For 13 months, President Trump has been the chairman, muse, occasional programmer, and featured artist on the John F. Kennedy Heart for the Performing Arts. His centrality—maybe much more than his identify on the constructing—helps clarify why so many acts have deserted the Washington, D.C. arts advanced. (The most up-to-date, the New York Metropolis Ballet, didn’t want to clarify itself when it dropped a six-show run this week.)
Trump is undoubtedly on his approach to remaking the Kennedy Heart in his picture. However his stewardship additionally imposes constraints on him, as turned clear through the latest back-and-forth between the White Home and the comic Invoice Maher, who the middle stated will obtain this yr’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Sometimes, another person will get to be the principle character—on this case, an individual from that prickliest of creative mediums, comedy.
My colleague Ashley Parker and I reported final week that Maher was the selection for this yr’s prize, one in all comedy’s highest honors, based on a number of folks aware of the choice. However inside a number of hours, White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a press release: “That is pretend information. Invoice Maher will NOT be getting this award.” White Home Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on X that the story was “actually FAKE NEWS.” As Ashley and I wrote, after our article was revealed, the White Home referred to as the Kennedy Heart to clarify that Maher wouldn’t obtain the award. One Kennedy Heart staffer described a sudden change of plans.
On Thursday, the Kennedy Heart introduced that Maher is, certainly, this yr’s Twain recipient. Maher addressed the reversal final night time on his HBO present Actual Time: “So, I used to be gonna get it after which Friday, Trump’s—each his spokespeople—come out and say, Faux information; Invoice Maher’s by no means getting it.” He went on: “We have now reached a compromise, okay? And the compromise is, I’m going to get it, after which I’m going to present it to him. All people’s comfortable.”
Is everyone comfortable? It was a revealing monologue, suggesting why the White Home might have been reluctant to let a punchy comedian—one with out a lot reverence for the president—obtain this prize in a venue that these days would appear to have room for just one identify on the marble facade.
In some methods, the exercise on the Kennedy Heart has been enterprise as common since Trump took over in February 2025: orchestra live shows, Broadway excursions, free live shows for households. But it surely has additionally been the setting for a sustained work of efficiency by Trump.
It started final March with some storytelling, when the president convened his loyalist board on the heart. In audio that leaked to reporters, he imagined reshaping the annual Kennedy Heart Honors ceremony to go well with his preferences, and floated names comparable to Sylvester Stallone and Paul Anka. At previous awards exhibits, “these are radical left lunatics which were chosen,” he stated. “I didn’t prefer it. I couldn’t watch it. And the host was at all times horrible.” Most years, the Kennedy Heart introduced the winners of its most prestigious prize in newspaper exclusives and a press launch. However by August, Trump had returned to the middle to disclose not solely the recipients (together with Stallone), but in addition that he had personally accepted the alternatives and would function the occasion’s emcee.
Trump’s style turned a fair louder presence on the Kennedy Heart because the yr went on. He held a high-dollar fundraiser through the opening night time of Les Misérables, a musical in step with the Trumpian aesthetic: huge, populist, and a product of the ’80s. He televised Kennedy Heart board conferences as if they had been episodes of The Apprentice, and even invoked his catchphrase at the newest one: “I feel he’d do a great job,” Trump stated of the middle’s newly put in high government, Matt Floca. “But when I don’t suppose he’ll do a great job, I’ll say, Matt, you’re fired.” He weighed in personally on Kennedy Heart–renovation choices, posting potential design decisions (comparable to marble armrests) on Fact Social and ordering the gold-hued exterior columns to be repainted white. On the Kennedy Heart, Trump was a mogul, impresario, and grasp builder unexpectedly.
The president carried out his politics and prolonged his private model on the heart. He insisted on transferring FIFA’s World Cup draw to the Kennedy Heart; on the December occasion, the federation’s president bestowed Trump with a made-up award, the FIFA Peace Prize. He rallied the troops at a Republican congressional retreat there in January. Melania, a vital dud of a conceit documentary in regards to the First Girl, had its world premiere on the venue. No quantity of squinting might let the general public fake that this was nonetheless a traditional arts heart recognized for drawing bipartisan crowds.
On the Kennedy Heart Honors in December, Trump held court docket on the pink carpet and through the ceremony; it was one other alternative to claim his dominance over the establishment. Talking to reporters, he joked that he would possibly nominate himself in 2027. Onstage, he deserted the host’s creed of placing an viewers comfy. “So many individuals I do know on this viewers—some good, some unhealthy,” Mr. Trump stated. “Some I actually love and respect. Some I actually hate. However they’re having a great time.”
For the Honors, the Kennedy Heart managed to program a night suitable with Trump’s ongoing cultural venture: The skills had been by various levels Trumpy, however none of them felt too dissonant with the occasion’s precise star attraction. A comedy present—virtually any comedy present—is a unique creature. To make a extra subservient choose comparable to, say, the Fox Information late-night host Greg Gutfeld (whose identify was reportedly floated) could be virtually too heavy-handed. It might counsel that this most personalist of presidential administrations doesn’t simply demand obeisance, but in addition that it could possibly’t take a joke.
The query of whether or not the president can take a joke has pushed a shocking variety of his controversies. Trump has a prolonged and principally venomous historical past with Maher, however the two broke bread final yr, solely to interact in an insult struggle final month. The previous Politically Incorrect host makes some sense for a Trump-era Twain Prize, the ceremony of which can be streamed on Netflix later this yr. The comic is as well-known for critiquing liberal pieties and “woke” tradition as he’s for poking enjoyable at these in energy, and he’ll give the president credit score on sure points.
“I’m not mad that he did this,” Maher stated of the non permanent rescinding of his prize. “Me and the president, we have now a sophisticated relationship,” he famous. “Him attempting to dam me from getting it? I respect the transfer. Hold the sport going child, okay?” Addressing Trump instantly, he added: “You’ll be able to thank me in particular person for being one of many few folks on the ‘lunatic left’ who’s glad you hit Iran and is hoping we win that one.”
Maher’s choice illustrates that Trump’s Kennedy Heart has by no means fairly been as censorious as some critics assumed. A lot of the high-profile cancellations, in any case, have come from artists attempting to dissociate from Trump’s self-branded marble shoebox on the Potomac. (On the identical time, the middle has shed staffers tasked with diversifying programming, and even sued one jazz artist for canceling a live performance.)
In his manner, Trump respects comedians. It’s why he insults Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, and maybe even why his Federal Communications Fee has gotten into scraps with networks over their late-night programming. An anti-elitist elite, Trump might merely crave their approbation and respect. Maher is prepared to dispense the uncommon drop of it. However I doubt that may preserve Trump protected on Maher’s huge night time.
