President Donald Trump stunned guests at a formal Kennedy Center board dinner on Monday evening with a profane remark during a wide-ranging speech that mixed his political grievances with sharp criticism of the arts institution’s previous leadership.
Speaking in the White House State Dining Room to newly appointed Kennedy Center trustees and administration officials, Trump referenced the 2020 election while discussing his role in bringing major global sporting events to the United States.
‘We got the Olympics and then we got through Gianni, he’s the boss, he’s a friend of mine, we got the World Cup,’ Trump said. ‘I got them both and I said, “Man, I won’t be president and they’re gonna forget that I got them. Nobody’s gonna mention it.”‘
He then pivoted to his false claims about the 2020 election declaring: ‘And then they rigged the election, and then I said, “You know what I’ll do? I’ll run again and I’ll shove it up their a**.”‘
He also emphasized that if the 2020 election hadn’t been ‘cheated’, he would be retired by now.
‘If they would’ve left us alone, and wouldn’t have cheated on the election, and wouldn’t have rigged it, I would’ve been retired right now. I would’ve been happily doing something else, and instead they have me for four more years, can you believe that?”
The line delivered by Trump with a smirk drew laughter and applause from the board members seated before him.
Trump used the dinner not only to relitigate the election but also to blast the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts itself, mocking its architecture and past programming, and promising to overhaul the institution he now controls as board chair.
Months after firing its former board and installing his allies, Trump admitted bluntly, ‘I hadn’t been there. It’s the last time I’ll take a job without looking at it.’
Once he visited the building he claimed to be horrified, not by the original structure, but by ‘The Reach,’ a $250 million modern addition to the Kennedy Center that opened in 2019.
‘I always thought they should have built a beautiful performing center, open air, facing out over the Potomac,’ Trump said.
‘They didn’t do that. They built these crazy rooms underneath. They built three tiny little stages. Very expensive… Someday maybe somebody will occupy one.’
He said what he saw looked like ‘concrete hubs’ which he initially mistook for ‘modern art blocking everybody’s view.’
He added: ‘I don’t know what the hell they were doing, but they spent a lot of money and it’s just not possible that they could have spent it so poorly.’
But Trump saved his most blistering attacks for the Kennedy Center’s past programming, which he denounced as a parade of leftist, identity-based spectacles.
‘In addition, the programming was out of control with rampant political propaganda, DEI, and inappropriate shows,’ Trump said.
‘They had dance parties for quote ‘queer and trans youth.’ And I guess that’s all right for certain people… But that wasn’t working out too well.’
He also mocked one program in particular: ‘They had a Marxist anti-police performance and they had lesbian-only Shakespeare – which is never – who thinks of these ideas, really? It’s different.’
The Kennedy Center, under Trump’s direction, has already canceled upcoming World Pride events planned for June.
In their place, Trump promised ‘great Broadway’ titles like Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Moulin Rouge, and Back to the Future: The Musical.
‘We’re signing Phantom of the Opera. We’re signing a lot of great Broadway. We’ll have them run for a while,’ he said. ‘It’s been neglected very badly and it needs an infusion of different things, probably funds.’
Seated in the audience Monday night were a lineup of Trump-world heavyweights, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and casino mogul Steve Wynn.
Wynn’s wife Andrea, along with Dana Blumberg (wife of Patriots owner Robert Kraft), were among those appointed to the Kennedy Center board.
Also on the board are Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Usha Vance (wife of Sen. J.D. Vance), and Paolo Zampolli, the modeling agent who discovered Melania Trump.
Country singer Lee Greenwood, who recently performed for US troops in Qatar alongside Trump, is also a member.
Trump made clear his takeover of the Kennedy Center is not symbolic but personal.
‘I love turning things around,’ he told the crowd. ‘I’m doing that with the country. Believe me, we’re doing it.’