Overview

Kennedy Center Takeover and Smithsonian History Campaign

The Kennedy Center Seizure

In 2025, as he entered his second term, Trump began to take control of the Kennedy Center, which he accused of "woke" programming and mismanagement, stating his goals as rooting out "anti-American propaganda" and restoring a "Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture." To that end, he reshaped the board by removing members appointed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, and replacing them with his own appointees. Trump proceeded with a full overhaul of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in February 2025, becoming chairman of the organization and firing its president, Deborah Rutter.

Trump announced that the new board had voted to install him as its chair, supplanting David Rubenstein — a move seen as highly unusual given that no U.S. president had ever served on the board, let alone as chair. New members of the board included White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and Usha Vance, wife of Vice President JD Vance. Richard Grenell was named interim president.

The move represented a swift takeover by Trump and his allies of a cultural institution known for its signature Kennedy Center Honors performances and as the home of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera. The board's composition, entirely of Trump appointees, gave the administration effective control over programming, personnel, and the institution's public identity.

The Renaming Battle

In December 2025, the institution donned a new name — the Trump-Kennedy Center — on the exterior of the building, just a day after Trump's hand-picked board voted to change the name. The move came despite concerns about the legality of the shift and objections from members of the Kennedy family and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper subsequently concluded that the board had "overstepped its statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming" the center after the president. The administration has appealed the ruling.

As of August 13, 2026, the Kennedy Center board voted again to add President Trump's name to the performing arts venue, directly challenging the federal judge's May ruling that only Congress could change the name. The board also voted to add an inscription below the Kennedy Center's sign stating the complex was "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump." The center has been required to turn over information on the renovations and closure to the federal judge by August 18, 2026.

The Smithsonian Campaign

The administration's campaign against the Smithsonian traces back to March 27, 2025, when Trump signed his first executive order on the subject, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," which argued that federal cultural institutions — the Smithsonian chief among them — had promoted "divisive" ideological narratives and had embraced what the order called a "divisive, race-centered ideology," portraying American and Western values as "inherently harmful and oppressive."

The Domestic Policy Council launched an investigation that spring, focusing on the National Museum of American History and examining exhibits, educational materials, strategic plans, leadership speeches, and public statements. That review culminated in a July 2026 executive order titled "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution." Trump's executive order cited a White House Domestic Policy Council report accusing the museum of "thinly veiled anti-Americanism" and "extreme political activism."

Because the Smithsonian operates independently of the executive branch, Trump cannot directly remove museum leadership or unilaterally change exhibits. Instead, the order targets federal property outside the museum that falls under National Park Service jurisdiction. He directed officials to install temporary signs on sidewalks maintained by the National Park Service to correct "inaccurate information presented in the Museum." The White House Domestic Policy Council report had recommended the museum post a notice at its entrance reading: "Warning: the exhibits in this museum were prepared by people who don't want you to love your country."

Significance and Impact

The Kennedy Center takeover produced immediate and visible institutional consequences. Many performers, artists, and shows canceled performances, ended working agreements, or otherwise disassociated themselves from the center after Trump replaced its leaders and board, had himself appointed chairman, and began making changes to programming. The center, once a bustling arts complex that offered free public performances 365 days a year along with ticketed concerts and educational offerings, now sits largely empty. Washington National Opera left in January 2026, many marquee artists canceled their planned performances after Trump's name was added in December 2025, ticket sales plummeted, and scores of Kennedy Center staffers and administrators have departed.

In February 2026, Trump announced that the Kennedy Center should close for about two years, saying on Truth Social that the decision is "totally subject" to approval by his board, and that the center would close on July 4 and that "financing is completed, and fully in place," without elaborating on where the funding came from. The following day, CNN reported that the center's new leaders had been unable to sign enough acts to mount a 2026-27 season.

The Smithsonian campaign carries a different kind of significance. The White House has noted that the Smithsonian receives more than one billion dollars annually in taxpayer funding and frames oversight as legitimate on those grounds. But the Smithsonian is an independent agency that is meant to operate outside the control of the executive branch, though the government controls much of its funding and Vice President JD Vance sits on its board. The administration's workaround — using NPS-controlled sidewalks to install counter-messaging — represents a novel, if legally untested, use of jurisdictional leverage against an independent institution.

Reactions and Debate

The Kennedy Center actions generated protest from artists, the performing arts community, and some members of both parties in Congress. When Trump was named chairman of the Kennedy Center's board in February 2025, backlash from ticket buyers, slated performers, and certain board members — including Shonda Rhimes — was swift. Since the renaming, a flurry of artists canceled their appearances, including the composer of the hit musical "Wicked," Stephen Schwartz, who dropped out from hosting a gala for the Washington National Opera. The opera has since left the center, where it had performed since 1971. Administration officials were dismissive of the cancellations. The center's president, Richard Grenell, dismissed the cancellations as "a form of derangement syndrome."

The Smithsonian campaign has drawn a sharper institutional response. National Museum of American History director Anthea Hartig and Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch have both said the White House report unfairly characterized the museum's work. Bunch, who met with Trump at the White House in August 2025, repeatedly affirmed the Smithsonian's independence from political influence, and in a September 2025 letter to institution employees underscored that independence, saying it was "paramount." Critics have accused the Trump administration of attempting to leverage the museum to rewrite the history presented in its exhibits to favor a conservative worldview.

The naming dispute at the Kennedy Center has now entered protracted litigation. The Kennedy Center has been embroiled in legal disputes since Trump launched his effort to control the historic arts venue, with a federal judge ruling that the center's board violated the law when it added Trump's name to the performing arts venue. The board's August 2026 vote to again restore Trump's name directly tests whether the administration will comply with or defy that order while the appeal is pending.

Outlook

Both episodes remain unresolved in important respects. The Kennedy Center's legal status is actively contested: a federal judge ruled in May that only Congress could make such a change to the name, and a crew set up scaffolding to remove lettering with Trump's name, but a tarp has concealed the remaining letter ever since. The board's renewed vote in August 2026 to re-add Trump's name and rename the surrounding plaza after him signals that the administration intends to press the issue regardless of the pending appeal, making further judicial intervention likely.

Trump's handpicked board has voted a second time to close the performing arts institution for a two-year renovation. As part of the renovation plan, the board voted to keep open part of the complex separate from the main building, called the REACH, which will host smaller-scale shows. The long-term viability of the institution as a major performing arts venue — given the departure of resident organizations, the collapse of a 2026-27 season, and ongoing litigation — remains a serious open question.

On the Smithsonian front, the structural tension between executive pressure and institutional independence is unlikely to resolve quickly. Smithsonian leaders have said the institution will maintain its autonomy despite the administration's repeated attempts to intervene with its exhibits and personnel decisions. Whether the administration's exterior-signage strategy survives legal challenge, or whether Congress acts to clarify the Smithsonian's independence or to fund administration-aligned programming, will shape how this conflict ultimately lands. What is already clear is that the Trump administration has demonstrated a sustained willingness to use every available lever of executive power — board appointments, executive orders, appropriations leverage, and jurisdictional workarounds — to contest control of the nation's cultural institutions and the stories they tell.