Trump Has Already Slapped His Name on the Kennedy Center

The president genuinely could not wait to plaster his name on the Kennedy Center.

The newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center received some new signage Friday, hours after the national cultural center’s board voted to add “Donald Trump” to the institute’s title.

Workers were spotted hanging the large metal letters Friday morning, spelling out the Kennedy Center’s new name: “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office Thursday, Trump said he was “surprised” to hear that the board—which he handpicked and personally appointed earlier this year—had approved the name change.

“This was brought up by one of the very distinguished board members, and they voted on it, and there’s a lot of board members, and they voted unanimously. So I was very honored by it,” Trump said.

But he couldn’t have been too surprised: Trump pitched the idea himself, publicly, in August, writing on Truth Social that there were “GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER.”

But questions still abound as to the legality of the center’s sudden name change, as the original name was enshrined in law by the presidential administrations that oversaw the project’s construction and development.

“It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says,” said former Representative Joseph Kennedy III, the grandnephew of the deceased president.

Legal experts who spoke with NBC News earlier this year argued that, in order to change the name, Congress would need to pass a new law—none of which happened before Trump slapped his name on the side of the iconic institution.

A coalition of Democratic lawmakers serving as ex-officio members of the Kennedy Center board pledged to hold the White House accountable.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, however, was not so clear on the law, informing reporters Thursday that he would “look at” whether the name change legitimately required legislation.

“I’m not familiar with the process of how this is done,” Thune said. “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.”

While Trump’s attention has been fixated on vanity projects, he’s dragged his feet on real problems that are genuinely plaguing the country: Unemployment has reached the highest levels since the pandemic, the agriculture industry is on the fritz thanks to Trump’s inconsistent tariff policies, and the cost of goods has continued to skyrocket.

An AP-NORC poll conducted earlier this month found that roughly half of polled Americans have cut back on nonessentials or big purchases in order to afford their needs.