Board elects Trump as head of Kennedy Center, Washington's top cultural venue

Donald Trump was appointed chairman of the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, as a new board of trustees loyal to the US president brought his aggressive rightwing, anti-“woke” stamp to Washington’s premier arts venue.

Trump first broke the news Friday that he would make himself the Kennedy Center chairman, as he fires off a blitz of policy changes that are upending the city and the country, and attacking people, causes and policies he says are dangerously liberal.

As with much that comes with Trump, this is unprecedented: it is the first time a US president has removed his predecessor’s Kennedy Center board chairman and taken the job himself at the stately white marble complex overlooking the Potomac River. It is named for the late president John F Kennedy.

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In a post Wednesday on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he was elected unanimously by a new board of trustees loyal to him. The center itself confirmed this in a statement.

Quoting himself, Trump added: “The President stated, ‘It is a Great Honor to be Chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with this amazing Board of Trustees. We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!’”

The appointment is also another form of Trump retribution as he seeks to punish perceived enemies at the outset of his second term in the White House.

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In his first term, from 2017 to 2021, the Republican regularly skipped the Kennedy Center’s yearly gala event because people slated to receive awards criticized him and said they would not show up if he did.

“So we took over the Kennedy Center. We didn’t like what they were showing and various other things,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office late Monday, The Washington Post reported.

“I’m going to be chairman of it, and we’re going to make sure that it’s good and it’s not going to be woke.”

Trump on Friday lashed out at the institution, calling it too liberal and out of tune with American values.

That same day he fired the man serving as chairman, the billionaire Democratic philanthropist David Rubenstein, and other members of the board of trustees.

This week Trump appointed a new board made up entirely of people loyal to him.

The center’s long-time president, Deborah Rutter, has been fired, the institution said.

The Kennedy Center is home to the National Symphony Orchestra and also offers theatre, opera, comedy and other productions.

The orchestra’s artistic adviser, the musician Ben Folds, announced his resignation after Trump became chairman.