For the first time in 54 years, there is a new name on the front of the Kennedy Center.
Only a day after President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted to add his name to the Kennedy Center building, workers were in cherry picker forklifts changing the facade of the building to the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Along with members of the media, there were onlookers waiting for the blue tarp covering the work being done to drop.
Sam, who covered her mouth and shook her head in disbelief, described the scene.
“Feels like putting your name on someone else’s gravestone,” she said.
Barbara Best, who held up a stick figure of President Trump dressed as a court jester, said she was not happy.
“I’m pissed as hell,” Best said. “It’s a dishonor to Kennedy.”
The Virginia resident said the Kennedy Center is a memorial to the former president who gave his life to the county.
“It’s a disgrace. It’s disgusting, is what it is,” Best said.
Standing in Friday’s bitterly cold weather watching the work being done was Arlene Pietranton: “I’ve been coming to the Kennedy Center since the year it opened. At a very modest level, I’ve been a donor and longtime patron and attendee at the Kennedy Center.”
She said Congress needs to put guardrails in place to keep the executive branch in check.
“This is their duty. This is their responsibility. There’s a reason we have three branches of government,” Pietranton said.
Less than two weeks ago, on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors, WTOP asked Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell if President Trump’s name would be added to the center’s name.
“If I could predict the future, you know what I would do? I’d go play the lotto and I wouldn’t be here,” Grenell said with a smile.
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