Kennedy Center changed board rules months before vote to add Trump's name

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

WP Exclusive

Kennedy Center changed board rules months before vote to add Trump's name

The new rules say only trustees appointed by the president can vote, barring other members, including seats held by Democrats, from decisions. The center said the change reflects "longstanding precedent."

December 31, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.


Protesters gather on Dec. 20 in front of the the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after President Donald Trump's name was added to the building. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)

By Janay Kingsberry and Kelsey Ables

The Kennedy Center adopted bylaws earlier this year that limited voting to presidentially appointed trustees, a move that preceded a unanimous decision this month by board members installed by President Donald Trump to add his name to the center.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2025/12/31/kennedy-center-board-trustees-bylaws/

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/janay-kingsberry/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/kelsey-ables/

[OrlandoDem2]

1. The next Democratic president needs to take it off.

Go back to The Kennedy Center.

Then destroy the ballroom and rebuild the East Wing.

[GB_RN]

2. The Next President...

Will have to fix it: By law, only Congress has the authority to rename the Kennedy Center, and spells out the statutory name as The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

This “board” had no authority to make the change.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Suggestions include a lottery with the prize being to get to wield the pickax

(Several entrepreneurial options have been advanced. National lotteries, offering entrants a chance to swing a sledgehammer or wield a pickax, all proceeds to go to charity, or towards funding parts of the government decimated by DOGE. Meanwhile, Kerry Kennedy, the niece of the late president, already has announced her preference for unilateral action.)

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a69888654/kitchen-table-issues-american-healing/

JFK's Niece Kerry Kennedy Vows to Remove Trump's Name from the Kennedy Center with a 'Pickax'

Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and JFK's niece, took to X after photos of the new addition went public.

"Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder," she wrote. "Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!"

https://people.com/jfk-s-niece-kerry-kennedy-vows-to-remove-trump-s-name-from-the-kennedy-center-with-a-pickax-11873812

[hadEnuf]

3. The more Trump screams rigged,

the more he rigs things. Every statement is a confession.

[Biophilic]

4. And the board members who went along with trump's illegal move are as responsible as trump.

The “little” people who support all of trump’s illegal moves need to be held accountable. It might take a few years but I honestly believe we will eventually persevere.

[mdbl]

5. Dump's name completely defiles that building.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Isn't that called "gaming the table"?

[sdfernando]

8. Bad reporting by the Washington post.

Get your facts straight and report HONESTLY!!!

" a move that preceded a unanimous decision this month by board members installed by President Donald Trump"

IT WAS NOT UNANIMOUS! Forcefully muting a voting member Rep Joyce Beatty when she tried to object is not unanimous!