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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
David Smith in Washington

‘Not what we signed up for’: inside Trump’s ‘shocking’ Kennedy Center takeover

Donald Trump participates in the Celebrate Freedom Rally at the John F Kennedy Center in 2017.
Donald Trump participates in the Celebrate Freedom Rally at the John F Kennedy Center in 2017. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

America’s biggest annual gathering of conservatives had just got under way near Washington when its organiser, Matt Schlapp, turned to Ric Grenell and quipped: “My daughters want tickets to all the good Kennedy Center shows.”

Grenell, a former acting director of national intelligence, was recently named by Donald Trump as interim president of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. He told the Conservative Political Action Conference last week that his vision for the centre is “to make art great again”, including “a big, huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas”.

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