A long-shot bid to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after the Trumps reveals a lot about our current president, according to one analyst.
Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO) introduced a bill on Monday to rename the center after President Donald Trump. The move came a few days after another Republican-led proposal to rename the center’s opera house after First Lady Melania Trump.
Writer Jack Schlossberg, who is JFK’s grandson, commented on the bill in a post on Instagram. In it, he said the Trump administration “stands for freedom of oppression, not expression,” a position that is at odds with the arts in general.
However, Trump’s stance also reveals something about his personality, Schlossberg suggested.
“Trump is obsessed with being bigger than JFK, with minimizing the many heroes of our past, as if that elevates him,” writer Jack Schlossberg wrote in an Instagram post about the bill. “It doesn’t.”
Trump has consistently sought public praise for his actions, both big and small, during his second term. For example, he has complained about not being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize after diffusing two foreign conflicts.
During a news conference with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, Trump also claimed that nobody told him “thank you” after approving $60 million in aid for Gazans.
However, Trump’s seeming disdain for American heroes like JFK, who was a war hero before becoming president and helped usher in the civil rights era, could keep him from achieving the venerated status he desires. That’s despite the best efforts of Republicans in Congress, The Daily Beast reported.
Onder heaped effusive praise on Trump in a statement to the outlet.
“You would be hard-pressed to find a more significant cultural icon in the past 40 years than President Trump,” Onder said. “President Trump’s love and mastery of entertainment has stood the test of time and allowed him to capture Americans’ attention for decades.”