Trump’s Kennedy Center Fight Sends Honors Offsite

The Kennedy Center will hold its 2026 Honors ceremony at Washington’s Capital One Arena, away from its own closed building, as President Donald Trump and a federal court dispute his plans to renovate the center and add his name to it. The center’s stages have had no performances. The ceremony is set for Dec. 7.

Who Controls the Center

The venue change arrives amid a power struggle over who gets to shape a national arts institution. Since returning to the White House, Trump has taken a more direct role in the Kennedy Center: he fired its board, replaced its members with loyalists, and those members named him chairman. The legal dispute concerns whether and how to honor him, with Trump insisting his name be added to the building.

The public announcement named five honorees: Paul Anka, David Foster, Andy Garcia, David Mamet and Barbara Mandrell. Their careers span music, theater and film. Mamet wrote “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “American Buffalo.” Mandrell, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, recorded hits including “Years” and “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed.” Foster has worked with artists including Chicago and Natalie Cole. Anka wrote or co-wrote “My Way” and the theme to the “Tonight” show when Johnny Carson hosted it. Garcia’s credits include “The Untouchables,” “The Godfather Part III” and the HBO film “For Love or Country.”

Several honorees have connections to Trump or conservative politics. Mamet told Fox News last year that he had been a “brain-dead liberal” who “discovered my conservative beliefs.” Anka, a longtime friend of Trump, once rewrote “My Way,” originally written for Frank Sinatra, with MAGA-themed lyrics. Foster has performed for Trump.

A Tradition Under New Management

Established in 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have recognized artists across a broad range of fields. Until Trump’s first term, presidents from both major parties traditionally attended, including when an honoree disagreed with their politics. Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty received honors during Republican George W. Bush’s administration; Charlton Heston received one during Democrat Bill Clinton’s.

Trump skipped the awards during his first term. After returning to the White House, he personally announced the previous year’s honorees and hosted that ceremony. The board’s replacement with loyalists, his appointment as chairman, and the dispute over putting his name on the building place the institution’s leadership and public identity in the hands of a president whose administration is also fighting over its renovation.

The immediate consequence is plain: the center is closed, its stages are without performances, and the ceremony will take place elsewhere. The report describes no community-organized response, mutual-aid effort, or direct action around the closure, and it names no workers or residents receiving support. The honors continue, but the venue that traditionally housed them does not.

“We are proud to honor this year’s class and to continue a tradition that has defined the Center for nearly 50 years,” Trump said in a statement. The words offer a polished account of continuity. The ceremony’s move, the closed stages and the board reshaped by presidential loyalists tell the rest.