, The Daily Beast ; Kennedy Family Rails Against Trump’s ‘Obsessive’ Center Renaming
"Several members of the Kennedy family have objected to Donald Trump slapping his name on the historic arts center that memorializes the 35th president.
Despite Congress being the authority on the name of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Trump on Thursday declared that the venue would be known as the “Trump-Kennedy Center” following a vote from his hand-picked board members. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt bizarrely even offered “congratulations” to Kennedy when announcing the news.
But JFK’s nieces, grandson, and grandnephew naturally don’t approve of Trump, 79, inserting himself into the late president’s legacy.
Maria Shriver, Kennedy’s niece through Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called Trump’s habit of naming things after himself an “obsession.”
“It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy. It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not,” Shriver, 70, wrote on X, adding that he could very well try to do the same with the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C...
“This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It’s downright weird. It’s obsessive in a weird way,” continued Shriver, who earlier said she was “enraged” by the news. “Just when you think someone can’t stoop any lower, down they go…”
Meanwhile, Kerry Kennedy, JFK’s niece through Robert F. Kennedy, criticized Trump for “repressing free expression, targeting artists, journalists, and comedians, and erasing the history of Americans whose contributions made our nation better and more just.”"
