President Donald Trump responded to criticism from Democrats regarding the motives behind his moves to rename buildings around Washington, D.C., after himself, saying that no one else will do it once he is out of office.
Since taking office in his second term as president, Trump and his administration have moved to rename buildings like the United States Institute of Peace and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, drawing backlash from Democrats who oppose the changes. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) drew attention to this in a June speech, during which he called Trump a “failed president,” saying, “he’s building a monument to himself. But see, Atlanta, he’s doing these things now because no one will honor him when he’s gone.”
In a New York Magazine interview released Friday, Trump himself weighed in on Ossoff’s theory when the outlet asked him about it.
“That’s true,” Trump told the outlet. “Nobody will do it once I’m gone. When I leave here, nobody will.”
In the interview, Trump walked the outlet’s reporter through his plans for the White House East Wing ballroom, a project he has touted throughout his second administration as vital to national security due to the Secret Service bunker planned beneath it. When the reporter pressed Trump on whether the ballroom would be named after him, the president responded, “I don’t know if it will, but it should.”
The Trump administration has largely sought to rename D.C. structures where he has had a direct impact, including the Kennedy Center, where he has overseen plans for a possible two-year renovation. When renaming the Institute of Peace, the State Department said it was naming it the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace “to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history,” referring to the several peace deals he has helped broker.
The ballroom project, alongside his plans to renovate structures such as the Kennedy Center and the East Potomac Golf Links, has run into legal woes as Democrats and historic preservationists have mounted several lawsuits against the projects.
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Regarding the Kennedy Center, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio member of the center’s board, filed a lawsuit over both the Trump administration’s planned renaming and construction projects at the facility.
In the latest development, Justice Department lawyers notified the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the board will not effectuate its plan to add “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump” to the end of “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” until the beginning of October.