President Donald Trump’s administration has rebranded the U.S. Institute of Peace to include his own name — after seizing control of the agency and slashing its funding.
On Wednesday, the State Department announced that the institute, a non-profit independent think tank, had been renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in order “to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history.”
Photos taken of the building, located a stone’s throw from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., show the president’s name placed prominently above the entrance.
“President Trump will be remembered by history as the President of Peace,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X. “It’s time our State Department display that.”
The name change comes amid a protracted legal struggle to determine who controls the agency, which was established by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 to promote conflict resolution. While financed by Congress, the institute operates independently and owns its headquarters, according to CNN.
Earlier this year, officials with the Department of Government Efficiency tried to forcibly enter the building and later returned with a police escort.
In March, over 200 employees were fired and most of the board was replaced, per NPR.
Since then, control of the institute has changed hands several times following lawsuits and court rulings. Former board members have argued the institute stands outside the president’s authority, while the Trump administration contends it is firmly within the purview of the executive branch.
A final ruling is expected from a federal appeals court, according to The Associated Press.
The institute faces an uncertain financial future. The president’s latest budget proposal for the coming fiscal year seeks to eliminate all of its funding.
“It’s pretty ironic that he put his name on an institution he destroyed,” a former official told CNN.
George Foote, an attorney representing the institute’s former leadership, said the rebranding “adds insult to injury.”
“A federal judge has already ruled that the government’s armed takeover was illegal,” he told The Associated Press. “That judgment is stayed while the government appeals, which is the only reason the government continues to control the building.”
The Trump administration, though, has defended the steep cuts — and applauded the recent rebranding.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told CNN that the institute “was once a bloated, useless entity that blew $50 million per year while delivering no peace. Now, the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, which is both beautifully and aptly named after a President who ended eight wars in less than a year, will stand as a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability.”
Since returning to office in January, Trump has sought to cast himself as a peacemaker on the global stage, pointing to the ceasefire he helped broker in Gaza and his repeated attempts to end the Ukraine War.
He spent months actively campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize, a coveted honor he did not win this year. In making his case, he claimed credit for ending eight foreign conflicts — a claim that is “exaggerated,” according to the AP.
Trump has recently authorized numerous military strikes on boats near Venezuela, and earlier in the year, he openly discussed the possibility of annexing Canada, Greenland, and Panama.
