The board of trustees overseeing the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted Thursday to inscribe President Donald Trump’s name on the building’s exterior once again, marking the second attempt to honor the president on the facade after a federal judge previously ordered his name removed. The board, now filled almost entirely with Trump appointees, also voted to move forward with a two-year closure of the main building for extensive renovations.
According to Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who serves as an ex officio member of the board, the front of the historic Washington building will now read “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” The board additionally voted to name an outdoor space “The President Donald J. Trump Plaza,” further cementing the president’s imprint on the storied cultural institution.
The vote came after an almost two hour virtual board meeting during which the board approved the changes by a decisive twenty to three margin. The three dissenting votes came from the congressional ex officio members, Representative Beatty, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Representative Rick Larsen of Washington, all Democrats who have consistently opposed the administration’s efforts to reshape the center.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who sits on the board, proposed the name change during the meeting. President Trump himself joined the call for several minutes, according to a source who attended the virtual session, and his vote in favor of the inscription was reportedly texted in during the meeting, along with the vote of his chief of staff Susie Wiles, who also serves on the board.
This marks the second time the board has attempted to place the president’s name on the building’s stone facade. Late last year, the board voted to rename the organization entirely as “The John F. Kennedy and The Donald J. Trump Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” with the president’s name placed above Kennedy’s on the exterior. That effort was blocked in May when United States District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled the board’s attempt to rename the center was unlawful and ordered the inscription removed.
Judge Cooper’s ruling also required the board to maintain the center as a memorial and blocked the board’s earlier attempt to close the facility for renovations without proper justification. The judge reportedly found that the board’s original closure decision appeared “ill informed and preordained,” a rebuke that Democrats on the board have repeatedly cited in their objections to Thursday’s renewed vote.
Norm Eisen, a lawyer representing Representative Beatty, argued that Thursday’s decision represents a direct attempt to circumvent that court order rather than comply with its spirit. Beatty herself was blunt in her assessment, stating that the surprise agenda item to put Trump’s name back on the building was simply more of the same pattern of behavior the board has exhibited since the president reshaped its membership.
Beatty further alleged that the name change proposal was not included in the agenda members received two days before the meeting, and that at least one board member said she received no advance notice the item would be raised. Whether that procedural complaint carries legal weight remains to be seen, but it is likely to feature prominently in any forthcoming legal challenge to the board’s decision.
The White House, for its part, has enthusiastically embraced the board’s decision. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the vote, crediting the president’s leadership for putting the Kennedy Center on a path toward becoming, in her words, the finest cultural institution anywhere in the world. White House spokesperson Liz Huston echoed that sentiment, framing the renovation and renaming effort as evidence of President Trump’s bold stewardship of a beloved national institution.
Many argue that the institution had fallen into disrepair and financial difficulty long before Trump appointed himself chairman of the board last year. Vice President of Public Relations Roma Daravi told Fox News Digital that the board’s earlier unanimous vote to rename the institution recognized that the current chairman had saved it from both financial ruin and physical decay, pointing to the building’s aging infrastructure dating back to its original 1971 opening.
Critics counter that using a taxpayer-chartered national memorial as a personal branding exercise sets a troubling precedent, regardless of any genuine renovation work underway. They note that the Kennedy Center was established by Congress as a living memorial to President Kennedy, and argue that any substantial changes to its name or structure should require congressional approval rather than a unilateral board vote.
Beatty has been especially vocal on this point, arguing in a video statement that Congress created the Kennedy Center and therefore has a legitimate say in how it is renamed or restructured. She has framed the board’s repeated attempts to inscribe Trump’s name as an effort to evade the law and deny the American people, through their elected representatives, any real input into the fate of a national cultural landmark.
The renovation itself, which the board also approved Thursday, would close the center’s main building for up to two years while keeping a smaller addition known as The Reach open for limited events. Scaffolding and tarps have already covered portions of the building’s name since the earlier court ordered removal, and construction crews are expected to expand their footprint significantly once the closure formally begins.
