GOP Bill Seeks to Strip JFK’s Name From Kennedy Center and Replace It With Trump’s
The arts center took former President John F. Kennedy’s name shortly after his assassination in 1963.
Jim Watson/Getty Images
A new GOP bill would scrub former President John F. Kennedy’s name from D.C.’s famed arts center and slap President Donald Trump’s name on it instead.
Missouri Rep. Bob Onder’s proposal comes after Republicans on a House panel voted last week to rename the center’s opera house after first lady Melania Trump.
Without acknowledging that his bill would erase Kennedy’s name from the center—an honor bestowed on the president after his 1963 assassination—Onder suggested that Trump would be a more deserving namesake.
President John F. Kennedy launched a $30 million fundraising campaign for the center in 1962.
Arnie Sachs/CNP/Getty Images
“You would be hard-pressed to find a more significant cultural icon in the past 40 years than President Trump,” the congressman said in a statement. “President Trump’s love and mastery of entertainment has stood the test of time and allowed him to capture Americans’ attention for decades.”
Dubbing the bill the Make Entertainment Great Again (MEGA) Act, Onder said Trump’s “golden touch has captivated and entertained audiences for decades,” listing his TV appearances in shows such as The Apprentice, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Saturday Night Live.
Rep. Bob Onder's bill follows a string of sycophantic GOP efforts to honor President Donald Trump.
Bill Clark/Bill Clark/Getty Images
He also lauded Trump, 79, for ending the center’s “woke programming” and “rebalancing” its budget—promises the president made in March when he hijacked the institution by firing its board of trustees and naming himself chairman.
House Republicans’ push to rename the center’s opera house after Melania last week was met with fierce opposition from Democrats and Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg.
In an Instagram post, Schlossberg wrote, “Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK, with minimizing the many heroes of our past, as if that elevates him. It doesn’t.”
Originally dubbed the “National Cultural Center,” former President Dwight D. Eisenhower first launched the project in 1958. The funding process was completed under Kennedy, who kicked off a $30 million fundraising campaign in 1962, according to the center’s website.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive for a showing of "Les Misérables" at the Kennedy Center in June. The president received a mix of boos and applause from attendees.
Craig Hudson/Getty Images
Two months after Kennedy’s assassination, former President Lyndon B. Johnson passed a measure renaming the center “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Construction began in 1964, and the building opened to the public in 1971.
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The proposal to strip Kennedy’s name from the center follows a string of sycophantic GOP efforts to honor Trump. Proposals have included rebranding the D.C. Metro as the “Trump Train,” creating a $250 bill with Trump’s portrait, and carving his face into Mount Rushmore.
Onder’s bill has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
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