in brief
The order comes amid a legal standoff over renaming attempts, budget deficits, and sudden safety-related building closures.
Trump had threatened to close the centre if he couldn’t have his name on it.
The saga of the Kennedy Center continues as a United States federal judge has warned that the Trump administration cannot alter or demolish the storied performing arts centre without at least 30 days’ notice.
Judge Christopher Copper issued the order after receiving a submission comprising comments made by Donald Trump this week that the historic Washington DC building would have to be “ripped down”. He was later photographed looking at what appears to be a rendition of the centre being demolished.
The administration has been in a long-standing clash over the 1960’s building, named in tribute to the assassinated president John F Kennedy. In December, a Trump-appointed board of trustees voted to add his name to the building, a move subsequently blocked by the courts.
“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.
A threatened shutdown of the centre is now in place, with Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s Trump-backed executive director, saying the building has been temporarily closed to assess safety risks in areas “exhibiting severe structural deterioration.”
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Democrat Joyce Beatty has responded by claiming in court filings the closure “is a recipe for defendants extending their shutdown forever and closing the Kennedy Center for the next two years — the very thing this court said they could not do without its permission.”
The saga continues
Trump installed himself as chairman of the centre soon after taking office for the second time last year, ousting 18 board members appointed by former president Joe Biden and inserting his own allies to key positions.
The new board dissolved the centre’s Social Impact Division and rolled back diversity-focused programming. Dozens of high-profile artists, productions, and long-running residency groups pulled out in protest. Ticket sales dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic.
The Washington Post recently reported that the centre would only collect US$124 million ($174 million) of the US$220 million ($309 million) it had projected for the period between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026, leaving a “roughly $23 million deficit” after substantial spending cuts.
Trump warned that the historic performing arts venue could be “ripped down” if his administration does not receive public recognition on the site. Source: AFP / Brendan Smialowski
The building was damaged in a storm earlier this month, with a “roughly four-by-five foot” section of plaster falling from the ceiling in the Grand Foyer. It is reported to be in dire need of repairs.
In June, workers removed Trump’s name from the outside of the building, following Judge Cooper’s orders, which affirmed that only Congress has the power to alter its exterior. However, construction materials and scaffolding have been left in place ever since.
Trump has said his administration will need to carry out a multi-million-dollar renovation on the centre and “subsidise it for years to come”.
The Kennedy Center board has filed for bankruptcy but claims that recognising Trump’s support of the building with his name publicly displayed would attract donors who could keep it afloat.
In his image
The Kennedy Center is far from the only public building project that Trump has focused his attention on during his second term. Many of the former property mogul’s renovation, construction, and renaming efforts have resulted in similar legal disputes.
These include a vast and costly ballroom currently being built at the White House, for which Trump had an entire wing of the presidential mansion demolished without Congressional approval.
Another project is the laborious and controversy-laden renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a 618-metre rectangular body of water on Washington DC’s National Mall.
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Trump has also stamped his branding on the Oval Office, which has been covered in lavish gold trim, while the Rose Garden was torn up and turned into a paved patio.
Elsewhere, workers are preparing to break ground on an enormous triumphal arch later this month. As proposed by Trump, the planned 76-metre white arch will feature large golden statues of an angel and eagles at the top and will sit on the Memorial Circle roundabout in Washington.
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In a similar cultural institution fallout, the 73-year-old head of the Smithsonian Institution has announced he will retire amid unprecedented pressure from Trump to reshape the iconic museum and research complex to reflect conservative values. Lonnie G Bunch II became the first historian and first Black person to serve in the role and steps down after seven years following accusations he has allowed the museum to become “woke”.
The administration has also successfully petitioned US tech companies to uphold its renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America while Trump remains locked in a battle with Canada over the name of Lake Ontario, which he wants to rebrand as Lake America.
Trump clarified earlier this month that his suggestion to rename the Iran-controlled Strait of Hormuz the “Strait of Trump” was “just a joke”.
— With additional reporting from the Agence France-Presse and Reuters news agencies.
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