Staffers at the Kennedy Center are quietly laughing at Donald Trump’s latest attempt to slap MAGA branding on one of America’s most iconic cultural landmarks. Their favorite joke? That the building now “looks like a foreign flag.”
The Washington Post reports the center’s exterior is bathed in red, white, and blue—but the particular shades have staffers whispering that it resembles France more than the U.S. The same palette also belongs to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Croatia, Thailand… and, awkwardly, Russia.
Trump seized control of the Kennedy Center almost immediately after starting his second term, claiming a mission to rid the institution of “woke” bias. He installed himself as board chair, named Richard Grenell president, Melania Trump honorary chair, and stacked the board with loyalists including Pam Bondi, Laura Ingraham, and Maria Bartiromo.
The makeover doesn’t stop at paint. Trump has launched a $257 million renovation that includes giant portraits of both first and second couples—Donald and Melania Trump, and JD and Usha Vance—now hanging in the Hall of Nations, The Daily Beast reports.
Programming has shifted sharply, too. Since January, right-leaning and Christian-oriented events have surged, with fees cut or waived for friendly groups. And last Friday, the Kennedy Center hosted a bizarre ceremony where FIFA President Gianni Infantino handed Trump the organization’s first-ever Peace Prize—a prize that didn’t exist until after Trump’s failed push for the Nobel Peace Prize in October.
FIFA will also use the Kennedy Center for free ahead of the 2026 World Cup Draw, but the optics of the building’s glow and the ceremony have left staffers shaking their heads.
Under Trump, the Kennedy Center has gone from a national arts landmark to a MAGA-branded showcase. Lights, portraits, and politics dominate, while staffers whisper jokes about foreign flags behind the scenes.
