JFK's Family Tear Into Trump Over Kennedy Center Shutdown
Source: Daily Beast
Updated Feb. 2 2026 3:50AM EST / Published Feb. 1 2026 10:13PM EST
John F. Kennedys outspoken niece and grandson have both laid into President Donald Trump over the latest in a string of controversies at the MAGAfied Kennedy Center. Maria Shriver, 70, mused about the real reason Trump decided to temporarily shutter the once-venerated cultural institution named after her uncle, which the new board recently attempted to rename the Trump-Kennedy Center.
The 79-year-old president announced in a Truth Social post on Sunday night that the tired, broken, and dilapidated performing arts center in Washington, D.C., will be closed for two years beginning July 4th for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding.
If we dont close, the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruption from Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer, Trump claimed.
But Shriver wasnt buying it. Translation: It has been brought to my attention that due to the name change (but nobodys telling me its due to the name change), but its been brought to my attention that entertainers are canceling left and right, and I have determined that since the name change no one wants to perform there any longer, she wrote in an X post.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/jfks-niece-tears-into-trump-over-kennedy-center-shutdown/
Frasier Balzov
(4,954 posts)Mirrors Trump termites eating the federal government.
CousinIT
(12,386 posts)Cha
(317,845 posts)Trump can take the Kennedy Center for himself. He can change the name, shut the doors, and demolish the building. He can try to kill JFK, Schlossberg wrote on his X account. But JFK is kept alive by us now rising up to remove Donald Trump, bring him to justice, and restore the freedoms generations fought for.
Brilliant.. I really like his Spirit!
Oh and This...
The Blue Flower
(6,426 posts)He can't keep his filthy, little fingers off anything. He wants to be memorialized in history, but his name will resonate just as Benedict Arnold's has resonated down the centuries. There will be a new rule in discourse: just as we shouldn't compare any new villain to H------r, we won't be able to compare any new thug to t---p.
twodogsbarking
(18,063 posts)Some wealthy individual with DC real estate could donate the property and save a lot in taxes without showing a taxable profit.
Maybe visible from the White House, what's left of it.
maxsolomon
(38,436 posts)The venue and its prestige will be restored.
Have faith.
calimary
(89,374 posts)The RELEASE from Trump. He thinks hes all-powerful, but he cant control Father Time.
DinahMoeHum
(23,458 posts)Both win out in the end.
Cha
(317,845 posts)lines, too. There are ways around that Filthy Nazi PEDO in the WH>
Oh and fuck Richard Grenelle Toady.
wolfie001
(7,403 posts)Those 2 assholes, tRUMP and RFK Jr. are like evil villains in a Batman movie.
maxsolomon
(38,436 posts)Start of construction to finish is March to September, and the theaters are going to be used the entire time.
So, it's a face-saving remodel.
Javaman
(65,456 posts)since he's a fucking moron.
blue_jay
(210 posts)Warpy
(114,520 posts)He's a walking definition of the word "crass," as well as others (some of which would get me banned from DU).
His notion of refurbishing the Center undoubtedly includes gilt paint on anything that doesn't get out of the way fast enough plus drapes and stage curtains all with the letter "T" all over them. Or maybe he'll stick Monochrome Melania with the whole thing to get her out of his hair.
I just hope it's put on hold for at least a year and let the injunctions fly. Please.
flashman13
(2,229 posts)would have to be consulted and sign off on any changes. Trump needs to be stopped before we have another structure desecrated. Quick, someone sue NOW!
chouchou
(2,971 posts)If I had any sense, I'd delete this post..cause that human-destroyer will think it's "A Big, Wonderful idea."
IcyPeas
(25,184 posts)The Rose Garden
Tore down a magnolia tree
Lincoln bathroom
All the gold trinkets
The huge flagpole
Removed portraits of Obama and Hillary Clinton replaced with portraits of himself
The walkway with the gold framed portraits
The East Wing
.....
And we have 3 more years.
https://people.com/timeline-of-trump-renovations-to-white-house-11837455
BumRushDaShow
(167,480 posts)and he was sued.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143565982
As a sidenote - I did find an OP about this renovation from back in October - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143555040
LetMyPeopleVote
(177,237 posts)trump really wanted to rename the Kennedy Center to the trump center. trump really wanted to take Jack Kennedy's name of the center and just has his own name. trump cannot stand sharing credit with anyone.
President Donald Trump's advisers stopped him from ripping John F. Kennedy's name off the Kennedy Center altogether, leaving the cultural hub simply called the Trump Center, his biographer said."Why does this have to be Kennedy?"
— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-02-06T18:00:18.860Z
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kennedy-center-2675105563/
Why does this have to be Kennedy?" the president apparently argued. "That was such a long time ago.
Trump, 79, has substantially remade the Washington, D.C. performing arts institution in his image, taking control of its board, renaming it "The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" without congressional approval, and announcing plans to close it for extensive renovations.
But writer Michael Wolff, who spent months inside the first Trump White House, told the Daily Beast that Trump's original proposal was far more ambitious. Wolff stated, "His first idea was to call this the Trump Center."
"I was almost assassinated," he said, according to Wolff. "Therefore, it should be me." Trump experienced two assassination attempts in 2024.
Trump's inner circle was able to persuade him away from the plan. Wolff said, "You can't say, 'This is a terrible idea. This is a megalomaniacal idea. This is not good politics.' You just cannot say any of that stuff to Trump. So instead, they said, 'Well, why don't we call it the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center?'"
After trump closes the Kennedy Center for two years, I would not be surprised to see the Kennedy name removed. Hopefully, trump will be gone before the two years are up
