In a Truth Social post, Donald Trump declared he would “make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN” by terminating the Board of Trustees and appointing himself as chairman. His decision led to the removal of key figures, including David Rubenstein, Deborah Rutter, and members appointed by former President Joe Biden. What is in store for the venerable institution, which was designated by President Lyndon B. Johnson as a memorial to John F. Kennedy following his assassination?
While some are viewing the Kennedy Center coup as Trump merely being his vindictive and petty self, others see an opportunity to infuse Christian Nationalism into the cultural conversation. For years the Religious Right and Christian Nationalists have sought to gain some measure of control of a culture it sees as vile and unacceptable.
One of the New Apostolic Reformation’s Seven Mountains Mandates, is the takeover of arts and entertainment (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/14/2303724/-Trump-Advancing-New-Apostolic-Reformation-s-Christian-Nationalist-Seven-Mountains-Mandate?_=2025-02-14T08:30:34.000-08:00).
Trump’s announcement comes on the heels of new guidelines issued by the National Endowment for the Arts — eliminating grants for underserved communities and prioritizing patriotic art in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary next year — and investigations being launched into PBS and NPR.
The Kennedy Center has long been a home of free artistic expression, but Trump's takeover has sparked significant backlash. Several prominent artists have either resigned their positions (TV producer Shonda Rhimes stepped down as the board's treasurer, Musician Ben Folds resigned from his role as an artistic advisor, and singer Renée Fleming resigned her position as an artistic advisor), or have cancelled their appearances (actress and writer Issa Rae canceled her sold-out event, "An Evening With Issa Rae). And, as WUSA9 reported, “The creators of the children’s musical ‘Finn’ announced on Instagram that their Kennedy Center tour has been canceled, citing ‘this administration’s desire to silence us.’ They added, ‘We will not abandon the kids we wrote this show for. They are already under attack from every side’” (https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/community/artists-perfomers-quit-kennedy-center-amid-trump-takeover-truth-social/65-4d720779-b61f-449b-9e2a-9632cf879449).
The New York Times’ Shawn McCreeeh reported that Trump “named one of his most fiercely loyal apparatchiks, Richard Grenell, interim president and proclaimed that there would be no more ‘ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA’ shown. He complained about drag queens performing there and said it had all become too ‘wokey.’” (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/arts/music/kennedy-center-donald-trump.html). Other new board members include friends of Trump as well as some of his Cabinet members, such as Attorney General Pam Bondi, musician Lee Greenwood and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
“In the eight years between Trump’s first and second successful campaigns, the conservative movement has invested heavily in reshaping American culture,” Rolling Stone’s Carri Twigg recently reported. “They have transformed our cultural landscape from the pluralistic progressivism of the Obama era into a sea of MAGA podcasters, traditionalist influencers, and hypermasculine content creators all intentionally reinforcing a specifically autocratic set of values” (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/trump-kennedy-center-cultural-power-grab-1235268600/).
Twigg, co-founder of Culture House Media, co-host of the politics and culture podcast Twigg and Jenkins, and a former member of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts, a board of the Kennedy Center, noted that “internet fame differs fundamentally from the institutional prestige of the Kennedy Center Honors or the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Our most influential cultural institutions don’t just reflect culture — they shape it. They establish the boundaries of acceptable discourse, defining what American society considers valuable and reasonable. Trump’s Kennedy Center takeover represents the formal institutionalization of the cultural reformation he’s been architecting since his famous Trump Tower escalator descent.”
“The battle for America’s future will be won or lost not just at the ballot box, but on TV and phone screens, stages, concert venues, and cultural institutions across the nation,” Twigg maintained.
So what kinds of programming might be coming to the Kennedy Center: Revivals of “Cats”? Kid Rock concerts? Tucker Carlson Live? The comic styling of Sarah Palin? A Proud Boys fashion extravaganza? Jack Posobiec reading selections from “Mein Kampf: The Pizzagate Edition”? A New Apostolic Reformation Christian Nationalist sing along?
