Donald Trump ribbed the Kennedy Center during a board dinner at the White House on Monday in the president’s latest criticism of the institution after effectively installing himself as its chair in February.
“The Kennedy Center, when I said I’ll do this, I hadn’t been there,” Trump told attendees. “It’s the last time I’ll take a job without looking at it.”
The president went on to criticize the facilities at the Washington arts complex, saying “tremendous amounts of money” had been spent there to little effect.
“I don’t know where they spent it,” Trump added. “They certainly didn’t spend it on wallpaper, carpet, or painting.”
Earlier this year, Trump broke with tradition and ousted members of the Kennedy Center board who had been appointed under the Biden administration, and the replacements Trump installed voted the president to be the center’s chair.
As part of the takeover, Trump administration special envoy Richard Grenell now serves as the interim director of the Kennedy Center, while Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles serve on the board.
Trump has said under his leadership, the Kennedy Center will not feature “woke” programming, a theme the president touched on Monday during his speech at the dinner.
“The programming was out of control with rampant political propaganda, DEI, and inappropriate shows,” Trump said, claiming the center hosted a “Marxist anti-police performance” and “lesbian-only Shakespeare.”
Some performers have protested the president’s changes at the Kennedy Center, with several cast members of the popular musical Les Misérables planning a boycott of the show next month, according to a report.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Trump touted other parts of his agenda, claiming his recent trip to the Middle East is being “credited as one of the — maybe the most — successful visits that anybody has made to any place.”
The president also said “progress is being made” after a “little conversation with a nice gentleman named Vladimir Putin,” a reference to Trump’s recent calls with the Russian leader and his Ukrainian counterpart, which the White House said helped pave the way for the nations to “immediately” begin ceasefire talks.
