The Trump-Kennedy Center Naming Kerfuffle, Part 2

Ya gotta love it.

President Trump, an active player on the Board of the Kennedy Center, has had the audacity to assent to having his presidential name added to what has been heretofore known as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Making it now “The Trump Kennedy Center.” (RELATED: Guess What the New Yorker Thinks of the Kennedy Center’s New Name?)

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And the D.C. Establishment freaks.

Oh, how short the memories.

For those around to remember some history, Washington, D.C., is flooded with all sorts of buildings and memorials, some of them named in the day for then-living people (presidents, senators, House speakers, etc.).

The Center was originally named for the late President John F. Kennedy. While JFK was newly gone, in fact, the building was named for him when the Kennedy family was a decidedly alive and well power source in Washington. JFK’s two surviving brothers were at the time of the renaming serving as a U.S. senator from New York (brother Robert F. Kennedy) and a U.S. senator from Massachusetts (Ted Kennedy). And, of course, RFK’s son Joe was alive and well, carrying the Kennedy name in Congress. (RELATED: The Trump-Kennedy Center Kerfuffle)

Naming buildings and monuments after living — and deceased — prominent D.C. politicians is, in fact, as regular as rain in Washington. The list of named buildings or park spaces or statues for Washington pols  includes:

• Vice President and longtime Minnesota U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey (the Humphrey HHS Building)
• Georgia U.S. Senator Richard Russell (the Russell U.S. Senate Office Building)
• Illinois U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen (the Dirksen U.S. Senate Office Building)
• Michigan U.S. Senator Phil Hart (the Hart U.S. Senate Office Building)
• The (Sam) Rayburn House Office Building
• The (Nicholas) Longworth House Office Building
• The (Joseph) Cannon House Office Building
• The President Gerald R. Ford U.S. House Office Building
• The President Harry S. Truman Department of State Building
• The Ohio Senator Robert Taft Bell Tower
• The President Lyndon B. Johnson Grove
• The President Dwight Eisenhower Executive Office Building
• The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Headquarters Building
• The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
• The President Herbert Hoover U.S. Department of Commerce Building
• The Secretary of State John Foster Dulles Airport in Virginia/suburban Washington
• The President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
• The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
• The Lincoln Memorial
• The Washington Monument
• The Jefferson Memorial
• The Madison Library of Congress Building
• The Andrew Jackson Memorial Statue in LaFayette Park
• The U.S. Grant Memorial statue at the foot of Capitol Hill
• President Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River
• The President Woodrow Wilson Bridge from Virginia to the District of Columbia over the Potomac River
• The Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.
• The President Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C.
• The President George H.W. Bush Center for Central Intelligence

And with all of that (and more!), the Washington Establishment foams at the mouth because one more president’s name — Trump — has been added to the name of the Kennedy Center?

Really? Really?

Even a brief look at American history reveals there are Americans aplenty who, in their day, objected to this or that president. Lincoln has his memorial, but the record shows that in the day he had tons of opponents and, yes, enemies — as assassin John Wilkes Booth made vividly clear. And Lincoln wasn’t alone in having opponents who could not abide him.

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Be that as it may, history is history. This or that American may not like this or that president — but that doesn’t mean presidents or other prominent Americans should not be memorialized with their name attached to a building or embodied in a statue.

In short? Whether his critics like it or not, Donald Trump is the duly elected president of the United States. And as with all those predecessors, his name too will and should be attached to this or that memorial as a historical reminder of his two terms in office and their impact on America and the world.

As someone who has, over the years (long before the Trump presidency), attended various events at the Kennedy Center, it’s a great place to host all manner of cultural events.

And it will continue to be. Renaming it now as the Trump-Kennedy Center will continue to make it a great place to go, no matter who is sitting in the White House.

And as for the over-privileged, spoiled celebrities making a public fuss about not accepting an invitation to perform for an American president and American citizens of all faiths and beliefs? Simply because it bears the decidedly historic Trump-Kennedy name?

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Too bad. Their loss. Not America’s.

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