Well, well, well—this is a shake-up nobody saw coming, and yet, somehow, it feels exactly like something Donald Trump would do. The Kennedy Center, long considered a bastion of elite cultural programming, has just elected Trump himself as its new chairman. And if that wasn’t enough to send the D.C. establishment into a tailspin, the board also wasted no time clearing house—ousting longtime president Deborah Rutter and powerful trustee David Rubenstein in a sweeping move to reshape the institution’s leadership and vision.
I was briefed today by the CFO of the Kennedy Center on its financial situation.
She told me there is ZERO cash on hand. And ZERO in reserves. And the deferred maintenance is a crisis.
For the past months they’ve been digging into the DEBT RESERVES.
We must fix this great…
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 13, 2025
This didn’t come out of nowhere. Last week, Trump announced plans to remove the Kennedy Center’s chairman and board of trustees and install himself at the top. And now, here we are. The White House has already begun filling vacant board seats with a mix of administration officials, key donors, and family members of political allies.
How did the executive team justify their seven and high six figure salaries?
And where did this money go? pic.twitter.com/kBPP0hbnWf
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 13, 2025
Just take a look at some of the new names now shaping the Kennedy Center’s future:
- Usha Vance, second lady of the United States
- Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff
- Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff for national security
- Sergio Gor, White House director of presidential personnel
- Pamela Gross, former adviser to the first lady
- Allison Lutnick, wife of commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick
- Emily May Fanjul, wife of billionaire sugar magnate Pepe Fanjul
- The wives of New England Patriots CEO Robert Kraft and New York Yankees President Randy Levine
Meanwhile, Trump ally Ric Grenell was named president of the Kennedy Center, replacing Rutter. Originally meant to serve in an interim role, Grenell now looks set to hold the position for the foreseeable future.
But what’s really making headlines is why Trump wanted control of the Kennedy Center in the first place.
“Trump doesn’t want productions to lean into ‘woke culture,’ as he believes they have in the past,” a source told CBS News.
$35 Mil for the Kennedy Center is essential for battling the Coronavirus, says Nancy Pelosi https://t.co/4eiauIzqBp
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) March 24, 2020
Translation? Expect fewer politically charged performances that cater to one side of the aisle, and more programming that Trump sees as “broader, more inclusive, and more balanced.” What does that mean, exactly? Well, one production set to continue is Haydn’s Creation—a musical masterpiece based on the Biblical creation story. So, if you were wondering whether this new Kennedy Center will be embracing traditional values more openly, there’s your answer.
Yup and pelosi wouldn’t let the PPP bill through until the Kennedy Center was taken care of and the unity party rejected Covid relief part three. McConnell said We cAnT aFfOrd It. Meanwhile USAID just bulldozed along. https://t.co/qEvUmY999x
— GameRollinDad (@GameRollinDad) February 9, 2025
Other changes are already in motion, including scrubbing some of the Kennedy Center’s “land acknowledgment” language from its website—you know, the part that says the center is “standing on the traditional land” of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway tribes.
For Trump, this takeover isn’t just about the arts—it’s personal.
Back in 2017, Trump and then-First Lady Melania Trump skipped the Kennedy Center Honors after several honorees threatened to boycott if he showed up. That moment was just one in a long series of tensions between Trump and the cultural elite who have long controlled America’s premier arts institutions. Now, Trump isn’t just refusing an invitation—he’s running the place.
