Renaming the Kennedy Center for Donald and Melania Trump would violate the law that created it
Source: NBC News
July 28, 2025, 6:49 PM EDT
WASHINGTON House Republican proposals to name the Kennedy Center after President Donald Trump and its opera house after first lady Melania Trump would violate the law by which the Kennedy Center was created, four sources familiar with the issue told NBC News. Republicans last week passed an amendment through committee that would rename the opera house after Melania Trump, saying it was a way to recognize the first ladys support and commitment to the arts.
The measure, sponsored by GOP Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, is now part of key legislation funding the Interior Department, but would still need to pass through the full House and the Senate to become law. The next day, Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., introduced the Make Entertainment Great Again Act to rename the whole center Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts. The House has not yet taken any action on it.
But three former board members for the Kennedy Center told NBC News that the law creating the center prohibited any of the facilities from being named, other than the Eisenhower Theater, after the president whose administration first authorized its construction in 1958. The project stalled and was revived under President John F. Kennedy, whose family led an effort to get the center built and named in his honor following his assassination. Two months later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation making it a living memorial to Kennedy.
According to U.S. code, 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.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/renaming-kennedy-center-donald-melania-trump-violate-law-created-rcna221505
The number of laws and statutes that this administration has violated and/or are currently violating, is staggering.

niyad
(125,576 posts)littlemissmartypants
(28,636 posts)ProudMNDemocrat
(19,967 posts)TACO Don is so full of himself. He wants EVERYTHING named for him.
The Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts is a renowned cultural center where the BEST of the Arts WANT to come to. Now that TACO has taken it over, only has-beens will trash the legacy of the center. Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, Jon Voight, and James Woods come to mind.
onenote
(45,511 posts)which would supersede the old law. Which is well within their power.
So arguing that passing a law to rename the Kennedy Center would break the law is a losing argument.
Congress shouldn't pass such a law because doing so would be an abomination, not because it would somehow be unlawful to do so.
TomSlick
(12,623 posts)Laws passed by Congress can be changed by Congress. Whether it would or should is a different matter.
Lovie777
(19,469 posts)twodogsbarking
(14,636 posts)NJCher
(40,839 posts)😂
Speaks for me, too.
twodogsbarking
(14,636 posts)You made me smile. Stop it.
MLWR
(431 posts)Smackdown2019
(1,301 posts)Nothing stops the Nazi party from doing anything, even raping kids.
Gimpyknee
(422 posts)Smackdown2019
(1,301 posts)Unfortunately, oaths arent worth nothing nowadays. Honor was a tging in the past, Unfortunately now, we have the hells angels scum running our government.
EYESORE 9001
(28,635 posts)the Kennedy Center has remained fairly high on the orange menaces to-do list (assuming he even has one). I feel confident that within the text of Project 2025 lies an outline for conquest of the culture itself, and taking over a revered venue for purposes of political indoctrination fits into that plan.
Maine Abu El Banat
(3,516 posts)I don't see any cult behavior here
.
onenote
(45,511 posts)it would be perfectly legal. Hopefully that wont happen but the argument that it would break the law for Congress to pass a new law seems misplaced.
BumRushDaShow
(157,336 posts)"Nothing is set in stone". A law can be made and a new law can be made to replace the old one. It may take a ton of time to get there or may happen quickly but that is the process. E.g., the entire "tax breaks for billionaires" that passed can be completely undone - but that obviously requires significant majorities in Congress to do (include enough to overturn a veto if necessary).
But until any of that happens, breaking the current law should not be cavalierly dismissed as this administration has so flagrantly done.
oberle
(129 posts)FalloutShelter
(13,627 posts)He marks everything like an alley cat.
Well have to fumigate the whole country when hes gone.
MarcoZandrini
(99 posts).poles.
Marcuse
(8,577 posts)
SickOfTheOnePct
(8,209 posts)Now I need eye & mind bleach.
twodogsbarking
(14,636 posts)
riversedge
(76,811 posts)llmart
(16,664 posts)What in the ever-living fuck has she ever done to support the arts?
Honestly, I start every day fuming at the latest shit these two leeches on society perpetrate on this country.
Diamond_Dog
(37,795 posts)But, yeah, the lies perpetrated about these two just melts my brain sometimes. Because stupid people who vote believe them.
IcyPeas
(23,956 posts)Replacing the rose garden with cement? Red horror christmas trees? I really don't care, do you, jacket....
I don't foresee those people who go to trump rallies going to the opera...
Who will perform there now?
Her commitment to the arts is so deep that she feels its necessary to live in New York City, even though it causes her so much pain to be apart from her dear, dear husband. That is the sacrifice she is willing to make to support the arts!
IcyPeas
(23,956 posts)wcmagumba
(4,463 posts)You know how much college kids like to live with their mothers...
Marcuse
(8,577 posts)llmart
(16,664 posts)I'd put him right up there with Pablo Casals, wouldn't you?
