Tag: Beatty

Kennedy Center freed of Trump’s name

“O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”

Millions of people across this great land are radiantly happy this weekend that the offensive name of Donald Trump has been scrubbed from The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts here in our nation’s capital. It never should have taken court rulings to get that impostor’s name off the building. Indeed, the name Trump never should have been added to a memorial created and named by Congress to honor an assassinated and widely respected president. Congress should have had the courage to put a stop to the nonsense the moment the idea of a Trump takeover of the Kennedy Center was noised abroad. But Congress is controlled by Republicans, and with few exceptions and in only a few matters, the GOP legislative conference on Capitol Hill is a collection of useless cowards.

If millions across the nation are happy with the outcome of the lawsuit heroically brought by U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who is an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board, most of the people of Washington, D.C., are doubly joyful. After all, we have a front-row view of the excesses of Donald Trump and the horde of philistine zombie sycophants and enablers that he brought to Washington with him.

Washington broadly loathes Trump and his gang, rightly seeing them as arrogant, cruel, hypocritical and corrupt. But when Trump seized control of the Kennedy Center and had himself named chairman, he hit a special nerve in D.C. And when he had his name added to the title of the building, people here were absolutely appalled. This theft of honor simply could not be allowed to stand. The fight was on. And it was led by Rep. Beatty, acting against the voting members of a board now populated by Trump’s handpicked bootlickers. She sued the Kennedy Center over the illegal addition of Trump’s name to the institution.

I was at the Kennedy Center on Friday, June 12, to witness the erection of scaffolding preparatory to the removal of Trump’s name. As the scaffolding was going up, a crowd of a goodly size watched the proceedings with triumphal anticipation. I returned there early on Saturday to confirm for myself that the wretched name had been removed from the building. As I expected, the removal was done in Nicodemus fashion, in the dark of night when most people were abed.

Below are photos and video that I captured during my visits on Friday and Saturday.

Friday, June 12, 2026

Visitors hoping to witness the removal of Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center building look on as workmen erect scaffolding in preparation for the removal of the name.
U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) speaks with reporters outside the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. While the Trump administration was filing appeals to stop the court-ordered removal of President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center building, Beatty visited the site to witness the installation of scaffolding in preparation for the removal of Trump’s name. It was a lawsuit filed by Beatty, an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board, that ultimately led to the court-ordered removal of Trump’s name from the congressionally chartered memorial to the slain President John F. Kennedy.
Workers erect scaffolding at the Kennedy Center in preparation for the removal of Donald Trump’s name.
People eager for Donald Trump’s name to be removed from the Kennedy Center watch a work crew erecting scaffolding at the front of the building.
A member of the crowd of onlookers hoping to see the removal of Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center on Friday. The name would not be removed until the wee hours of Saturday.
A member of the crowd of onlookers hoping to see Donald Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center.
Workers prepare to leave the Kennedy Center after erecting scaffolding at the front of the building.
Workers prepare to leave the Kennedy Center after erecting scaffolding at the front of the building.
The drag queen Tara Hoot, a Kennedy Center supporter and Donald Trump critic, poses for photos with U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio).

Saturday, June 13, 2026

The Kennedy Center at 8:30 a.m. Workers operating behind that white tarp had removed the words “The Donald J. Trump and” from the building before daybreak.