CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Kennedy Center was Hijacked into Trump’s Animal Farm

Photograph Source: Der Berzerker – CC BY 2.0

While Trump’s Iranian War may continue to capture our much-needed attention, it is essential that the public see this conflict as representative of our Trump era of rule, where rules are twisted far beyond their original intent.

Despite the Administration’s propaganda for starting a war with Iran, like many of his other actions, it is closely linked to Trump’s Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).  And this was also displayed in his hijacking of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Although this effort may seem minor compared to any war, it clearly shows how Trump tries to control any government institution that doesn’t fit with his agenda, including our nation’s top cultural and performance venue.

The Kennedy Center’s Creation and Mission Was a Bipartisan Effort

While sticking his name on the Center’s outside wall was largely seen as just another of his narcissistic outbursts, it goes much deeper. It symbolizes his hostility toward liberalism, which advocates for cooperation between rivals to achieve the greater good for everyone. This was the core principle behind President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s signing of bipartisan legislation in 1958 to create a National Cultural Center in the nation’s capital.

Four years later, in 1962, President John F. Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy launched a $30 million fundraising campaign for the Center’s construction, which President Eisenhower and his wife Mamie contributed to.

After Kennedy’s assassination, Congress designated the new National Cultural Center as a living memorial to Kennedy for his support of the performing arts by renaming it the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. It passed by voice vote (also known as unanimous consent) in both chambers, which is common when both Republicans and Democrats agree on a bipartisan resolution.

Authoritarianism, which consolidates all power under a single leader, demands obedience to simple beliefs. Art, in all its forms, has traditionally been a source of independent thought that often challenges those beliefs. As a result, authoritarian governments aim to control the arts to restrict their free expression.

This ongoing tension is recognized by both conservatives and liberals.

Elisabeth Braw, a former senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI), which focuses on free enterprise and limited government, compares Donald Trump’s control of the Kennedy Center to practices in authoritarian countries.

Braw notes that in Stalin’s Soviet Union, composers knew what they could and could not write. Similarly, in the Third Reich, the Nazis tried to organize and control the arts under a government department.

More recently, in Venezuela, the Chavista government under Hugo Chavez and then Nicolás Maduro, the leaders of their country’s successful El Sistema youth orchestra program, understood that it could not criticize the regime.

Braw concludes that when political leaders imprint their signature on cultural institutions, artistry finds a way to escape. And that’s what they did at the Kennedy Center when Trump took control.

The Artisans Walked Out of the Factory When the New Boss Arrived

A total of 13 groups canceled performances with the Center after Trump removed all Center Board Trustees and replaced them with his business friends in February 2025. Although few had notable involvement with the arts, the new board immediately elected Trump as their chairman.

At the end of the year, White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt announced on Dec 18, 2025, “the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center has just voted to rename the Kennedy Center to the........

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