JFK’s family slams Trump over Kennedy Center: ‘How small minded, how narcissistic’

The family of former President Kennedy slammed President Trump for his ongoing legal battle to put his name on the Kennedy Center and to close the building for planned renovations.

The Kennedy Center board, handpicked by Trump, voted Tuesday to close the main building, but Trump said the renovations will not happen as long as the ruling blocking his name from being added to the center stands.

“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Kennedy’s niece Maria Shriver, who was the former first lady of California, said Trump’s statement “blows my mind,” calling the president “small minded” and “narcissistic.”

“That a sitting president would not let any renovations to a public building go on unless he gets to first put his name in the said building… What a sad state of affairs. What a tragedy,” she wrote on the social platform X .

“It seems that this man will not rest until his name is permanently connected to the name of a great president, whose memory this building was dedicated to,” she added.

Kennedy’s grandson Jack Schlossberg, who recently ran an unsuccessful campaign in New York’s 12th Congressional District, also weighed in.

“JFK’s legacy is unbreakable — the moon, the Civil Rights Act, Cuban Missile Crisis and the arts. Trump is a broken band in nose dive decline,” he said in a statement .

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio board member, sued in December to block the name change and closure plans. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled against the board and blocked its attempt to add Trump’s name to the building’s facade.

Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, called Beatty a “national hero” for challenging the board and the administration in court.

“She has fiercely and courageously stood up for the Kennedy Center, for the arts, for Uncle Jack’s memory, for this country’s history, and most importantly, for the law, time and time again,” she wrote on social media . “We will not be bullied into silence or submission. Thank you, Rep. Beatty. We are all so grateful for your leadership.”

Kerry Kennedy’s brother, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has said in the past he has “bigger fish to fry” than worrying about a name change.