President Donald Trump was widely mocked Saturday after video emerged of workers tearing down his name from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. – an operation carried out in the dead of night and behind a large tarp.
After a judge ruled that the Kennedy Center could not be renamed outside of an act of Congress, workers began setting up scaffolding to remove Trump’s name from the historic building on Friday. It wouldn’t be until 3:10 a.m. early Saturday morning, however, that workers actually began tearing down the president’s name, and behind a large tarp “seemingly to block views of Trump’s name disappearing from the venue,” USA Today reported.
“Trump’s name went up on the Kennedy Center in broad daylight,” wrote Democratic strategist Jon Cooper Saturday in a social media post on X to his more than 1.3 million followers. “Removing it? Full scaffolding plus a giant curtain to hide the humiliation from the public. Nothing screams ‘strong leader’ like draping theater curtains over your own petty rejection. Fragile ego on full display.”
Ben Meiselas, co-founder of the progressive media organization MeidasTouch, likened the discreet operation to the Trump administration’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
“Covering it up like the Epstein Files,” he wrote in a social media post on X to his more than 285,000 followers.
Late Friday night, onlookers could be heard chanting “take it down” as workers prepared to remove Trump’s name from the building, according to a video shared by liberal influencer Ed Krassenstein. They could also be heard booing once workers began moving the tarp in place to shield Trump’s name removal from public view, according to video broadcast by MS NOW.
“The irony of the Trump administration claiming to be the most transparent in history is never lost on me. Kennedy Center workers used a tarp so cameras couldn’t see the removal,” wrote Democratic strategist and writer Christopher Webb. “It’s like playing hide-and-seek with a toddler: if they can’t see you, they think you can’t see them.”
Trump’s name went up on the Kennedy Center in broad daylight.
Removing it? Full scaffolding plus a giant curtain to hide the humiliation from the public.
Nothing screams “strong leader” like draping theater curtains over your own petty rejection. Fragile ego on full display. 😂 https://t.co/N8dbYXrHGt
— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) June 13, 2026