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Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said on Sunday that living public officials should not have buildings named after them and proposed a rule to prohibit such renaming efforts.
This comes as President Donald Trump continues to push to rename the Kennedy Center after himself. The president has also sought to rename other prominent federal buildings in Washington, D.C., after himself since returning to the White House last year.
Kennedy said public officials, including Trump, should not “spend public money on private ads for themselves.”
“The White House sees it differently, but … you can’t spend public money to … promote yourself,” Kennedy told host Margaret Brennan during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
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Kennedy’s comments came as a new ad promoting Trump appeared on multiple networks, that was funded by the federal government.
The senator then suggested public officials should be barred from having a building named after them while they are still alive.
“I may end up with a sombrero on my head, but I also think we ought to have a rule that no politician can have a building named after him when he’s alive,” he said, referring to Trump mocking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., last year by sharing AI videos of the lawmakers wearing sombreros.
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Trump has attempted to rename multiple buildings after himself since returning to the Oval Office, including the Kennedy Center, although federal judges blocked multiple attempts by the center’s board — handpicked by Trump — to add the president’s name to the building.
Trump’s name was briefly added to the building’s facade but was ordered removed after courts ruled that only Congress holds the authority to change the center’s name.
The State Department also added Trump’s name last year to the U.S. Institute of Peace, but former institute officials removed by the Trump administration filed a court motion earlier this month to block construction crews from putting the president’s name onto the outside of the building.
Trump also suggested he wanted New York’s Penn Station and the D.C. area’s Dulles Airport named after him as a condition for a funding deal earlier this year.
The president has additionally floated a project to construct a promenade connecting the back of the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River, saying that allies wanted to call it the “Trump Promenade.”
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“They want to call it the Trump Promenade, but I don’t know if I want to do that, but it’s going to be beautiful,” he said at the time.