STORY
The Trump administration has warned that Washington’s Kennedy Center could be demolished if courts prevent the performing arts venue from proceeding with renovations and again displaying President Donald Trump’s name. Justice Department lawyers claimed that blocking the recognition of Trump would cause donors to withdraw, bringing structural work to a halt and potentially leaving demolition and replacement by an outdoor amphitheatre as the only viable option. The warning was made during a legal dispute over the administration’s attempts to associate Trump personally with the national memorial to President John F Kennedy.
A federal judge ruled in May that Trump’s name had been added unlawfully because Congress had designated the building as a memorial to Kennedy and had not authorised its renaming. The inscription was removed in June, but the Trump appointed board subsequently approved proposals to add wording crediting him with renovating and restoring the centre. Democratic representative Joyce Beatty has asked the court to prevent that move. The administration says Trump’s support is essential to the building’s physical and financial survival, although an appeals panel said in July that similar claims about lost donations had not been supported by specific facts or evidence.
The dispute threatens to cause further reputational damage to Trump because it makes the future of a nationally important cultural institution appear dependent upon the public celebration of the serving President. Even if substantial repairs are genuinely necessary, linking them to the restoration of Trump’s name risks creating an impression of personal vanity, political coercion and indifference towards both congressional authority and Kennedy’s memorial. With artists having cancelled performances and attendance having fallen since Trump took control of the centre, the demolition warning may reinforce criticism that his intervention has damaged the institution he says only he can rescue. Internationally, it is also unlikely to improve the reputation of a President already accused of treating public buildings and national history as extensions of his personal brand.