# Trump is Made Chair of the Kennedy Center **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [February 12, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248 "2025-02-12T21:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/301 "2026-05-29T22:14:31Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Oh god: he’ll be crying about this at every opportunity for the next two years. Why would he stop whining after just two years? And what a shame – I was so looking forward to the luxurious comfort of the gold-plated steel armrests in the glorious new seats he had proposed! ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/302 "2026-05-29T22:22:09Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Does this maybe make it to the supremes? Because it would be nice for people to be able to make plans to attend the de-shittification of the ediface. Despite the whiny-baby tone of that post by Donald, it’s hard to believe he’d actually permit his name to be chiseled off its exterior. But, yes: people would want to be able to attend (and cheer). The particular theme of his whine about ‘let Congress deal with it!’ leads me to wonder: has any other President been “responsible” for the Center? As in, making decisions about its running and maintenance and such? The Board of Trustees makes those decisions, but has any other President asserted sole power to hire and fire those Trustees? Congress has a site that’s rather skeptical of Donny-Boy’s prerogatives: > [@](#): > > … By statute, the Kennedy Center is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution overseen by the Kennedy Center Trustees. Congress appears to have placed the Kennedy Center in the Smithsonian as an autonomous entity largely independent of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, which oversees and guides most Smithsonian activities. As part of his duties, the Secretary of the Smithsonian also serves as a Kennedy Center trustee. > > The Smithsonian’s status as nongovernmental and organizationally separate and distinct from the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of the national government may have implications in efforts to change the membership of the Kennedy Center Trustees in ways that are not authorized in statute. … So possibly Donny’s hissy-fit means that one or another committee of Congress will be able to fire the lackey-Trustees and get back the old ones…? [https://www.congress.gov/crs\_external\_products/IF/HTML/IF12911.html](https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/IF/HTML/IF12911.html) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/303 "2026-05-29T22:27:57Z")
I believe the judge gave him two weeks (!) to physically get his name off of the building. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/304 "2026-05-29T22:33:57Z")
Too bad the sentence wasn’t that he had to do it himself. What an image! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/305 "2026-05-29T22:35:06Z")
Balancing on stilts. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/306 "2026-05-29T22:36:56Z")
I won’t say the entire debacle of the Trump Regime would be rendered “worth it” if Donald was forced to balance on stilts to get those letters off. But I won’t say it _wouldn’t_ be. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/307 "2026-05-29T22:45:22Z")
From that whining pathetic rant: > [@](#): > > we have brought back to life in a now SAFE AND SECURE, after Record Setting Crime, Washington, D.C., which is thriving like, perhaps, never before! Yet, you need a massive industrial-strength bunker built in the center of it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/308 "2026-05-30T00:31:01Z")
Looking at the judge’s [official biography](https://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/content/district-judge-christopher-r-cooper), I and across this: “Working in Washington and London, Judge Cooper specialized in defending clients in white-collar criminal matters. . .” No wonder Trump was so upset. Defending white collar crime is a cornerstone of his presidency! ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/309 "2026-05-30T01:18:11Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Despite the whiny-baby tone of that post by Donald, it’s hard to believe he’d actually permit his name to be chiseled off its exterior. Agreed. It’s hard to see him not walking back that Truth Social post in the next few days. Maybe he’s hoping that Republicans will beg him to reconsider and fight. If he really lets his name be taken off the facade without appealing this ruling, that’s a tremendous sign of weakness. I might have to stop calling him a dictator. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/310 "2026-05-30T01:38:54Z")
The facade will still be enshittified, won’t it? We’ll still be able to see the outline of the removed letters, won’t we? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/311 "2026-05-30T01:47:56Z")
I don’t think the shit letters were up there long, you know, by letters-on-a-building standards. My money is on a nice pressure washer. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/312 "2026-05-30T01:51:30Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > We’ll still be able to see the outline of the removed letters, won’t we? For a long time, I hope. I have no great interest in punishment, but a continuing little humiliation like that would be instructive. I do have an uncertainty here. News stories both have Trump seemingly accepting that he has lost control of the Kennedy Center, and this: [PBS: Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said Friday the institution is “confident that on appeal the court will uphold the Board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center.”](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/judge-says-kennedy-center-board-violated-law-putting-trumps-name-on-building-blocks-closure) I cannot figure out which came first – the Trump Truth Social cave-in, or the plan to appeal. Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/313 "2026-05-30T01:53:00Z")
The initial story mentioned an appeal. I’d guess that’s automatic. And “plan” is unnecessarily generous to the administration. Trump’s part is just the predictable childish sour grapes tantrum. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/314 "2026-05-30T02:21:16Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > The initial story mentioned an appeal. I’d guess that’s automatic. Answers my question. Thank you. > [@bobot](#): > > Trump’s part is just the predictable childish sour grapes tantrum. I agree it has a childish ring. I disagree about it being predictable. When courts rule against him on tariffs, he writes on Truth Social that he’ll just have to do it another way. I do not recall him previously saying that Congress can take charge. It also was extraordinary that he addressed the Republican Congress with the idea that it was sure to fail. He treated Congress as if already Democratic controlled. He probably will walk back the nonsense idea of turning over the Kennedy Center to Congress. But it was extraordinary that he would be inclined to turn over power even for a bit. Makes me wonder if he will start threatening to quit. (Don’t get excited; they would be idle threats.) ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/315 "2026-05-30T03:04:57Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > the whiny-baby tone of that post by Donald He did, after all, promise so much whining. We would be tired of all the whining. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/316 "2026-05-30T03:37:35Z")
> [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > He did, after all, promise so much whining. We would be tired of all the whining. Worth remembering: > **[DONALD TRUMP: I WHINE BECAUSE I WANT TO WIN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk-dLCZwg8c%2F)** > > Trump: "I do whine cause I want to win". To License This Clip, Click Here: http://collection.cnn.com/content/clip/370267882\_001.do ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/317 "2026-05-30T04:09:00Z")
Can the claims hes making about rotting beams and parking areas ready to collapse be verified or disproven in any way? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/318 "2026-05-30T04:45:19Z")
It’s coming from Donald Trump, so it can almost certainly be discarded as false. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/319 "2026-05-30T07:59:22Z")
Well yeah, but a relexive dismissal is dangerous… True or not we should verify one way or the other right? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248/320 "2026-05-30T08:17:08Z")
I think I’d rather have an assessment from a qualified civil engineer, rather than a business school graduate. At least, with the former, we’ve got expertise in beams and parking areas. With the latter, we’ve got as much expertise in civil engineering as I do in nuclear physics. Which is none at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-is-made-chair-of-the-kennedy-center/1014248.md?page=17)