Trump's 'obsession with self-glorification' may have just hit a major snag: analysis

President Donald Trump at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ., June 7, 2025 (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

In a December 18 post on X, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote that a board for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. "just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building." But MS NOW's Steve Benen, in a column published that day, cautioned that despite Leavitt's "opening salvo," there was "no reason to assume this is a done deal."

Benen noted that when Congress "created the name for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts," lawmakers did not "delegate powers to the center's board to rename the institution unilaterally."

In a December 23 column, Benen continues taking Leavitt's December 18 claims to task.

"In light of Donald Trump's obsession with self-glorification," Benen argues, "it wasn't too surprising when the president's handpicked allies claimed they had renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last week. But surprising or not, the absurdity got messy in a hurry. For one thing, legal considerations came to the fore quickly: Congress created the name for the Kennedy Center, and at no point did lawmakers delegate powers to the center's board to rename the institution unilaterally."

Benen adds, "For another, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the Kennedy Center's board, stacked with Trump loyalists, had 'voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center.' As is too often the case, she was apparently not telling the truth."

Benen notes that Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) filed a lawsuit arguing that the board's vote was illegal, as they are not authorized to make a name change with the Kennedy Center.

"Time will tell what becomes of the litigation," Benen explains, "but in the meantime, the administration apparently has a new talking point on the burgeoning controversy. Roma Daravi, a spokesperson for the center, told Deadline Hollywood in a written statement: 'This action is in line with the precedent of the State Department adding President Trump’s name to the Institute of Peace. And the previous administration renaming military bases.' This is a curious argument, in part because changing the name of the Institute of Peace constituted its own controversy, and in part because the Biden administration renamed military bases after bipartisan legislation was approved by Congress, leading to a federal law that the White House honored."

Benen adds, "Indeed, Daravi’s argument proves the opposite of the intended point: Biden and his team followed a law approved by Congress; Trump and his team ignored a law approved by Congress. It's why the latter is controversial and the subject of litigation, while the former is not."

Opened in 1971, the Kennedy Center was named after President John F. Kennedy —who had been assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963 and was an uncle of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now serving as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Trump.

Steve Benen's full MS NOW article is available at this link.

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