'Desecration!' Internet rips 'thug' Trump for slapping his name on beloved monument
Nicole Charky-Chami
December 19, 2025
The newly added lettering for President Donald Trump's name is displayed at the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a day after its board announced it would rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 19, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump caused an uproar online Friday as he slapped his name on the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, flouting a federal law prohibiting changes to the building's name.
Washington, D.C. resident Andrew Howard had sharp words after watching the building change names in front of his eyes.
"I'm feeling like democracy died today. This is history happening today, and we should all be shocked. Shocked that a felon, a convicted felon, and a thug and by all means a grifter, has just stuck his name on top of a national monument. This is a desecration," Howard said.
Other people had reactions to the news on social media:
"I’m at the combination Pizza Hut and Kennedy Center," Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings wrote on Bluesky.
"Just to be clear. It’s the John F Kennedy center legally. Just like it’s still the department of defense," former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) wrote on Bluesky.
"Renaming the Kennedy Center, our national fine arts center, after such a coarse, lowbrow, and ignorant buffoon is America at its very stupidest," Canadian comedian Deven Green wrote on Bluesky.
"The Kennedy Center is still the Kennedy Center, and will always be the Kennedy Center. Just like the Gulf of Mexico," Canadian urban planner Brent Toderian wrote on Bluesky.
Nicole Charky-Chami
December 19, 2025
RAW STORY
The newly added lettering for President Donald Trump's name is displayed at the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a day after its board announced it would rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 19, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump caused an uproar online Friday as he slapped his name on the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, flouting a federal law prohibiting changes to the building's name.
Washington, D.C. resident Andrew Howard had sharp words after watching the building change names in front of his eyes.
"I'm feeling like democracy died today. This is history happening today, and we should all be shocked. Shocked that a felon, a convicted felon, and a thug and by all means a grifter, has just stuck his name on top of a national monument. This is a desecration," Howard said.
Other people had reactions to the news on social media:
"I’m at the combination Pizza Hut and Kennedy Center," Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings wrote on Bluesky.
"Just to be clear. It’s the John F Kennedy center legally. Just like it’s still the department of defense," former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) wrote on Bluesky.
"Renaming the Kennedy Center, our national fine arts center, after such a coarse, lowbrow, and ignorant buffoon is America at its very stupidest," Canadian comedian Deven Green wrote on Bluesky.
"The Kennedy Center is still the Kennedy Center, and will always be the Kennedy Center. Just like the Gulf of Mexico," Canadian urban planner Brent Toderian wrote on Bluesky.
David Edwards
December 19, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump's name is added at the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a day after its board announced it would rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 19, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump's name has been added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts despite a federal law prohibiting changes to the building's name.
On Thursday, the White House claimed that the Center's board had voted "unanimously" to add Trump's name.
"The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted unanimously today to name the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts," spokesperson Roma Daravi said in a statement.
By Thursday afternoon, Trump's name had been added to the Kennedy Center website. On Friday, photos of his name being installed on the building's exterior circulated on social media.
The move, however, likely violates federal law.
"After December 2, 1983, no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts," the U.S. code states.
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“Some things leave you speechless, and enraged, and in a state of disbelief,” said journalist Maria Shriver, a niece of the late President John F. Kennedy.
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts is seen on December 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Dec 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday drew an outraged reaction after she announced that members of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board, who were appointed by President Donald Trump, had voted to add his name to the building.
In a post on X, Leavitt announced that the building would henceforth be known as the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” despite the fact that the building was originally named by the US Congress in the wake of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
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“I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center... have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center,” Leavitt wrote on X, “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”
Despite Leavitt’s claim, it does not appear that the vote in favor of renaming the building was unanimous. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex-officio Kennedy Center board member, said after the vote that she had been muted during a call where other board members had voted to add Trump’s name to the building, and was thus “not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move.”
Journalist Terry Moran noted that the Kennedy Center board does not have the power to rename the building without prior approval of US Congress.
“Congress establishes these institutions through law, and only a new law can rename them,” Moran wrote, and then commented, “also—gross.”
Members of the Kennedy family also expressed anger at the move to rename the center.
Former US Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) wrote on Bluesky that “the Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law,” and “can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.”
Journalist Maria Shriver, a niece of the late president, could barely express her anger at the decision.
“Some things leave you speechless, and enraged, and in a state of disbelief,” she wrote. “At times such as that, it’s better to be quiet. For how long, I can’t say.”
Shortly afterward, Shriver wrote another post in which she attacked Trump for being “downright weird” with his obsession with having things named after himself.
“It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy,” she said. “It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not. Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial. The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on.”
“Some things leave you speechless, and enraged, and in a state of disbelief,” said journalist Maria Shriver, a niece of the late President John F. Kennedy.
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts is seen on December 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Dec 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday drew an outraged reaction after she announced that members of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board, who were appointed by President Donald Trump, had voted to add his name to the building.
In a post on X, Leavitt announced that the building would henceforth be known as the “Trump-Kennedy Center,” despite the fact that the building was originally named by the US Congress in the wake of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
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“I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center... have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center,” Leavitt wrote on X, “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”
Despite Leavitt’s claim, it does not appear that the vote in favor of renaming the building was unanimous. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex-officio Kennedy Center board member, said after the vote that she had been muted during a call where other board members had voted to add Trump’s name to the building, and was thus “not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move.”
Journalist Terry Moran noted that the Kennedy Center board does not have the power to rename the building without prior approval of US Congress.
“Congress establishes these institutions through law, and only a new law can rename them,” Moran wrote, and then commented, “also—gross.”
Members of the Kennedy family also expressed anger at the move to rename the center.
Former US Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) wrote on Bluesky that “the Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law,” and “can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.”
Journalist Maria Shriver, a niece of the late president, could barely express her anger at the decision.
“Some things leave you speechless, and enraged, and in a state of disbelief,” she wrote. “At times such as that, it’s better to be quiet. For how long, I can’t say.”
Shortly afterward, Shriver wrote another post in which she attacked Trump for being “downright weird” with his obsession with having things named after himself.
“It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy,” she said. “It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not. Next thing perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial. The Trump Jefferson Memorial. The Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on.”
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