For 13 months, President Trump has been the chair, muse, frequent producer, and featured artist at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His crowd—perhaps even more than his name on the building-helps explain why so many acts have left the Washington, DC art scene. (The soon(The New York City Ballet didn’t need to explain itself when it dropped a six-show competition this week.)
Trump is definitely on his way to remodel the Kennedy Center in his own image. But his stewardship also imposes restrictions on him, as was evident during a recent exchange between the White House and comedian Bill Maher, who the station said will receive this year’s Mark Twain Award for American Humor. Occasionally, someone else becomes the main character—in this case, someone from the more artistic mediums of comedy.
My partner Ashley Parker and I it was reported last week that Maher was the pick for this year’s award, one of comedy’s highest honors, according to several people familiar with the nominations. But within hours, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement: “This is fake news. Bill Maher will NOT receive this award.” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on X that the story was “FAKE NEWS.” As Ashley and I wrote, after our article was published, the White House called the Kennedy Center to make it clear that Maher would not receive the award. One Kennedy Center staff member described the sudden change of plans.
On Thursday, the Kennedy Center he announced that Maher is this year’s Twain recipient. Maher handled the changes last night on his HBO show, Real Time: “So, I’d get it and then Friday, Trump’s—both its spokesmen – come out and say, Fake news; Bill Maher never got it.” He continued: “We have reached an agreement, right? And the compromise is, I’ll get it, and then I’ll give it to him. Everyone is happy.”
Is everyone happy? It was a revealing speech, suggesting why the White House was reluctant to allow a greedy caricature—someone with little respect for the president—to receive this award in a hall that would recently have seemed to have room for just one name on a marble face.
In some ways, activity at the Kennedy Center has been normal since Trump took office in February 2025: orchestra concerts, Broadway tours, free family concerts. But it has also been the setting for Trump’s continued executive work.
It began last March with storytelling, when the president convened his board of trustees at the center. In audio leaked to reportershe envisioned redesigning the annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony to suit his wishes, and floated names such as Sylvester Stallone and Paul Anka. At previous awards shows, “these are the radical lunatics who have been chosen,” he said. “I didn’t like it. I couldn’t watch it. And the announcer was always bad.” Over the years, the Kennedy Center has announced the winners of its most prestigious exclusive newspaper and press release awards. But by August, Trump had returned to the center to reveal not only the recipients (including Stallone), but also that he had personally approved the selections and would serve as the event’s emcee.
Trump’s taste grew stronger at the Kennedy Center as the year went on. He held a top dollar fundraiser during the opening night of the Les Misérablesmusic that fits the Trumpian aesthetic: big, popular, and a product of the ’80s. He announced Kennedy Center board meetings as if they were sessions of Studentand even called his phrase in the most recent one: “I think he would do a great job,” Trump said of the station’s new chief executive officer, Matt Floca. “But if I don’t think he’s going to do a good job, I’ll say, Matt, you’re fired.“He personally weighed in on Kennedy Center renovation decisions, posting possible design options (such as marble handrails) on Truth Social and ordering the gold-colored exterior columns to be repainted white. At the Kennedy Center, Trump was a master, architect, and master builder all at once.
The president ran his politics and expanded his personal brand at the center. He insisted on moving the FIFA World Cup draw to the Kennedy Center; at a December event, the confederation’s president awarded Trump with a self-made award, the FIFA Peace Prize. He rallied the troops at the Republican congressional meeting in January. Melaniaa an important person of the vanity film about the first lady, had its world premiere at the venue. No amount of trickery could allow the public to pretend that this was still an ordinary art center known for painting groups of two people.
At the Kennedy Center Honors in December, Trump held court on the red carpet and during the ceremony; it was another opportunity to demonstrate his dominance over the institution. Speaking to reporters, he joked that he might nominate himself in 2027. While on stage, he abandoned the organizer’s belief in putting the audience at ease. “A lot of people I know in this audience – some good, some bad,” Trump he said. “Some I love and respect a lot. Others I hate a lot. But they are happy.”
To their credit, the Kennedy Center was able to organize an evening that matched Trump’s ongoing cultural project: The talents were of varying degrees of Trumpy, but none of them felt too disinterested in the real appeal of the event. A comedy show – almost any comedy show – is a different creature. To make a more loyal choice like, say, late night Fox News anchor Greg Gutfeld (whose name was it is said to have floated) will be almost too heavy. It would suggest that this most selfish of presidential administrations not only doesn’t want to be bowed down to, but also that it can’t take a joke.
The question of whether the president can make a joke it has caused a surprising number of controversies. Trump has a long and toxic history and Maher, but the two broke up last year, and got into a verbal battle last month. The first one Politically Incorrect broadcaster makes sense of the Trump-era Twain Awards, a ceremony that will air on Netflix later this year. The comedian is also known for bashing liberal gods and “woke” culture as he mocks those in power, and will give the president credit for certain issues.
“I’m not mad that he did this,” Maher said of the temporary rescinding of his award. “The president and I have a difficult relationship,” he noted. “He’s trying to stop me from getting it? I respect that move. Keep playing, kid, okay?” Addressing Trump directly, he added: “You can thank me personally for being one of the few people on the ‘crazy left’ who are happy that you hit Iran and hopefully we will win that.”
Maher’s nomination shows that Trump’s Kennedy Center has never been as controlling as some critics thought. The high-profile cancellations, after all, have come from artists trying to distance themselves from Trump’s personal marble shoebox on the Potomac. (At the same time, the center has provided staff tasked with changing the program, and even to be prosecuted one jazz artist for canceling a concert.)
In his own way, Trump respects comedians. That’s why he insults Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbertand perhaps even why its Federal Communications Commission has it’s gone into the scrap and networking through their late night programs. A highly educated person, Trump may crave their approval and respect. Maher is ready to give his rare drop. But I doubt that will keep Trump safe on Maher’s big night.
