Simpson’s sycophancy: Rename Kennedy Center opera house after ... Melania? | Opinion

U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson’s sycophancy to President Donald Trump reached new and ludicrous heights Tuesday.

Simpson, who chairs the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, inserted language into the fiscal year 2026 budget to name the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after first lady Melania Trump, the president’s third wife.

“First Lady Melania Trump serves as the Honorary Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Kennedy Center,” Simpson said. “Naming a theater after her is an excellent way to recognize her appreciation for the arts. As Chairman of the House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee — which oversees federal funding for capital repairs and operations and maintenance at the Kennedy Center — I am proud to honor her support and commitment in promoting the arts and humanities.”

Is this really what the blue-collar, working-class voters from Idaho — or anywhere — are concerned about?

Of course not. Naming an opera house after the president’s wife couldn’t get more elitist.

Meanwhile, talking about commitment to promoting the arts and humanities, that budget bill that he slipped this into includes a 35% cut to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Donald Trump, who appreciates the arts about as much as he appreciates a well-constructed sentence, wants to cut those programs altogether, so perhaps Simpson — who used to be a strong supporter of the arts and humanities — made a deal with him: Let me keep some funding for arts and humanities, and we’ll name an opera house after the first lady.

Or maybe Simpson knows that he’s up for reelection next year, and he really, really, really wants to stay in power, so he’d better get on Trump’s good side, for fear that the president will go on a poorly worded social media tirade and then back a primary opponent against him.

Either way, this level of subservience is downright embarrassing.

Simpson embarrasses himself, but even worse, he embarrasses Idaho.

Statesman editorials are the opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser and community members John Hess, Debbie McCormick and Julie Yamamoto.