Political Theater: Erasing Donald J. Trump Off the Kennedy Center
The striking images, political symbolism, and spectacle of taking his name down — and the drag queen still standing.
Between June 12–13, 2026, workers removed Donald Trump’s name from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
The photos offer a fascinating look at symbolic removal: the public witnessing Trump’s literal fall, and the space itself filling with patriotism, irony, and commentary on Trump’s efforts to place himself above JFK.
Someday, I’m sure the Trump era will be captured in that classic art form: opera.
Until that happens, I can imagine no better scene than these workers on scaffolds, frozen in almost theatrical poses, that would read as over‑the‑top if America weren’t fighting for every last shred of creative expression.
The public returns
— for one night only —
to witness the removal of 45!
It’s the biggest crowd the center has seen since the artists rebelled and Trump had to shut the place down.
The removal inspires its own performance, as a couple dances before the facade.
If there is a leading character here, it is drag performer Tara Hoot, a mainstay at the Kennedy Center throughout Trump’s tenure. To mark Trump’s come‑down, Tara offered bubbles for the man who otherwise lives in one.
I don’t remember any such screens when Trump ordered that names be ripped off federal buildings in the “DOGE” days.
His last-ditch attempt to save face leaves us with a modesty curtain.
A break in the curtain puts the shoe on the other foot: Trump, removed with brute force.
It was Trump’s dream billing: a president inserting himself into the Kennedy Center, using Les Misérables to claim the high‑culture stage as his own.
>>> See stand-out pix of Trump in the balcony in “Trump’s Visual Legacy at 100 Days: Not Normal Pictures for Not Normal Times” <<<
But Trump’s culture war runs right through this frame. Trump and key allies, including the Attorney General, head into a musical about revolution and justice while banning books and criminalizing drag.
Jordan and his wife stride past the queens with studied indifference, formal theater wear set against sequins and wigs. A man who’s built a career attacking LGBTQ+ rights now has to walk past the people he’s targeting.
As the Independent and The Advocate make clear, it was the drag performers’ night as much as Trump’s. They weren’t just there for effect; they claimed the same auditorium, the same performance.
If the Trump years do become opera someday, I hope this is one of the scenes: the omnipresent Tara anchored in the background, her ticket in hand, as Trump bit players pass through.
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