EXTRA: A Complete Lack Of Shame
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/politics/trump-kennedy-center-name.html
It flashed across my email feed on Thursday that the Trump-named board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has voted to change the name of the facility to the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Now I personally find Mr. Trump as a public figure reprehensible, insensitive, and a bit of a slob. He lies. He exaggerates. He constantly toots his own horn. He is the antithesis of the man whose name he wants his to join on this mecca for the arts.
A little background is warranted.
During our nine years in Washington, D.C. from 1975 to 1984 the BW and I frequented the Kennedy Center many times. In 1976, during the celebration of the country’s 200th anniversary, the greatest orchestras in the world came to the Kennedy Center and we had season tickets. These included von Karajan with Berlin, Bernstein with New York, Mehta with Israel, and Maazel with Cleveland. We also saw ballets, solo concerts, and other recitals at the Kennedy Center. Going there was always special. It is a grand setting and a fitting tribute to the first man my generation knew as their president.
Now, according to the attached article:
- Many employees have quit or been fired. Staffing is down 30%.
- Unqualified people have been appointed to important positions in the center.
- Ticket sales are down as much as 50%.
- People who know nothing about the arts have been appointed to the board including the board’s new chair—you guessed it—The Donald.
Enough is enough.
It seems to me and to the author of the article in The New York Times, Chris Cameron, that only Congress can rename this facility. It is time for those in Congress who respect American history and the history of the arts and the critical role this center has played in American arts to push back on this nonsense.
It should stay the Kennedy Center—forever or at least until Donald Trump learns that the Village People are not high art and that most of his constituency would be unhappy with the message of “YMCA.”
