How 'narcissist' Trump’s 'grotesque' Kennedy Center strategy backfired badly

President Donald Trump, on February 1, announced that the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. will be closing for renovations for two years. The performing arts center — typically compared to Lincoln Center in New York City, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia — will, according to Trump, close after July 4 and reopen in 2028.

Many of Trump's MAGA devotees are praising the move and claiming that he is revitalizing the venue, which he renamed the John F. Kennedy and Donald J. Trump Center for the Performing Arts. But Salon's Amanda Marcotte has a very different viewpoint.

In a blistering article published on February 4, Marcotte argues that the biggest loser with the Kennedy Center is Trump — not the liberal musicians he wants to punish.

"Without apparently telling anyone who actually has to deal with it," Marcotte explains, "the 79-year-old toddler president declared, on Truth Social, that he was shutting down the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years following its Fourth of July celebrations. This 'decision' comes a mere six weeks after Trump pretended to be 'surprised' and 'honored' when the center's board, which he leads, voted illegally to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center — a name that no one seems interested in using, at least when out of Trump's earshot."

The Salon journalist continues, "The president claims the closure, which will likely last the rest of his term, is about 'Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding.' Few believe this. Most accept that it is an obvious reaction to the fact that a growing list of artists have cancelled shows at the Kennedy Center to avoid the taint of performing at a place where the word 'Trump' was forced onto the building's signage. The list of cancellations is so long that it has its own Wikipedia page, which features luminaries like Philip Glass, Béla Fleck, the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Washington National Opera and the entire cast of 'Hamilton.'"

The Kennedy Center opened in 1971 and was named after Democratic President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas eight years earlier.

Marcotte emphasizes that Trump's ego proved to be a major liability for the 35-year-old venue.

"The situation is a great example of how narcissists defeat themselves," Marcotte explains. "As he's done his whole life, Trump stole a trophy he didn't earn in the hope that he would impress people. Instead, his grotesque behavior backfired and has drawn even more insults and rejections. But what's even more fascinating is what this whole debacle tells us about the MAGA movement as a whole, and how Trump is the perfect symbol for their failed culture war aspirations."

The Philadelphia-based journalist continues, "To people outside the MAGA bubble, Trump's obsession with the Kennedy Center is just plain weird. Obviously, he feels intimidated by the looming cultural power of the 35th president and his wife, Jacqueline, and excluded from circles of people with good taste, even though he has no interest in actually learning to appreciate art or music beyond middle-of-the-road Broadway showtunes from the 1980s…. Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center symbolizes the end game of this endless, pointless grievance: A hope that MAGA can take by force the cultural popularity that will never be offered freely."