What did Donald Trump do today?
He preened over renaming a building for himself.
Trump has been absent from most of the core duties of the presidency during his second term, even more so than in his first, but his interest in certain pet projects like redecorating (or destroying parts of) the White House remains strong. One of them is the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He fired most of its board of directors immediately on returning to office, replaced them with loyalists, and declared himself the chair.
He's returned to the venue several times since. On a visit in August, he "joked" about renaming it the Trump-Kennedy Center. He "accidentally" referred to it the same way last week when he hosted its annual awards ceremony, another job he appointed himself to.
Today, Trump's handpicked board members voted to rename it… the Trump-Kennedy Center. The White House immediately publicized the vote, claiming that Trump had "saved" the building from collapse. This appears to mean that Trump didn't specifically choose to fight against funding that the Center had requested for renovations and improvements to its facilities.
Bizarrely, the statement by Trump spokeswoman Karolina Leavitt also congratulated the late President Kennedy, suggesting that he would make a good "team" with Trump.
Leavitt's statement also claimed that the vote was unanimous, which was a lie. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a board member who was on the conference call when the vote was taken, was muted by the person controlling the call and her vote against it was not recorded. She also said that the name change was not on the meeting agenda, in spite of Trump apparently knowing it was coming.
In reality, though, the name hasn't changed at all. It is fixed by the law that established the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and only another law can change it.
Why does this matter?
- Narcissism is a serious psychological issue and it doesn't get better by giving the narcissist what he wants.