President Donald Trump is sounding increasingly serious about adding his name to the Kennedy Center.
After months of “joking” about renaming the iconic D.C. arts venue after himself, Trump clarified that a name change wasn’t only up to him—but suggested that the center’s hand-picked board, which he leads, was considering it.
Fielding softball questions on Sunday night ahead of the newly MAGAfied center’s annual ceremony honoring some of Trump’s favorite performers, the president was asked if the venue will eventually be named the Trump Kennedy Center.
“I hear that, but I don’t know,” he replied. “And that’s not up to me, that’s up to the board. The board makes that decision. We have a very prestigious board. If you look at the names—I don’t think there is a board like it.”
Trump purged the Kennedy Center’s bipartisan board of directors in February before taking over as chairman of its replacement, announcing he would be actively involved in the center’s programming, and installing loyalist Ric Grenell as interim executive director.
The beleaguered arts venue has since been plagued by boycotts, protests, and an embarrassing drop in ticket sales.
In the meantime, the president has been openly fantasizing since at least August about renaming the Kennedy Center in his own honor.
“GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,” he wrote Aug. 12 in a Truth Social post.
On Thursday, he made a similar remark during an event at the Institute of Peace, which the State Department had renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace a day earlier.
“You have a big event on Friday at the Trump Kennedy Center. Oh, excuse me, at the Kennedy Center,” Trump said. “Pardon me, such a terrible mistake,” he added as the audience laughed.
His remarks on Sunday, however, were offered with a completely straight face.
About 10 minutes later, another reporter asked Trump if he could imagine receiving the Kennedy Center honors next year.
“That’s an interesting one. I haven’t thought about that. Yeah, I think I’m going to nominate myself for next year,” he said while everyone laughed.
The Kennedy Center was commissioned as a “national cultural center” in 1958 under President Dwight Eisenhower. His successor, President John F. Kennedy, worked hard to raise funds for its construction after taking office in 1961, but was assassinated in November 1963 before that started.
The following year, President Lyndon Johnson, signed a bill to rename the future center after the slain president to honor his memory and his commitment to the arts. Construction of the sprawling building began in 1966 and it was finally opened in 1971, with Richard Nixon in the presidential box Trump now calls his own.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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