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Trump Attends the Kennedy Center Honors Medal Presentation Dinner, Dec. 6, 2025

December 6, 2025 · The White House · 0:37:54

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump spoke at the State Department’s Kennedy Center Honors Medal Presentation Dinner in Washington on December 6, 2025, hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his wife Jeanette, whom the President thanked for hosting. He greeted each honoree — Sylvester Stallone (“He got stuck in traffic, but he made it”), George Strait (“King of Country”), Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford, and KISS — and thanked Tiffany and Company for its work on the redesigned medals.

He also confirmed the next day’s plan in his own words: “I’ll be doing something that hasn’t been done before. The President of the United States is hosting, at the request of a certain television network. And I’m doing it because I feel it’s very important.” He thanked Kennedy Center Executive Director Rick Grenell and the Board of Trustees, wished Ambassador Sergio Gor well on his posting to India (“you’re going to be making your journey in two weeks,” as he put it), and recognized Secretaries Howard Lutnick and Doug Burgum and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr among the guests.

Why it matters

The dinner is the ceremonial center of Honors weekend: the Secretary of State hosting, the President confirming on record that he will host the Honors telecast himself — a first — and the administration’s cultural team assembled in one room. This chronicle files it on the Elections & Governance hub with every characterization attributed to the President.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Attends the State Department Kennedy Center Honors Medal Presentation Dinner,” Washington, D.C., December 6, 2025 (official upload, embedded above; published December 7, 2025). All characterizations as stated by the President at the dinner.