If Trump’s goal is to create a Kennedy Center for the people, then this year’s Honors ceremony seemed entirely designed to vindicate their tastes.
If Trump’s goal is to create a Kennedy Center for the people, then this year’s Honors ceremony seemed entirely designed to vindicate their tastes.
T he Kennedy Center Honors is an inherently exclusive affair. Tickets to the annual celebration of luminaries in American performing arts are largely reserved for patrons of the venue, and the guest list typically consists of prominent names in culture and politics. But that didn’t stop President Trump’s populist tendencies from permeating the 48th Honors ceremony this past Sunday night.
In previous years, honorees were chosen by a special committee of trustees and artists.
This year, however, Trump appointed himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and installed new leadership. In August, he revealed that he was “about 98 percent involved” in selecting the 2025 cohort.
Trump’s choices — Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor, KISS, Sylvester Stallone, and George Strait — speak to his taste in popular culture and his fondness for the theatrical.
They are also emblematic of his concern with “bringing the arts to the people,” as Kennedy Center board member Mary Helen Bowers told National Review on Sunday.
“Our honorees represent all genres,” said Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations. “We really believe that it’s important to have something for everyone here at America’s cultural center.”
“I like them as people. I’ve listened to their music over the years. They are characters, too, really are,” Trump told NR when asked about his decision to honor KISS. He also praised the band and Sylvester Stallone for their popularity.
Bowers, Daravi, and Trump spoke to NR on the Kennedy Center’s red carpet, where artists, trustees, and members of the Trump administration gathered to celebrate both the evening’s honorees and the president’s efforts to reshape the venue.
Since taking control of the Kennedy Center in February, Trump has sought to overhaul its programming. With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in July, he secured more than $250 million in funding from Congress to launch a major renovation of the venue. This year’s Honors ceremony has also generated a record $23 million in donations, according to Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell.
In a departure from tradition, Trump chose to host Sunday’s ceremony himself. His performance was alternately redolent of a late-night comedy routine and a campaign trail stump speech. He joked that if he failed to impress the audience, they could ignore him and focus on the music. “This is, they say, the most exciting evening of this kind in a long, long time in our country,” he declared with typical braggadocio.
After commending the “persistence” shown by the honorees in their pursuit of excellence in the arts, Trump jokingly complimented his “miserable, horrible” critics in the audience for their own persistence: “You never give up. Sometimes I wish you’d give up, but you don’t.” The crowd erupted in laughter. Throughout the evening, they punctuated his remarks with rapturous applause and cheers of affirmation. For most in attendance, the president was as much of a star as the honorees.
During his remarks, Trump praised the “incredible” work of House Speaker Mike Johnson and the passage of the OBBBA, celebrating the bill’s changes to tax and regulatory policy. Trump’s critics have accused him of politicizing the Kennedy Center since his takeover began. But speaking to National Review on the red carpet, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the president’s goal is simply for the Kennedy Center “to be glorious, to be beautiful, to be really a place that shines for America.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, meanwhile, scoffed at the idea that Trump’s involvement should be seen in a political light.
“I think no matter what the president does, people will try to criticize him, which is too bad,” Duffy said. “There is a place for politics, and we should all engage in the political arena. This is not that. . . . But I think the left can’t wrap their heads around Donald Trump doing something for a facility that they actually really like.”
For the stars of the evening, politics was of little concern. Michael Crawford, who is best known as the original Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, resisted being drawn into such debates as he made his way down the red carpet. With an ebullient smile, he told NR that receiving the award has made him consider a return to acting. “It’s sort of put new life into me,” he said.
Founding KISS drummer Peter Criss was similarly euphoric as he showed off his gold medallion. The award, designed by Tiffany, was strikingly heavy. “It’s surreal. It’s like a dream,” Criss said. “Mr. President was so gracious, and he was so funny.”
Outspoken Republicans are a minority in American entertainment, but could a Trump-controlled Kennedy Center mark a step toward removing some of the stigma attached to conservatives in the arts? Kelsey Grammer, who has long been open about his conservative views, attended the ceremony to honor Michael Crawford. He told National Review that he was happy to see the “top guy in the country lead the top event for art in the country,” although he believes that Trump’s divisive personality carries some “inherent risks.”
Two of Trump’s defining characteristics repeatedly surfaced throughout the ceremony: his love of America and his fixation on “winning.” He observed that all of the honorees have overcome “tremendous setbacks” in their careers to ultimately succeed. “In the words of Rocky Balboa, he showed us that you keep moving forward. . . . It’s all about winning, and you win forward, and that’s how winning is done.”
Such rugged determination is a hallmark of the American dream, which the evening seemed designed to celebrate in uniquely extravagant fashion. Kari Lake, an adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, told National Review that Trump’s goal is to “protect America and save it” through the arts. She stressed that the “truly all-American night” should be enjoyed by anyone patriotic, regardless of partisan affiliation.
Trump’s honorees certainly embody the American spirit. Gloria Gaynor, Sylvester Stallone, and the members of KISS all rose from difficult backgrounds to national superstardom. KISS in particular became successful because of the public rather than critics, who treated the band’s theatrics with disdain.
“Some of our fans have put up with a lot of flak for loving us,” KISS frontman Paul Stanley told National Review. “Maybe the public didn’t always understand what we were about, but tens and tens of millions did and do. . . . If this is vindication for them, so be it.”
If Trump’s goal is to create a Kennedy Center for the people, then this year’s Honors ceremony seemed entirely designed to vindicate their tastes.