'Yikes': Opera’s exit fuels criticism of Trump’s remake of the Kennedy Center

The Washington National Opera’s decision to leave the Kennedy Center after more than five decades set off a political and cultural firestorm – and critics wasted no time framing it as a direct rebuke of President Donald Trump’s second-term overhaul of the iconic institution.

The New York Times, which broke the story Friday, described the move as “perhaps the largest artistic rebuke yet” to Trump’s campaign to remake the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in his own image. The opera company, which has performed at the center since 1971, cited declining attendance and donations over the last year as key factors behind the decision.

Reaction online and over the airwaves was swift and brutal.

"The Kennedy Center with no more operas but with the 'premiere' of 'Melania: The Movie' kind of says it all," conservative analyst Bill Kristol, the editor at large for The Bulwark, wrote in a post on X.

“The Trump administration inches closer to its unstated but deeply-held objective: CATS every weekend,” James Himberger, managing editor of The National Interest, posted to his X followers.

“It’s such a shame that a storied institution like the Kennedy Center is losing these kinds of performances – the culture, the art, the history,” CNN's Maria Cardona said on the network Friday.

“It’s an unfortunate situation all the way around,” Matt Gorman, Republican strategist, said when reacting to the news on CNN, adding that the MAGA-inspired moves are “having a financial cost.”

Journalist Justin O’Neill called the decision a “big deal for DC’s arts scene.” While X user TommyRulzNYC summed up the announcement in a single word: “YIKES.”