In his second go as President, Donald Trump has been on a blitzkrieg of remaking the country and world as he sees fit. From tearing down the White House east wing for his big, beautiful ballroom bunker to slapping his mug on the new $250 bill to the UFC Claw he’s now pitching as a permanent D.C. eyesore, there seems to be no line he won’t cross in his effort to leave a legacy that doesn’t immediately bring to mind ICE, wars, and Epstein. Taking a page from Silicon Valley ghouls, Trump’s second term ethos of “move fast and break things” did initially shock and awe his opposition into paralysis. But as the outrages have piled up—the “Second Trump administration controversies” Wikipedia category is now at 200 pages—folks are gradually snapping out of that stupor and mounting a variety of legal counterstrikes.
There’s now a court filing challenging the forthcoming White House UFC event and its stage construction as “unlawful.” Another suit is challenging the over-budget makeover he’s giving the Reflecting Pool in front of the Washington Monument. And getting the Treasury to mint that $250 bill is going to be more of an uphill battle than he bargained for. But even these processes can’t contain this administration’s shamelessness. Three judges on an appeals panel about the legality of the ballroom construction experienced this firsthand on Friday when DOJ attorneys claimed that, if the President decided to “bulldoze the Statue of Liberty,” they wouldn’t be able to stop him. But while these battles rage on, other once-captured and/or cowed institutions are gradually mustering up the courage to reverse course and reclaim some dignity.
One of Trump’s more egregious acts of self-aggrandizement was his hostile takeover of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (a.k.a. “the Kennedy Center”) last year. Now, in what may end up serving as an exemplary microcosm for all Trump’s egocentric governmental redesigns, the center is already shedding the President’s name less than half a year after it was hastily tacked onto its edifice and website.
This rewind comes in the wake of the May 29 decision by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper who found the rebrand had been carried out illegally and ordered the center be reverted to its pre-Trump-molestation state by June 12th. Judge Cooper, who also blocked the board’s proposed two-year closure for renovations, stated in his ruling that “The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so.”
These rulings stem from Trump’s decision last May to appoint himself the Congressionally-controlled center’s chairman, then sack its existing board of trustees and replace them with a cadre of loyalists like Pam Bondi, Usha Vance, Laura Ingraham, Dan Scavino, and… Lee Greenwood?! In December, the new Vichy Kennedy Center Board took it upon themselves to show their appreciation by unanimously voting to add Trump’s name to the building. They even went so far as to place Trump’s name before that of the assassinated President the center is meant to commemorate.
This straw broke the camel’s back and the subsequent uproar instigated by so flagrantly tyrannical a move resulted in a number of acts on the center’s calendar canceling their upcoming performances in protest this January. Soon after, the board attempted to damage control with their gambit to just shut the place down for years, but wheels were already in motion to undo all of it.
In the days after the court’s ruling, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, Roma Daravi, issued a statement to the Associated Press saying they’re complying with the court order “while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership.”
But while they scheme up those fresh horrors and the President cries on Truth Social about the “anti Trump hater” who ruled against him, the center’s been forced to clean up its digital image in the meantime. Staff have been made to revert the names on all email signatures, letterheads, and documents back to “the Kennedy Center” (or its full name for those not into the whole brevity thing).
Most prominently, CNN reports that The Kennedy Center’s website is now back to its old branding as of today. But don’t let that lull you into believing things are all back to normal. The President’s mission to de-wokify American culture is still chugging along (mostly) as planned. Those needing further proof can check out the Mark Twain Award for American Humor ceremony hosted at the center on June 28th before streaming on Netflix. There they’ll see the comedy genius behind Club Random accept the most prestigious humor award in the nation in front of esteemed guests like “cancelled” comedian Louis C.K.
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