Republicans propose naming Kennedy Center Opera House after Melania Trump
A Republican proposal would rename the second-largest theater in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after the first lady, if legislation considered Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee becomes law.
The first lady, following tradition, is an honorary chair of the Kennedy Center board. A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) proposed the amendment during a committee markup of the bill funding the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and related agencies for fiscal 2026. The committee adopted the measure by a vote of 33-25.
Since its opening in 1971, a bipartisan tone has predominated at the Kennedy Center, where crowds have often drawn in arts patrons from across the political spectrum. Its board of trustees members were generally split between Republicans and Democrats, until February when President Donald Trump fired board members who had been appointed by President Joe Biden and replaced them with his own. The trustees then voted him in as president of the Kennedy Center board.
If it were to become law, the amendment would mark a further blurring of the center and the Trump administration. Four large portraits of the first and second couples now hang in the Hall of Nations.
During the hearing, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said Republicans had 'snuck in, I think, something that is slightly divisive, which is renaming one section of the Kennedy Center after the family member of this administration.'
The bill under consideration would provide $37 million in appropriations to the Kennedy Center, a 17 percent decrease from last year and in line with the president's budget proposal. But Pingree also pointed to the $250 million appropriated in the recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act to the center.
'The Republicans have now given the president six times the normal amount of money to run the Kennedy Center, carte blanche over who will be on the board, and how different parts of the Kennedy Center — perhaps the whole Kennedy Center itself — will be named, and this amendment confirms that,' Pingree said.
The center's three major stages — the Eisenhower Theater, the Opera House and the Concert Hall — have never previously been renamed.
'This is an excellent way to recognize [Melania Trump's] support and commitment to promoting the arts, and I would encourage members to vote for this Republican en bloc amendment,' said Simpson, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on interior, environment and related agencies.
The Opera House seats 2,364 patrons and may be the center's most prominent space. It hosts the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the arts institution's marquee event. Celebrities pack into the seats alongside senators, congresspeople and — most notably — the first and second families. The ceremony takes place after a weekend of events, including a dinner at the State Department and a meeting with the president at the White House.
Trump broke tradition during his first presidential term by pulling out of the Honors weekend 'to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction,' after Norman Lear, one of the honorees, said he would boycott the White House portion.
The Opera House would be far from the first venue to be adorned with the Trump name, a distinction that his skyscrapers, golf clubs and other businesses share.
It is not the first such proposal. In late May, Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) proposed the halting of funding to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority unless its name was changed to Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access (i.e. WMAGA) and unless Metrorail (the D.C. area's subway system) was renamed the 'Trump Train.'
It was one of many such ideas from House Republicans, as The Washington Post reported in June. Others include carving Trump's face into Mount Rushmore, putting his face on U.S. currency, renaming Washington Dulles International Airport after him and making his birthday a national holiday.
'It is unprecedented and to be honest with you, it's completely wild,' John White, professor emeritus of politics at Catholic University, told The Post at the time. 'History shows that most things are named after presidents after they have either long left office or been deceased.'
Brianna Tucker contributed to this report.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Coke's New Cane-Sweetened Soda Risks Upending Sugar Supplies
(Bloomberg) -- After four decades drinking Coca-Cola sweetened with corn syrup, Americans are going to get the chance to buy the soda made from domestic cane sugar. But whether US farmers can meet that demand is unclear. Trump Awards $1.26 Billion Contract to Build Biggest Immigrant Detention Center in US Why the Federal Reserve's Building Renovation Costs $2.5 Billion Salt Lake City Turns Winter Olympic Bid Into Statewide Bond Boom Milan Corruption Probe Casts Shadow Over Property Boom The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday it will launch the new Coke variety this fall, a week after President Donald Trump said the company had agreed to start using the sweetener. The move is hardly an outlandish idea. In fact, Coke sold in other countries like Mexico is sweetened with cane sugar. And the company relied on cane sugar before switching to high fructose corn syrup around 1980. While the company will still be using corn syrup for original Coke, the addition of a domestic cane-based soda could help growers in Louisiana and Florida at a time when demand has been slow. However, a sustained bump in demand — especially if other companies follow Coca-Cola's lead — risks outstripping homegrown availability. US cane only makes up about 30% of overall domestic sugar supplies, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The rest comes from imports, which were about 2.2 million metric tons for the 2025-26 season, and American-grown sugar beets that perform better in colder climates. 