Every time Donald Trump sees a historic institution, he wants to slap his name on it. But according to author and longtime chronicler Michael Wolff, the president’s handling of the Kennedy Center is an ego-driven move.
On the Inside Trump’s Head podcast, Wolff revealed that the original plan was to call it the Trump Center. “Why does this have to be Kennedy?” Trump asked aides, according to Wolff. “That was such a long time ago.”
Trump allegedly offered what Wolff described as a justification, claiming that because he survived assassination attempts in 2024, he deserved the honor more. “I was almost assassinated. Therefore, it should be me,” he reportedly said.
Trump wasn’t shot.
It was a staged event.
The shooter was a disturbed useful idiot who thought he was doing the world a favour.
Assassins like this don’t usually last more than a few minutes beyond the event. They are typically killed within seconds. Dead people can’t talk. pic.twitter.com/YwifUyDrFy
— Tyrell Corporation Operations (@tyrellcorp_ops) February 4, 2026
The Kennedy Center was renamed in 1964 as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, two months after his assassination. But for some reason, Trump made this a point of history that can be negotiable.
Wolff says advisers didn’t shut the idea down outright because, with the 79-year-old president, ‘this is a terrible idea,’ Wolff explained. Thus, aides suggested renaming it the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
By December 18, 2025, Trump’s handpicked board approved the change as well. A day later, signage went up, and the website was updated. Congressional approval was technically required for a renaming. Yet, Trump claimed he was “surprised” by the vote that critics say was mainly manipulated, as Democrats were sidelined when they tried to voice their concerns.
As a result, the Kennedy Centre saw artists canceling performances.
On the other hand, members of the Kennedy family publicly unloaded. Maria Shriver said that adding your name to a memorial “doesn’t make you a great man.” Jack Schlossberg (JFK’s grandson) accused Trump of trying to erase his grandfather’s legacy entirely. Joe Kennedy III called the move a “trespass on the People’s will,” as the center was meant to belong to the public.
RELATED: “There’s a Reason” — Jack Schlossberg Reveals the Method Behind the Madness
Then, Trump announced the Kennedy Center would close for roughly two years starting July 4, 2026. This symbolically ties the shutdown to the nation’s 250th anniversary. The project, he said, would cost $200 million and involve a “complete rebuilding.” He insisted he wasn’t going to be tearing the building down entirely as it was “tired, broken, and dilapidated.”
This image is simply unfathomable. The Kennedy Center, a living memorial to the late president, after his assassination, now bears Donald Trump’s name too. Kennedy family members say It’s been long understood that congress would need to make any changes. pic.twitter.com/8cMq3E7lw5
— Deborah Roberts (@DebRobertsABC) December 19, 2025
Critics say that after mass cancellations, Trump was trying to do damage control. Shriver openly mocked the idea, as the closure, she says, is a convenient way to stop people from noticing that artists no longer wanted to perform there.
Wolff, meanwhile, connected the dots back to a 1964 letter from Jackie Kennedy. In it, she worried that naming the center after her husband could turn it into a tool of political patronage. That fear never materialized “until now,” Wolff said. Communications director Steven Cheung has dismissed Wolff’s account, though, as he believes the author is a liar with a “peanut-sized brain.”
