Monday marked President Trump’s first visit to Washington since he took over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, shocking the political and cultural establishment over five weeks ago.
As he toured the center with his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and some of the individuals he has appointed to the center’s board, such as Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo and country music artist Lee Greenwood (who sings “God Bless the U.S.A.”), he informed reporters, “We’re here to have our first board meeting.”
He pondered about programming for a while.
He made fun of a production that canceled a scheduled tour the next year in protest of his takeover of the long-bipartisan institution by saying, “I never liked ‘Hamilton’ very much.”
Mr. Trump dreamed of being a Broadway producer himself when he was younger. He declared that the Kennedy Center will henceforth concentrate on creating “Broadway hits.”
He declared, “We’re going to get some very good shows.” “I suppose Les Miz will be here.” (The Kennedy Center had announced that “Les Misérables” would be performed there in June and July prior to his election to a second term.)
After firing all of the Biden-era appointments, Mr. Trump appointed himself chairman of the center’s board last month.
Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary, had stated at Monday’s briefing that Mr. Trump would be visiting the center with “a business developer mind” and that he would likely have some suggestions on the facilities.
He said that “the Kennedy Center is in tremendous disrepair” after personally viewing it. He specifically criticized the external columns, saying that “it should be covered by something, whether it’s granite or marble or whatever.”
Due to financial limitations, the institution, like other federally controlled buildings, has postponed certain building upkeep. Only around $43 million, or 16 percent, of its $268 million budget is allocated to it. The funds are designated for property management, upkeep, and repairs rather than programming.
Mr. Trump presented a resolution to increase his control over the choice of musicians and singers honored at the annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony prior to Monday’s board meeting. The institution’s most significant annual fundraiser is the awards ceremony, a star-studded event that is broadcast on CBS.
Early in his first term in 2017, Mr. Trump was assailed by a number of recipients. During that year and the rest of his term, he abstained from the show.
Mr. Trump will now have the authority to appoint and dismiss members of the committee that assists in selecting the recipient of the distinction following modifications that are expected to be adopted on Monday. Honorees have been selected independently of the White House since the program’s inception in 1978.
