Trump says he wants to fire several Kennedy Center -Board Members and name himself President

President Trump announced plans on Friday to fire board members of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and install himself as his chairman.

“In my direction we have to make the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, amazing again,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president said he “would immediately end several people from the board, including the chairman who does not share our vision for a golden age in art and culture.”

He did not say which board members he plans to end. The Board of Directors has 36 members appointed by the president, each to six years. The Board of Directors is divided between Republican and Democratic appointed.

David Rubenstein, philanthropist and co -founder of the Carlyle Group, has been chairman of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Directors for 14 years and announced that he stepped down from the board effective September 2026. Deborah Rutter, who has served as president of the Kennedy Center since 2014, announced last month that she was planning to Step down At the end of 2025.

Mr. Trump has a strained relationship with the Kennedy Center going back to his first term of office when he announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump would not attend The Kennedy Center honors in 2017, after some of the year’s recipients threatened a boycott.

According to its site, the Kennedy Center hosts over 2,200 performances, events and exhibitions a year with over two million visitors annually. The center was established by Congress in 1958 and serves as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy. Together with the 36 members appointed by the president, Trustees also includes ex-officer leaders in the government appointed by Congress.

Before leaving the White House, former President Joe Biden appointed several new members to the board, including former press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in the White House.