Dave Id
(141 posts)I don't believe that's a good idea. Trump PERFORMANCE as president is questionable at best depending which political party you align with. Even his "dance" moves suck though.
2MuchNoise
(332 posts)JustAnotherGen
(35,989 posts)When the Regime falls.
Let them rename it. Seriously.
We don't have to follow ANY of the rules to course correct. That means it goes right back to being the Kennedy Center on day one. Let the magapubs whine to the SCOTUS. Nothing says we can't remove those people to. The Constitution is already dead.
We get to revive it to a JUST society.
moniss
(7,758 posts)supporting the arts. Up is down.
Miles Archer
(19,925 posts)..."if" this happened, any performer of merit should never play there again. Let Lee Greenwood take up a "residency" and sing his jingoistic POS "song" every night.
This reminds me of when Steven Van Zandt did the song / album in protest of artists performing in Sun City, South Africa.
It's nothing more than Trump lifting his leg and spraying the Kennedy Center with his stench, and his moody, sullen, foul-mouthed slit-eyed Slovenian nude model trophy wife doing the same;
llmart
(16,664 posts)just for your very appropriate description of what she is.
Paladin
(31,123 posts)AverageOldGuy
(2,785 posts)Please raise your hand if you think Trump would give a damn if doing this violates a law.
Hands, please, let's see hands if you think Trump would care.
Anyone?
Anyone?
Still looking for hands?
In the back?
Bueller?
Anyone?
eppur_se_muova
(39,545 posts)*If you call that "character".
Jose Garcia
(3,260 posts)onenote
(45,511 posts)So its silly to argue it would violate the existing law or somehow be unlawful.
Of course it also is an abomination of an idea.
RazorbackExpat
(535 posts)First it was renaming National Airport after the man who fired hundreds of air traffic controllers, then it's renaming a renowned performing arts center after a centerfold and her pedo husband. What's next? The Jeffery Epstein Department of Child Protective Services?
Brainfodder
(7,554 posts)
question everything
(50,691 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(166,964 posts)
Blue Owl
(56,805 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(166,964 posts)Last edited Tue Jul 29, 2025, 02:44 PM - Edit history (1)
One historian recently described the Republican effort to name a bunch of stuff after the incumbent president as pretty crazy.
The latest list pro-Trump GOP bills:
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-07-29T16:47:18.281Z
- naming the Kennedy Center after him
- naming DC metro trains after him
- putting him on 0 & 0 bills
- naming Dulles Airport after him
- making his birthday a holiday
- adding him to Mt Rushmore
As one historian put it, this is getting âpretty crazy.â
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/make-entertainment-great-act-republican-wants-rename-kennedy-center-tr-rcna221747
The next day, Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., introduced the Make Entertainment Great Again Act to rename the whole center the Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts. The House has not yet taken any action on it.
...But what I continue to care about is the broader partisan pattern: GOP officials have invested a truly bizarre amount of time and energy into pushing sycophantic legislation designed to flatter the incumbent president. The list includes:
a bill to create a $250 bill that would feature Trumps face;
a similar bill that would put Trumps face on $100 bills;
a bill to make Trumps birthday a federal holiday;
a bill to carve Trumps face into Mount Rushmore;
a bill to rename Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump;
a bill to name the Washington, D.C., subway system after Trump and his MAGA slogan;
and now a bill name the Kennedy Center after Trump.
Whats more, this list doesnt include related efforts from the presidents sycophantic allies, including measures to nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize and to allow Trump to seek a third term.....
As The New York Times recently summarized, A competition of sorts has broken out for whom the Republican base will see as the most pro-Trump member. From the article:
The rush of flattering legislation, some of which even the lawmakers concede is unlikely to pass, stands apart from merely carrying out Mr. Trumps agenda. ... It shows the power that Donald Trump has within the Republican Party these days, and that Republican members want to stay on his good side, said Sean M. Theriault, government professor at the University of Texas at Austin. A lot of these people are in really safe districts, but theyre also thinking about what their next step is. And so if they have designs on being in the Senate or running for governor or even a position in the administration, then theres no better way to get on his good side than to do these over-the-top moves toward him.
.....Im reminded anew of something Filipe Campante, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said about these efforts: The reason why this is bad is the very fact that its transparently ridiculous: It shows how this is becoming a Kim Jong-Un-style cult of personality, where the sycophants try to outdo one another in their groveling to get the attention of Dear Leader.
SunSeeker
(56,247 posts)davsand
(13,437 posts)
KitFox
(341 posts)of envy, jealousy, bitterness and greed. Of course it will never be filled as Mary Trump said, Too Much and Never Enough. He has lived his entire life as a vulgar fraud. He has no accomplishments, so he goes to great lengths to either smear the accomplishments of others or outright steal or erase them. For instance, he never did contribute to charities. One example among many, he showed up at a ribbon cutting ceremony for a childrens AIDS clinic. He was not a donor but just came to the event and got on the stage. Frank Gifford, a major donor was angered and asked What is he doing here! His psychopathic narcissism is on full display every day. He is obscenely repulsive.