Family of JFK Call BS on Trump Shuttering of Kennedy Center
Stephen
Prager for Common Dreams
On Sunday, Trump abruptly announced on Truth Social that
beginning on July 4, the performing arts center in Washington, DC, which he
recently renamed after himself, would shut down for two years for
“Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding.”
Trump said the decision was based on input from a group of
“many Highly Respected experts,” who said the center was “tired, broken, and
dilapidated” and needed to be shut down for a facelift.
However, the family of the center’s namesake said it has
more to do with the recent pullout of talent in protest after it
became the “Trump-Kennedy Center” last year and the president began asserting
control over its programming, which included the world premiere of a hagiographic documentary about his
wife, First Lady Melania Trump, this weekend.
In a post on social media, JFK’s
niece, Maria Shriver, gave what she said was a “translation” of Trump’s
comments about the center’s sudden closure.
She suggested the president meant to say: “It has been
brought to my attention that due to the name change (but nobody’s telling me
it’s due to the name change), but it’s 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.”
Speaking as Trump, she continued: “I’ve determined that due
to this change in schedule, it’s best for me to close this center down and
rebuild a new center that will bear my name, which will surely get everybody to
stop talking about the fact that everybody’s canceling... right?”
Among those who have pulled out of planned performances at the center are the Washington National Opera, Lincoln composer Philip Glass, the Broadway show Hamilton, the actress and producer Issa Rae, and several others—many of whom directly cited Trump’s takeover as their reason.
Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, who is running for
Congress as a Democrat in New York, was even more direct in his condemnation.
“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,” he wrote. “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.”