Donald Trump Has Taken Over the Kennedy Center
He is now the chairman of the board, even though he’s (probably) never seen a play there.
admin
It appears that President Donald J. Trump’s plan to stage a coup on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is now complete.
In a press release issued this afternoon, the Kennedy Center confirmed that its board of directors, which Trump has stacked with loyalists as part of his takeover, voted to appoint the former reality show host as its chairman, effective immediately. This is the first time a sitting U.S. president has ever served in this capacity. It is also the first time a sitting U.S. president with terrible taste and limited interest in the arts has served in this capacity. (During a press conference in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said there would no longer be “woke” programming at the hub for theater, dance, opera, and musical performances because, “there’s no more woke in this country.”)
The board also fired the current president, Deborah Rutter, who had previously announced plans to step down at the end of 2025. “The goal of the Kennedy Center has been to live up to our namesake, serving as a beacon for the world and ensuring our work reflects America,” she said in a statement released separately. “I depart my position proud of all we accomplished to meet that ambition.” The President appointed Richard Grennell, who served as acting director of national intelligence under Trump in 2020, to fill Rutter’s role. According to Propublica, Grennell, who is openly gay, also used to be a consultant to a Moldovan oligarch that the U.S. accused of corruption. Definitely the perfect person to decide whether or not to book another production of Hamilton in the Opera House.
High-profile talents who work closely with the Kennedy Center have already announced they are resigning, including Shonda Rhimes, who served on the board as the Kennedy Center’s treasurer; opera singer and 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree Renée Fleming, who was an artistic advisor-at-large for the center; and Ben Folds, who was a consultant to the National Symphony Orchestra, which is housed at the Kennedy Center, and frequently performed with them. “Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as an artistic advisor to the NSO,” he wrote in a statement. “Not for me.”
The Kennedy Center also revealed the identities of its new board members, including such artistic visionaries as Pam Bondi, Trump’s recently appointed U.S. Attorney General; Dana Blumberg, the wife of Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots; Lee Greenwood, who sings Trump’s favorite song of all time next to “Y.M.C.A.,” “God Bless the U.S.A.”; Usha Vance, wife of guy who wrote a book that Ron Howard made into a terrible movie; and Andrea Wynn, wife of Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino mogul who was forced to step down from his company in 2018 following accusations of sexual misconduct.
Related
