Trump Steals Pride and Joy of Washington

Jamie Stiehm
Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:01:46 -0800
Opinion

You can't just shut down a city's beating heart for the arts for two years, especially in times of turmoil. People should hear a Brahms symphony, played live in a concert hall, to feel alive again.

Make that a capital city's shimmering marble center by the riverside, with a terrace. It packs a punch of red-carpet glamour with vibrant shows scheduled every day.

It's named to honor a beloved and slain president's memory, deeply mourned the decade he died, in the 1960s. Everything changed in a fatal instant that autumn day, when the country went from exhilaration and grace to a lost war and more leaders tragically lost.
Updated: Wed Feb 04, 2026

You can't just shut down a city's beating heart for the arts for two years, especially in times of turmoil. People should hear a Brahms symphony, played live in a concert hall, to feel alive again.

Make that a capital city's shimmering marble center by the riverside, with a terrace. It packs a punch of red-carpet glamour with vibrant shows scheduled every day.

It's named to honor a beloved and slain president's memory, deeply mourned the decade he died, in the 1960s. Everything changed in a fatal instant that autumn day, when the country went from exhilaration and grace to a lost war and more leaders tragically lost.

Donald J. Trump slapped and added his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after firing the board. He baldly wishes to share the power and the glory of that Democratic president. As if he has a thimbleful of Jack Kennedy's courage, eloquence and class.

Trump is likely jealous of his handsome looks and war hero status. But Kennedy went deeper in his appreciation for creative pursuits as a sign of a grand society.

His wife, Jacqueline, cultivated those values, inviting cellist Pablo Casals to play at the White House and arranging an evening of Renaissance poetry.

I earlier wrote that Trump aims to usurp the Kennedy family legend in American history.

"Usurper" was exactly right.

But I never thought he'd close the Center for two years for "major renovations." God only knows what Trump has in mind, but clearly his plot against the Kennedy Center aura has thickened for a year. He probably resents all the cancellations since his overnight takeover.

Trump has no idea how many symphonies Johannes Brahms composed. He never, not once, attended a National Symphony Orchestra concert while president. He is an utter philistine.

So how do you tell one of the premier orchestras in the country that its 100 members have no home, nowhere to go? The Washington National Opera already decamped from the Kennedy Center.

This is Dickensian, meant to make us Washingtonians more miserable than we already are.

The arts community refused to go along with the sudden and sinister name change. Soprano Renee Fleming, the cast of "Hamilton," and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater pulled out of performances in protests.

You tell me if Trump gave a thought to the Center's 400 ushers, 100 full- and part-time staffers, and 20 permanent stagehands who will be out of work. Then add in all the stagehands who get called in to work productions — probably union wardrobe staff who depend on earning enough hours to maintain their health and welfare benefits — housekeeping staff, cafe service staff, security staff, contract groundskeeping staff and bus drivers that connect to the Metro station.

(In all, about 2,500 employees and almost 1,000 volunteers.)

They love the place, and it shows in the cheery welcome you're given when you walk into the formal Hall of States or the Hall of Nations. The famed architect Edward Durell Stone made the Grand Foyer fabulous, among the largest rooms in the world. When you run into friends there, by chance or plan, it feels like you're livin' large, out on the town.

Leonard Bernstein composed a Mass for a world premiere over 50 years ago. Philip Glass, at 89 a leading composer, just decided to withdraw his highly anticipated original piece, a portrait of the young Abraham Lincoln.

Glass stated that the values of Lincoln and the Trump-centered Center are in direct conflict.

This could well be a death blow for Washington residents to mix and match beyond politics. The closure will hurt the local economy, with African American seniors a large part of its workforce.

The striking bronze bust of Kennedy capturing his pathos and spirit: Will it remain in place?

Here's the scariest part. Take the recent destruction of the White House East Wing for a ballroom. This could be like that, with nobody to arrest a raging president out of control.

Determined to leave his mark on Washington — or stay a while — Trump also plans a huge arch on Memorial Circle that would rise higher than the nearby Lincoln Memorial.

Somebody stop him.