'We have ways of trying to assist in new product launches, but mass usage — it would be very difficult for our industry to absorb that,' said Craig Ruffolo, a vice president at McKeany-Flavell, a broker of ingredients including sugar. A sugar supply shortfall would likely mean more cane imports from Mexico and Brazil, exposing American companies and consumers to higher prices just as they are facing market upheaval from Trump's tariffs. Cane sugar is more expensive than high-fructose corn syrup. On top of that, long-standing import tariffs mean US raw cane sugar futures are already more than double what the rest of the world pays. That price gap widened to a record on Tuesday. Foreign shipments can be costly, as decades-old US government policies limit how much sweetener can be cheaply shipped from other countries. That has long kept US sugar prices above that of the global market, even when lower-taxed imports under the US's limits and preferential shipments from Mexico were enough to keep the country amply supplied. In recent years though, the US has become even more reliant on record amounts of high-taxed imports after droughts impacted Mexican supplies. Trump's threat of a 50% tariff on Brazil also risks raising prices. If cane-sweetened Cokes are a success, higher demand would add to the pressure. Refined cane sugar cost more than 52 cents a pound in June, about 12% more than the high-fructose corn syrup used in Coke and nearly 50% more than beet sugar, according to the USDA. US refiners have some spare capacity to process more raw cane, but that will depend on imports and is still 'not going to be able to go on the scale of a mass distribution like a classic Coke,' said Ruffolo. Expansions to cane acreage are also limited. Louisiana's growth could be capped at 10%, while Florida doesn't have much more land for cane, he added. Coke has been working with cane sugar suppliers, and believes they will be able to bring enough supply to market if there is demand from consumers, Chief Executive Officer James Quincey said on Fox Business. RFK Jr.'s Push The new Coke product comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has railed against the prevalence of ultra-processed foods, which are generally more likely to use high-fructose corn syrup. The company's move, while an incremental shift away from corn, could open the door for other companies to follow suit. PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ramon Laguarta said last week that it would follow consumer preferences on sugar and other natural ingredients. Coca-Cola uses cane in other US products like lemonades and teas, and is looking to use 'the whole toolkit of available sweetening options to some extent where there are consumer preferences,' Quincey said on a Tuesday earnings call. The new Coke with US cane sugar is expected to be 'an enduring option for consumers,' he added. It is still unclear how much sugar these new products will require, said Claudiu Covrig, the lead analyst at Covrig Analytics. It could end up being a tiny segment with 'more publicity than real volume,' he said. But if US beverage companies shift significantly toward cane instead of high-fructose corn syrup, additional imports could range from 300,000 to 800,000 metric tons. (Adds analyst quote beginning in fifth paragraph.) Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border What the Tough Job Market for New College Grads Says About the Economy How Starbucks' CEO Plans to Tame the Rush-Hour Free-for-All ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio


The Hill
9 minutes ago
- The Hill
JFK grandson rips move to name Kennedy Center theater after Melania Trump: This administration ‘stands for freedom of oppression'
Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, is blasting a measure from House Republicans that would rename the Kennedy Center's famed Opera House in honor of Melania Trump. 'A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces — but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers,' Schlossberg, quoting his grandfather, wrote in a Tuesday post on Instagram. 'JFK believed the arts made our country great and could be our most effective weapon in the fight for civil rights and against authoritarian governments around the world,' Schlossberg, a vocal critic of President Trump, said. 'The Trump administration stands for freedom of oppression, not expression,' he added. '[Trump] uses his awesome powers to suppress free expression and instill fear,' the 32-year-old son of former U.S. ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg said. Schlossberg's social media post came after House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to the interior, environment and related agencies annual spending bill on Tuesday that would rename the opera house in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the 'First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.' Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) called the move an 'excellent way to recognize [Melania Trump's] support and commitment to promoting the arts.' The Opera House renaming effort came after the president, accusing the Kennedy Center of being too 'woke,' overhauled its board in February and named himself its chair. But Schlossberg said the potential name change to the prominent institution's Opera House was not 'about the arts.' 'Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK , with minimizing the many heroes of our past, as if that elevates him. It doesn't,' he said. 'But there's hope,' Schlossberg wrote to his nearly 700,000 followers, 'art lasts forever, and no one can change what JFK and our shared history stands for.'


Geek Tyrant
9 minutes ago
- Geek Tyrant
Netflix Officially Renews WEDNESDAY for Season 3 and Plans Spin-Off Series — GeekTyrant
Netflix isn't done with the Addams family just yet. The streamer has officially renewed the hit supernatural comedy Wednesday for a third season, and that's not all… a spin-off series is also in development according to THR. This announcement comes ahead of the highly anticipated second season, which drops on Netflix August 6. The show's first season became a cultural phenomenon and shattered records, becoming the most-watched original series ever on the platform with over 250 million views. It also earned 12 Emmy nominations, including a nod for Jenna Ortega in the Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category. Clearly, Wednesday is one of Netflix's biggest success stories. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with Tim Burton serving as an executive producer, Wednesday offers a darkly comedic reimagining of the iconic Addams Family universe. The series follows Ortega as Wednesday Addams, who finds herself expelled from her old school and sent to Nevermore Academy, a private institution for outcasts. Along the way, she navigates murder mysteries, supernatural threats, and plenty of quirky characters. The show also features Gwendoline Christie, Emma Myers, and Riki Lindhome. Myers, in particular, has skyrocketed in popularity and now leads the BBC and Netflix's A Good Girl's Guide to Murder . Season 2 is upping the stakes with an expanded cast. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Isaac Ordonez, and Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo have been promoted to series regulars, while new faces like Billie Piper, Steve Buscemi, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, and Noah Taylor join the lineup. No release date for Season 3 yet, but given the massive popularity of Wednesday and the spin-off plans, it's clear Netflix is building a spooky little empire around the Addams family legacy.