Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson on CNN on December 23, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)
Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson told panelists on CNN’s “The Arena” that President Donald Trump is doing himself and his party no favors by adding his name to federal property without solving any real issues.
“This feels like a little bit too far," Anderson said of Trump putting his name on the Kennedy Center. “And I think him going on what looks like a bit of an ego trip is really shifting focus away from accomplishments his administration ought to be spending time focused on. Instead of saying, ‘look at me, look at me, look at how many things I can put my gold-plated name on.’"
“This is just one of a number of things that Donald Trump has attached his name to this year,” said host Kasie Hunt. “There's the Kennedy center. There's the Trump class battleships, there's TrumpRX, there's the Trump Gold Card. There are Trump accounts. There's the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace."
Anderson said she found the renaming of the Kennedy Center particularly off-putting because “it's a living memorial to someone else and to a president that many Republicans and Democrats alike think fondly of.”
“Now, that's not to say that I think Republicans or even your median voter cares deeply about things like cultural institutions in Washington, D.C. I remember there was a great deal of consternation during covid because there was bailout money that went to try to keep the Kennedy Center open. And Republicans were like, ‘is that an appropriate use of our tax money?’ But at the same time, I think there are limits.”
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."
Meanwhile, Trump's polling is dropping sharply among American voters as he doubles down on his efforts to add his name to federal buildings.
Critics say, however, that Trump’s opposition will likely take great pleasure in knocking his name off every building and program he’s “vandalized” this term.
Watch the segment below:
- YouTube youtu.be
