The Kennedy Center saga encapsulates all of the needless destruction of the Trump administration. The center’s troubles may not be over yet.
Social media erupted in celebrations Friday after a court ruled that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts must remove Donald Trump’s name from its building and all its branding. The legal opinion, by U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, was clear, emphatic and in its occasional use of colloquialisms it seemed to express exasperation at the administration’s thin and often ridiculous legal arguments.
“Too cute by half,” Cooper wrote in response to the risible claim that putting Trump’s name on the building wasn’t really a renaming at all, just a little nickname or “secondary” name, like referring to the Federal National Mortgage Association as “Fannie Mae.”
All of this is welcome. It wasn’t just illegal for Trump-appointed board members to vote to rename the national memorial to the slain 35th president of the United States, it was deeply offensive. The Kennedy Center isn’t a stadium or corporate office tower, to be rebranded on a whim. Naming rights to our national memorials and monuments can’t be handed over to the president.
It was also terribly reckless for the board to capitulate to Trump, and members should have known it would have devastating consequences for the institution of which they are supposedly stewards. Once Trump’s name went on the side of the building, the center went into a precipitous downward spiral. Audiences and artists who might have held their nose and participated in the organization’s programming felt obliged, on principle, to avoid any patronage or contact. The Washington National Opera was forced to part ways with the center, and the National Symphony suffered a continuing severe loss of ticket revenue.
Washington Post
May 31, 2026
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