After months of bending the Kennedy Center to his will, Trump takes center stage for the annual honors
By Donald Judd, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump took center stage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday evening to pay tribute to the newest class of honorees, a group of performers and entertainers whose combined work spans music, stage and film.
Though the president has never been one to shy from spotlight, his turn as host for the Kennedy Center Honors’ annual prerecorded telecast meant the program — and the presidency — entered unchartered waters Sunday, a fitting crescendo following months of Trump’s personal interjections into the arts center’s management, entertainment program and architectural design.
“This place is hot,” he said in his remarks, according to reporters inside the complex’s Opera House, adding he toured some of the “gorgeous” construction work. “The Trump-Kennedy Center,” he said, before pausing for some laughter and adding, “I mean, the Kennedy Center. I’m sorry. This is terribly embarrassing.”
By all accounts, Trump — who was elected chairman of the Kennedy Center board after he removed Democratic-appointed trustees and installed a small cadre of loyalists in their stead — has maintained a hands-on approach to the nation’s most significant cultural institution.
Unveiling the list of this year’s honorees in August, he said he was “98% involved” in picking the awardees, who would typically be determined through an artist committee, board recommendations and solicitation of the public, according to one former employee.
As a result, Trump’s class of Kennedy Center honorees reflects, more than anything, his own personal tastes in entertainment.
Actor Sylvester Stallone, a frequent guest at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and a White House “ambassador” to Hollywood, is among this year’s inductees, as is the band KISS, whose frontman, Gene Simmons, appeared on “The Celebrity Apprentice” with Trump.
Simmons had some choice words for any critics who claim Trump has politicized the nation’s most prominent cultural institution by inserting himself into the center’s management, telling reporters on the red carpet the improvements were “long overdue.”
“Especially since not a single cent of American taxpayer dollars [is] going to the improvements here — shut the f**k up!” he said.
Disco pioneer and honoree Gloria Gaynor’s seminal hit, “I Will Survive,” is a fixture on Trump’s campaign rally playlist. Gaynor herself has donated to numerous Republican candidates since 2016 under her birth name, “Gloria Fowles,” according to FEC filings. British actor Michael Crawford, also honored this year, originated the role of the phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera” — a musical Trump has admitted to seeing multiple times.
Trump, who was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, touted this year’s honorees during his remarks, suggesting no future class would ever match the accomplishments of his handpicked group.
“Tonight, we are seeing pure talent on full display. Nothing is more inspiring, nobody has ever done it better than the people you’re watching and honoring tonight, and perhaps no one ever will,” Trump said.
But the president’s dedication to forging a Kennedy Center that reflects his own will, rather than one that serves as an independent center for the performing arts, has rankled former employees, who have described political pressure and a fundamental shift in values under the Trump administration — all of which they claim are also hurting its finances.
And his background as a real estate developer has allowed him to fixate on another element of the Kennedy Center overhaul that appeals to his interests: construction and renovations. Under Trump’s leadership, the center has begun restoring the exterior marble and painting over the distinctive gold columns to match the white stone.
In a dinner feting this year’s honorees at the State Department on Saturday, Ric Grenell, a Trump loyalist and the president of the Kennedy Center, said the performing arts institution “needs to be a place of bipartisanship.”
“It needs to be a place that we come together and we celebrate together, and we don’t care who you voted for for president,” Grenell told an audience of Kennedy Center donors and officials.
But while bipartisanship may have been the stated goal, Trump’s guests Sunday matched his political persuasion. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Mike Lawler joined him at the ceremony, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi watched from a neighboring seats.
As host, Trump seemed to ignore the mission of bipartisanship too, instead leaning on familiar campaign rally-style rhetoric to boast of his own accomplishments while issuing rejoinders against his perceived political opponents.
“This is fantastic, isn’t it? It is just so incredible. This is the greatest evening in the history of the Kennedy Center, not even a contest,” Trump said during the program, which will air December 23 on CBS.
“Our country is back — they tried to get Biden to do this four years in a row,” Trump said. “I would have watched.”
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