The Kennedy Center is bringing a patriotic new change to concerts at the Washington, D.C., performing arts center ahead of America’s 250th birthday, The Daily Wire has learned.

Every performance of the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center throughout the 2025-2026 season will begin with the National Anthem. The move coincides with plans from the Trump administration to celebrate the 250 anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence next summer.

“The National Symphony should be playing the National Anthem,” Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell said.

The National Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1931 and performs around 150 concerts annually.

The move is the latest change at the Kennedy Center since President Donald Trump promised to end wokeness at the performing arts center. As part of this move, Trump became chair of the center and tapped Grenell to serve as its president.

“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote in February. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”

The changes the new board made led to full-scale meltdowns on the Left, including protests expressed through interpretive dancing.

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According to a previous report published by The Daily Wire, the Kennedy Center is $40 million in debt and will be making major cuts to staff.

“The former leadership built a broken budget with an operating deficit of 100 million dollars and a bottom-line deficit of 26 million dollars,” CFO Donna Arduin said. “The former leadership led Board members to believe there was a balanced budget when there was $26 Million in false funds. Fiscal Year 25 budget was previously passed with $26M of fictitious funds. We have now truly balanced the budget.”

To get the Center out of the red, Grenell “has hired new Department leaders with lower salaries than those they replaced, including his salary which is dramatically lower than the previous President’s.”

The CFO also said that the Kennedy Center “will adopt business practices with performance goals to bring accountability to our patrons and philanthropists.”

Conservative commentator Benny Johnson pressed Democrats about mainstreaming political violence after the Department of Justice arrested and charged a man for sending Johnson communication fantasizing about the conservative’s assassination.

The threatening communication was sent to Johnson’s home, where he lives with his wife and four young children. The incident occurred just days after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, 31. Johnson founded TPUSA Productions back in 2018 and was close friends with Kirk.

Alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi, Johnson spoke at a press conference on Friday. He said the man who threatened him, who’s been identified as a California man named George Russell Isbell Jr., wanted him dead because Johnson is a white, male, Christian Trump supporter.

“They described in great detail how I’d be killed in an open field, just like Charlie. How much blood would come out of my head and neck when it was blown off,” Johnson said. “This individual described orphaning my children and widowing my wife, with great joy.”

“You might want to say, ‘another left-wing radical, another extremist,'” Johnson continued. “And to that, I’d like to direct your attention to the state of Virginia, where Democrats have nominated and are about to vote for the chief law enforcement officer in that state, a man who has done the exact same thing. An individual who is calling for the assassination, by bullets, of Republicans that he disagrees with, the killing of their children, the slaughtering of, as he says, ‘little fascists.’ Are my four innocent, beautiful, little children ‘little fascists’?”

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As reported by The Daily Wire, Democrat Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones, in recently uncovered text messages, fantasized about murdering a state GOP leader with “two bullets to the head,” the death of the Republican’s children, and “piss[ing]” on the graves of other state Republicans.

Nearly all Democrats have refused to call on Jones to step down from the race.

“Violence has been mainstreamed by the Democratic Party,” Johnson said. “It is not ‘extremist,’ it is mainstream. And we need a moment of reckoning, here. This has to stop. This cycle must end. Is any Democrat courageous enough to disavow violence?”

🚨 JUST IN: Benny Johnson says the leftist man who wanted to KILL HIM explicitly said why – and now Democrats are nominating a candidate in Virginia who wants to do the SAME THING

“I am a white, cis, Christian Trump supporter. They described I’d be killed in an open field, how… pic.twitter.com/834aqXu10S

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 10, 2025

Johnson’ wife, Kate Johnson, asked if Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA) would disavow the man who sent the threatening letter to her home, as the suspect resides in California.

Hey @CAgovernor – the man who threatened to kill my husband, @bennyjohnson, and harm my 4 small children is a resident of your state. Are you going to disavow him?

Or is this ok with you @GavinNewsom ?

— Nursekate (@Nursekatejohn) October 11, 2025

Bondi noted at the presser that Johnson “is a well-known media personality carrying a message very similar to Charlie’s, grounded largely in faith and love of country.”

“Just days after Charlie’s assassination, Benny received a letter at his home, where he and Kate are raising their beautiful, beautiful young family,” she continued. “The author of this letter made it very clear that he hated Benny because of his views and he wanted him dead. This was a coward hiding behind a keyboard who thought he could get away with this.”

According to the DOJ, the letter sent to Johnson was mailed around September 18, eight days after Kirk was assassinated. The letter said Johnson needed “to be exterminated” and referenced Kirk.

“Maybe someone will blow your head off!!! We can hope!” the letter said. “Planning any public engagements? Love to see your head explode and your blood stain the concrete red. What a sight!”

Isbell is facing up to five years in prison.

Related: READ THEM: Virginia Dem Sent Shocking Texts About Killing GOP Leader, ‘Piss[ing]’ On Graves