President Donald Trump’s drive to stamp his name on premier U.S. institutions is facing mounting legal pushback, as lawmakers, advocacy groups and former officials challenge moves to rebrand cultural landmarks, a peace institute, immigration programs and even national park passes after him.
Kennedy Center Renaming Sparks Lawsuit And Backlash
Trump’s handpicked board at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted last week to rename it “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” a change the White House touts as a bipartisan tribute.
As noted in a newsletter by The Hill, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio trustee, has sued, arguing federal law designates the venue solely as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy and that only Congress can alter its name. She says she was muted during the board meeting and barred from objecting.
Peace Institute Takeover Branded ‘Gross Usurpation Of Power’
At the United States Institute of Peace, Trump’s State Department recently added his name above the building’s existing inscription and began referring to it as the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace,” even as a court fight over control of the congressionally funded body continues.
A federal judge earlier ruled the administration’s takeover a “gross usurpation of power,” but an appeals court stayed that decision, leaving the building under administration control while the case proceeds. Lawyers for ousted leaders say the new branding “adds insult to injury,” as per an Associated Press report.
Immigration And Parks Branding Draw Fresh Fire
Trump’s naming push also extends into immigration and public lands. Civil rights and environmental groups have warned that his “Trump Gold Card” investor visa proposal, pitched as a multi-million-dollar fast track to US citizenship, risks turning immigration into a pay-to-enter program and could face lawsuits if it sidesteps existing statutory safeguards.
As per a Reuters report, the Center for Biological Diversity has already sued to block plans to put Trump’s face on the 2026 “America the Beautiful” national parks annual pass, arguing federal law requires the pass to display the winning Glacier National Park photo from an official contest, not a politician’s portrait.
Trump’s allies argue that critics are overreacting and claim that the renamings simply acknowledge his record on peace, culture and economic growth. The White House has framed the USIP rebrand as honoring “the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history,” and Trump has celebrated the Trump–Kennedy Center as a symbol of “unequivocal bipartisan support” for American arts.
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