Kennedy Center, Washington

A Republican Congressman’s proposal to rename the Kenedy Center’s Opera Gouse after Meania Trump fueled harsh comments. The Saint Louis Post wrote: « A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, said Shakespeare, but the Orwellian name games played by our current president and his congressional lackeys truly stink. »

And the editorial has a reason for such an appreciation: « Channeling his inner Mussolini, Trump has declared that the Center’s programming must adhere to his narrow version of pro-American entertainment, which has gone over with its patrons and performers about as well as you’d expect. Ticket sales have plummeted. (…) Why does any of this matter? As Shakespeare asked, What’s in a name? Plenty. It matters because randomly renaming cultural institutions to promote a political movement that’s opposed by half the country — and, in particular, renaming things for the sitting leader of that movement — is what dictatorships do. »

Other commentators say the proposal is ‘ridiculous’ or ‘grotesque’.

President John F. Kennedy’s only grandson Jack Schlossberg is advocating for the Kennedy Center to remain a memorial dedicated solely to his grandfather. In an Instagram post, Schlossberg slammed Republicans’ proposal to put a Trump flair on his grandfather’s memorial, highlighting a potentially conflicting federal law that dictates how the Kennedy Center should operate.

Schlossberg said that the federal statute states that as of Dec. 2, 1983, « no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. » 32-year-old Schlossberg says: « Plain reading of the statute makes clear — YOU CAN’T DO THAT. »