Liberals Falsely Claim Kennedy Center Is Adorned with Trump Banners
Left-leaning social media users are citing a doctored image of the Kennedy Center to claim that Trump hung imperial-style posters of himself on the exterior of the building
By Sarah Komar
What happened: Left-leaning social media users spread a doctored image of imperial-style banners of President Donald Trump hung outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, claiming it represents "authoritarianism in real time.” The banners purportedly include the text, “President Trump Welcomes You” along with the slogan “Make America Great Again.”
Context: In February 2025, Trump dismissed the board of the Kennedy Center, the premier cultural institution in the nation’s capital, appointed himself chairman, and replaced board members with allies including Fox News anchors Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo.
A closer look: Social media users are sharing a screenshot of a doctored image of Trump banners, alongside the text: “THE BANNERS ARE UP. THE MASK IS OFF. THE COUP IS UNDERWAY. Trump’s face looms over the Kennedy Center, draped in imperial red banners—bigger than life, bigger than law, bigger than the people. This is not patriotism. This is authoritarianism in real time.”
Anti-Trump X user @JamesTate121 posted the screenshot with the text: “Can’t wait till we tear this down one day. Waste of taxpayer money.” The post garnered 505,000 views and 12,000 likes in three days.
Liberal Threads user @groceryonhome posted the image with the caption: “There was another guy that used to do this kind of s--- but I can’t quite remember his name. Wait. it’s coming to me. It was Hitler. That’s right.”
Actually: The photograph of the imperial-style banners is not real.
The photo was first published on Feb. 14, 2025, as a photo illustration in a Daily Beast (NewsGuard Trust Score: 87.5/100) opinion article titled “Quiet Over Trump’s Kennedy Center Grab Risks ‘Capitulation.’”
There are no Trump banners hanging outside the Kennedy Center.