Donald Trump has aims to remake America’s cultural center in his image, starting with its governing body.

The President plans to remove numerous members of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, including several recently appointed by Joe Biden.

Likely slated for the chopping block: Coral Gables-based lawyer and real estate developer Chris Korge, who has served as Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee since 2019.

Others facing expulsion include Democratic political strategist Mike Donilon and former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Piere, sources familiar with the pending purge told The Atlantic this week.

Korge, Donilon and Jean-Pierre were among a baker’s dozen of people Biden appointed to the Board of the Kennedy Center — full name: the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — before leaving the White House last month.

Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter confirmed shortly thereafter that she would be stepping down after 11 years in the job. She stressed that her decision was “not related to the politics of who’s in the White House,” noting that for most of the past six years she had “almost all Trump appointees as (her) Board members.”

“And we’ve had a fantastic era with them,” she added.

The Board’s Chair, philanthropist and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, said last month that he planned to stay on until September 2026 while helping to recruit Rutter’s successor.

That may not come to pass, according to The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, who reported that there have been talks at the White House of Trump installing himself as Chair.

Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. But it’s safe to bet that Korge, who helped build a war chest that delivered the presidency to Biden in 2020, will soon be heading for the door.

Korge, 69, is among the most consistently called-upon national fundraisers in Democratic politics. Since 1992, when Bill Clinton won the presidency, he has been involved in the campaigns of every presidential candidate the party has nominated.

He was previously Finance Chair under former U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton during her first run at the White House in 2008 and performed similar duties for former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Al Gore, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas and former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, among others.

He is a partner at the Korge & Korge law firm, co-chair of airport concession business NewsLink, senior adviser to international banking firm The Americas Group, chair and managing partner of Landko Development and a slew of real estate limited liability companies registered with the Florida Division of Corporations.

His reputation as a Democratic kingmaker stretches back decades.

“There are probably a dozen dealmakers in this town, then there are 30 or 40 wannabes,” Maurice Ferré, the late former Mayor of Miami, once said of Korge. “The king of them all is Chris Korge.”

As of Friday afternoon, the Kennedy Center had received no formal notification from the White House of Trump’s plans to reshape the Board of Trustees, Eileen Andrews, a spokesperson for the center, told The Atlantic.

Located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C, the Kennedy Center opened on Sept. 8, 1971. Construction on the center broke ground in 1964, roughly a year after the assassination of its namesake, President John F. Kennedy.

The Kennedy Center is the official residence of the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera. It also hosts many other genres of performance art, including theater, dance, classical music, jazz, pop, psychedelic and folk music.

Its Honorary Chairs are all current or former First Ladies, including Jill Biden, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump.

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Inspired by Elon Musk and President Donald Trump cutting the fat in federal government, a pair of Republican lawmakers said they want to get rid of red tape in Florida, too. Their new bill would deregulate the state by expiring many agencies’ rules after eight years unless they get readopted and would make it easier for people to challenge the state’s rules in court.

“With more than 170,000 regulatory restrictions, Florida ranks 11th nationally in bureaucratic burden — putting it in the company of high-regulation states like New York and California,” said a joint press release put out by Sen. Danny Burgess and Rep. Tiffany Esposito.

Burgess and Esposito’s legislation (SB 448/HB 305) would exempt the rules from ending in eight years if agencies are required to comply with federal law or receive federal money, or if they are rules under agencies run by elected officials or rules set from authority in the state constitution.

“An agency may not adopt any rule or issue any guidance document unless the agency has been expressly granted the power to do so by a specific statutory delegation,” the bill also outlines.

When asked for the reason behind the bill, a spokesman said, “Rep. Esposito has been boots on the ground in her day job as CEO of Southwest Florida Inc., listening to businesses frustrated by costly, bureaucratic roadblocks that serve no real purpose. She’s also inspired by President Trump and Elon Musk’s work at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce the size of government.”

Their bill would also require regulatory agencies to do a cost-analysis and determine regulatory costs for rules.

Later, “an agency shall conduct a retrospective cost-benefit analysis for each adopted rule 4 years after the rule’s effective date,” the bill states. 

The bill also allows people to challenge the enforcement of the state’s rules “based solely on the grounds that the agency lacked express statutory authority to adopt the rule,” the bill states. “Any party that prevails on such a challenge shall be entitled to recover reasonable costs and attorney fees.”

One reason why people could challenge the rules is if the agency didn’t provide the cost analysis or give estimated regulatory costs, according to the bill.

“President Trump got right to work reining in the size of government and putting an end to wasteful spending, and with this legislation, Florida will be ready to follow suit. By cutting through bureaucratic red tape and keeping regulations in check, we will ensure our state government is working smarter, businesses have the opportunity to flourish, and our economy continues to thrive,” Burgess said in a statement.

Added Esposito, “Government should serve the people, not the other way around. The bill aligns with President Trump’s call to shrink government and focus taxpayer dollars on real priorities.”

The lawmakers said their bill is supported by the Cicero Institute, a billionaire-backed think tank from Texas making headlines recently for working with states, including Florida, to ban homeless street camps. Its website says it wants “bold policies for a more functional future.”

“Unnecessary rules cost Florida businesses billions in lost productivity and compliance,” said Jonathan Wolfson, Policy Director at the Cicero Institute. “This bill moves Florida closer to becoming the nation’s leader in cutting bureaucratic waste.”

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