues will be searching for legislative solutions, which may involve cutting funding.
“I mean, Congress does have the power of the purse, so while they like to think that they can move money around however they want, the money that they’re spending and renovating the Kennedy Center now was approved by Congress,” said Pingree, adding that she had reached out to members of the Kennedy family, including Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of John F. Kennedy.
She noted that legislation likely to come to the House floor in January renames the opera house for first lady Melania Trump. “We can just as easily put language in there that says you absolutely cannot rename the Center for Donald J Trump,” she said.
“But I think members of Congress are going to be outraged. I know we are,” Pingree said. “We’re doing a sign-on letter to ask our colleagues to say this is not legal, you can’t do this, and it’s a real insult to the Kennedy family and to JFK.”
“They don’t have the power to do it,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday. “Only Congress can rename the Kennedy Center. The wannabe king and his sycophantic minions can’t do it. But they’re going to create a spectacle across the country.”
David Super, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown Law School, agreed that the rebrand is unlawful — but only up to a point.
“This is not legal. This is not even close to legal. Congress has said specifically in law this building shall be designated the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” Super told MS NOW. “It is also said that the board is to be understood as the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It uses that term at least a dozen times throughout the statutes.”
He said there’s nothing in the law that says the board “can rename the building or the center.” But because the arts center was created to honor John F. Kennedy specifically, rather than the late president and his family, it would be a challenge for anyone other than the late president to file a claim in court.
“No one has legal standing,” Super said. “There may be many people around the country that are offended by this name change, but it affects us all the same way as citizens of this country, and that would not be sufficient to give any one of us standing.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees who said she was denied the opportunity to oppose the name change, told MS NOW on Friday that Democrats will fight the effort.
“You will see me and others pushing back,” Beatty said, adding, “We want the American people to know that enough is enough.”
“This is unhinged,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., fumed on X on Friday. “What’s next, the Trump-Washington monument? The Trump-Lincoln Memorial? Every building in D.C.? Are there any self-respecting Republicans willing to stand up to their Dear Leader? Completely insane.”
Six Democratic lawmakers — including Beatty, Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who double as ex-officio members of the Kennedy Center board — said in a joint statement on Thursday they “will be unwavering in our commitment to holding this Administration accountable.”
However, it was unclear what tools they would have as members of the minority party. Similar efforts by Trump’s administration to rename other agencies, such as rebranding the Defense Department the Department of War and attaching Trump’s name to the U.S. Institute of Peace, have resulted in little congressional pushback.
Ultimately, the strongest challenge to the Kennedy Center’s rebrand to honor Trump may simply be: the power of presidential term limits.
“He is free to do this for the duration of his term. It’s hard for me to imagine future presidents and future Congresses putting up with this,” Super told MS NOW. “It may well be down the line that taxpayers will have to pay the bill to restore any damage that is done to the marble or other signage at the Kennedy Center for this illegal name change.”
Mychael Schnell and Nour Longi contributed to this report.
Nnamdi Egwuonwu is a reporter for MS NOW.
Nora McKee is the D.C. coordinator for MS NOW.