Just days after he orderd a federal takeover of the District of Columbias Metropolitan Police Department, President Donald Trump stood on the Kennedy Centers red carpet Wednesday morning to announce that he will personally host the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors on CBS in December, breaking with decades of tradition in which presidents have attended the gala in the audience but not taken the stage as emcee.Speaking from the blue presidential lectern, with pictures of the honorees hidden beneath red cloths that were pulled away as he announced each name, the former TV personality said he initially turned down the request to host. Im the president of the United States. Are you fools asking me to do that? Sir, youll get much higher ratings. I said, I dont care. Im president of the United States. I wont do it. They said, please, Trump recounted.He added that a plea from White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles convinced him: Okay, Susie, Ill do it. Thats the power shes got.He told the audience, I didnt want to do it. Theyre going to say he insisted. I did not insist, but I think it will be quite successful. He then reminded attendees of his television experience: Its been a long time. I used to host The Apprentice finales, and we did rather well with that, so I think were going to do very well. Trump hosted the NBC reality competition show from 2004 until 2015.Related: Kennedy Center scrubs LGBTQ+ Pride concert after Donald Trump takeoverTrump said that he chose 98 percent of the nominees, and that he rejected several woke options.Trump unveiled this years recipients: country music singer George Strait, theatre legend Michael Crawford, actor Sylvester Stallone, Grammy-winning singer Gloria Gaynor, and rock band KISS.They call him the King of country, Trump said of Strait. Good looking guy. I hope he still looks that way. Introducing Crawford, best known for originating The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, Trump said, Nobody did it like him.When it came to Stallone, whom Trump described as my friend, the president went on at length, telling a detailed story about how the actor refused to sell his Rocky script unless he could play the lead role himself. Trump recounted how Stallone rejected a string of actors brought in to audition because they lacked a boxers physique, holding out until the studio allowed him to take the part.Related: Drag artists organize rally outside Kennedy Center to protest Trump's hostile takeoverTrump called Gaynors I Will Survive an unbelievable song that gets better every time you hear it, noting her Grammy wins in 1980 and 2020. And of KISS, he said, Its an honor to present KISS, teasing that the band is going to do something very special ahead of the CBS broadcast.At the top of his remarks, Trump quipped, Next year, well honor Trump. Later, he shifted to a broader vision for the Kennedy Center, promising that with a little work the building would be magnificent and praising its good bones. He cited new seating, restored marble columns, and private fundraising that he said closed a $26 million budget shortfall. He also credited Republican lawmakers for securing $257 million in federal funding for renovations.Since appointing himself chairman of the Kennedy Center board earlier this year, Trump said, we ended the woke political programming and are restoring the Kennedy Center as the premier venue for performing arts anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world. Awards shows like the Academy Awards, he said, went down the tubes when they became political, but if the Kennedy Center made it our kind of political, meaning his MAGA agenda, well go up.Related: Drag artists who crashed Donald Trump's first Kennedy Center show want him to know: 'You cant erase us'That framing comes after months of drastic changes to the Kennedy Centers leadership and programming. In February, Trump removed several board members and installed gay former ambassador Richard Grenell in a newly created executive director role. Within weeks, the Capital Pride Alliance moved multiple WorldPride events out of the venue, including a Drag Story Hour, AIDS Memorial Quilt panels, and the WorldPride Reading Room, citing what they described as an increasingly inhospitable environment for drag and queer-inclusive programming.In the same period, the Kennedy Center also canceled the Gay Mens Chorus of Washingtons planned performance of A Peacock Among Pigeons with the National Symphony Orchestra.Trumps Wednesday announcement had the feel of both an awards reveal and a political rally. Seated in the front row to Trumps left were South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, whom Trump congratulated on his poll numbers in his reelection campaign, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.Founded in 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have long been considered one of the most prestigious recognitions in the performing arts, celebrating lifetime contributions to American culture.