Donald Trump has dispatched one of his veteran fundraisers in a frantic attempt to stop the Kennedy Center from bleeding donations.
Meredith O’Rourke has spearheaded drumming up financial support for the president’s controversial White House ballroom project and Rose Garden refurbishment.
The MAGA leader tapped O’Rourke as an extra set of hands in January “after a series of stumbles” by the feted cultural institution’s development leader Lisa Dale, Politico reports.
People familiar with the move reportedly said it has now effectively sidelined Dale.
Dale is described as a close friend of MAGA media adviser Kari Lake, on whose abortive 2022 gubernatorial and 2024 Senate runs in Arizona she served as a campaign aide. They are both former TV hosts.
Kennedy Center executive director Richard Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and a stalwart ally of the president, claims the institution raised $130 million last year.
Sources told Politico that “the fundraising figures Dale gives to Grenell are sometimes rosier than the money that actually comes into the center.”
Dale described the outlet’s reporting as “total BS.” Grenell said his team “completely stabilized [the Kennedy Center] financially,” calling Politico’s article “fake news.”
The former ambassador’s claims of robust donations come amid reports of abysmal ticket sales.
The Wall Street Journal revealed earlier this week that the number of people purchasing spots for the center’s events had dropped 70 percent set against the same period in each of the past three years.
Since assuming office for a second time last January, Trump has launched a concerted MAGA revamp of the Kennedy Center, replacing the existing board of trustees with MAGA loyalists and appointing himself its chairman.
Under Grenell and Trump’s leadership, the board has voted to rename the federally chartered cultural institution, adding a sign that reads “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” to the front wall of the venue.
It is unclear if the change, which erroneously suggests the 79-year-old president is now dead, is legally valid. At the time of writing, it remains designated under its original name under federal law.
Dale herself is reported to have raised concerns over the rebrand with colleagues. “We’re poking donors in the eye,” she told two current employees, per Politico.
Other moves have included a Trumpian overhaul of what his administration regards as “woke” programming under the Joe Biden administration.
Late last year, this saw Trump host a Kennedy Center Awards Ceremony where honors were granted to MAGA supporters like actor Sylvester Stallone, country music artist Geoge Strait, and glam rock band Kiss.
It also saw the space given over to FIFA for the World Cup 2026 Draw, where the soccer organization’s pro-Trump president Gianni Infantino granted the MAGA leader the group’s inaugural Peace Prize.
That honor did not exist prior to Trump’s bitter disappointment at being passed over for last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, perhaps the most prestigious award on the planet, which has existed since 1901.
Earlier in February, Trump announced shock plans to shutter the Kennedy Center for roughly two years to facilitate a “complete rebuilding” of the existing structures, in a move that Daily Beast newsletter The Swamp reported this week had blindsided everyone involved—including Grenell.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
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