(The Hill) — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Friday said he will introduce a bill to ban sitting presidents from naming federal buildings after themselves, following the renaming of the Kennedy Center on Thursday.
“What arrogance,” Sanders wrote on the social platform X, referring to President Trump. “What narcissism. I will be introducing legislation prohibiting the naming of federal buildings after sitting presidents.”
Sanders’s post shared a video from Reuters about the Kennedy Center Board unanimously voting to rename it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
The center updated its signage on Friday, with The Washington Post reporting that large letters spelling “Trump” were spotted on the floor outside the building.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the renaming illegal and required congressional approval. Center interim president Richard Grenell argued against this in an X post.
“The decision of the Trump Kennedy Center Board doesn’t impact the Memorial to Kennedy set up by Congress,” Grenell wrote early Friday.
Members of the Kennedy family condemned the decision to rename the building. Kerry Kennedy, daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, said former President Kennedy “proudly stood for justice, peace, equality, dignity, diversity, and compassion for those who suffer.”
“President Trump stands in opposition to these values, and his name should not be placed alongside President Kennedy’s,” she continued.
Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., grandson of RFK, said the center was “a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law.”
Maria Shriver, the daughter of former President Kennedy’s sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called the renaming “TDS in full display,” referring to the acronym for “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a made-up diagnosis Trump has given his critics to dismiss attacks against him.
Trump praised the board for its vote by referring to them as “the most distinguished people in the country.”
“We saved the building because it was in such bad shape, physically, financially, and in every other way, and now it’s very solid, very strong,” the president told reporters.
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