In Washington, Republican lawmakers want to rename a landmark opera house after Melania Trump. This move reflects Donald Trump’s growing grip on America’s cultural institutions.
A House budget committee has approved an amendment that would force the Kennedy Center, Washington’s cultural institution, to rename its opera house the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.”
The amendment is part of a 2026 Interior Department funding bill, which covers cultural affairs among other responsibilities. It threatens to strip the Kennedy Center of federal funding unless it agrees to the name change.
Representative Mike Simpson, the Republican behind the measure, defended it Tuesday in committee as a “fitting way to recognize the First Lady’s support and commitment to the arts.”
Since returning to the White House in January, Donald Trump has tightened his grip on the Kennedy Center. In February, he overhauled its board of directors, firing longtime members, and had himself appointed as head of Washington’s premier cultural institution. He vowed to purge what he calls “woke culture” from the arts.
Waging an ultra-conservative crusade against what he labels “anti-American propaganda” in art, research, and history, the president has also reasserted control over several of the capital’s major museums.
Simpson’s amendment is just the latest example of Republican lawmakers competing to flatter Donald Trump.
In January, a Republican congresswoman from North Carolina introduced legislation to rename Washington’s main airport the “Donald J. Trump International Airport.”
Another congresswoman from Florida proposed a bill instructing the Secretary of the Interior to “ensure the face of President Donald J. Trump is carved onto Mount Rushmore.” The South Dakota monument features the sculpted likenesses of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.
A Texas congressman, for his part, suggested replacing Benjamin Franklin’s portrait on the $100 bill with that of the Republican billionaire.
With AFP
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