The Kennedy Center: Trump's Attacks (and Why We Need to Fight Back)

All right, we are continuing on talking about some of the political articles that I wanted to write the past couple of weeks, but didn't because I was in trip prep mode (and then actually on the trip itself).  Today, we're going to talk about the Kennedy Center, the bizarre centerpiece of Donald Trump's second term attack on the arts.

Let's start with a little history lesson to ground ourselves.  First and foremost, in February of 2025, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he was taking over as Chairman of the Kennedy Center.  This seemed like an odd job for the leader of the free world; the president does serve as master-of-ceremonies for the annual Kennedy Center Honors, but usually this is the extent of his involvement in the organization given that he should have more pressing matters, but for Trump...this was the most important thing in the world.  It has to be noted that Trump has long had a weirdly earnest love of musical theater, producing a play called Paris is Out! in 1970 starring Sam Levene and Molly Picon.  Like most of Trump's business ventures, the play was a financial failure, and received no Tony nominations in a season where Frank McMahon's Borstal Boy and Robert Marasco's Child's Play were the dominant players.  I have often felt that this Kennedy Center move was in part Trump never getting over failing so enormously in something he actually put in an effort (a rarity in his world).

But Trump's move politicized an organization that had largely avoided that even in his first term, and had been relatively successful in its post-Covid recovery.  Artists as diverse as Issa Rae, Philip Glass, & Stephen Schwartz all cancelled planned appearances/performances, and ticket sales slid dramatically for the shows that stayed.  Trump then attempted to rename the building after himself and President Kennedy, which federal law bans (it takes an act of Congress to rename the Kennedy Center, which is seen as a living memorial to the late president), and drew great ire from Democrats, the artistic community, and even members of the Kennedy family including Maria & Tim Shriver (President Kennedy's niece and nephew, respectively).  All of this led to a shocking decrease in ticket sales, railroading of the board (highlighted by Rep. Joyce Beatty's very public outing of what was happening as she is an ex officio member of the board), and the now closure of the storied institution, right around the time the annual Kennedy Center Honors (which were able to be held last year with Trump president) would've normally been announced, marking the first time (other than a delayed Covid celebration) that the honors were not held since 1978.  The latest news happened in the past couple of weeks, when photos of Trump with FHFA Chairman Bill Pulte aboard Air Force One with a poster saying "Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED" coincided with dozens of layoffs and an extended shutdown of the Kennedy Center.

This is a lot of information, and I say it because it's all deeply political.  The Kennedy Center has been political in the past, and not just under Trump.  Mel Brooks, for example, was offered the Kennedy Center Honor during the presidency of George W. Bush, but refused it, and wouldn't accept until a Democrat was in the White House.  But by-and-large, it's one of the more important cultural institutions in America, and generally both Republican & Democratic presidents have been apolitical about it as much as possible; Brooks was the exception-figures like Barbra Streisand, Clint Eastwood, Danny Kaye, & Charlton Heston all accepted under presidents that they likely wouldn't have voted for given their personal politics.  I have long talked on this blog about how it's bizarre that we don't have a Secretary of Culture (most democratic countries do) despite so much of our shared American experience (and tourist economy) comes from places like Hollywood, Nashville, Motown, Orlando, & Broadway.  The Kennedy Center is, alongside PBS & NPR, one of the few places where the government truly funds the arts, and it has hosted everyone from Aretha Franklin to Vladimir Horowitz to Jessye Norman to Mikhail Baryshnikov, all of whom have performed there at some point.  It is an important cultural touchstone, and one that is a major part of our American identity.  Along with the Reflecting Pool and the east wing of the White House, it's one of many landmarks that Trump has literally destroyed while he has metaphorically taken a jackhammer to countless other American traditions.

It makes sense, then, that there were gigantic protests about this, particularly from the residents of DC who view this as their theater.  Thousands of people were in attendance...and social media took note.  And like most things that social media took note of, there were many people, particularly on the Far Left, who thought that this protest was "inappropriate."  The theme of the posts were that while ICE arrests are ravaging the country and with wars waging in both Palestine & Iran, it felt "elitist" and out-of-touch to focus on something as "trivial" as the Kennedy Center closing, and not focus on these more life-and-death atrocities.

Here's the deal though-these criticisms seem to ignore the fact that people have been protesting ICE and the war in Iran.  I know this because I've been part of those protests, and have seen thousands (in some cases tens of thousands) of people marching the streets of my town chanting this; this is certainly also the case in DC, and I would be willing to bet money that the people who protested the closure of the Kennedy Center have protested, as well as actively helped in these efforts through phone calls to members of Congress & donating money to causes, to fight against these actions from the Trump administration.  It's hard for people to grasp, but a person is able to protest more than one thing at a time, and to be angry at Trump in more than one way at a time.  This has become increasingly an issue when it comes to conversations about Palestine, acting as if the only public conversation that should be happening right now is what is happening in Gaza.  This isn't because what is happening in Gaza isn't important (it is), but the world is complicated, and that means other things are also worth fighting for.  Pretending otherwise makes you look like you are the one who don't care about anything, including the one issue you're fighting for, because you're alienating people who are already on your side.

Protesting the closure of the Kennedy Center is a good thing, and it's worth noting it was done by local residents most impacted by its closure (i.e. the people who go to it every day), not part of a mass countrywide protest similar to what we've seen over ICE, Palestine, & Iran.  And it's also a good thing even if it's happening alongside other protests.  We are all trying to stop the Trump administration's paths of destruction, and that means fighting it on all fronts, not just on the one that you deem the most important.  Many things that Trump will have destroyed by 2029 will be beyond repair...multitasking with our attentions is the only way to keep that list as short as possible.