The battle over affixing Donald Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in D.C. took its most dramatic turn on Tuesday (Sept. 15) when the Trump-aligned board for the beloved arts institution voted to close most of the campus for what has been described as badly-needed renovations.
According to The Associated Press, the move by the board came just hours after a federal judge blocked the latest attempt to put Trump’s name back on the building after previous court rulings barred such action. The abrupt closure came as Trump threatened to cancel a planned $257 million renovation to the building if he is not allowed to put his name on the façade.
The threatened closure and name fight have been going on for months, with judges ruling against both actions repeatedly. The venue’s board — which is packed with Trump-affiliated appointees — appeared to defy the judge’s order to not close by declaring an emergency action on Tuesday to protect the public and staff from what it said were unsafe conditions in the 55-year-old arts center that was renamed as a “living memorial” in Kennedy’s honor two months after his assassination in 1963.
The New York Times reported that around 4:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday employees heard an unexpected message over the P.A. telling them to immediately vacate the premises. “The Center is now closed to the public,” it reportedly said. “Please exit the Center by way of the Hall of States.” By Tuesday night, the paper reported that security guards were stationed outside entrances to the main lobby to turn away visitors.
The move, the third such attempt by the Trump-affiliated board to close the venue, came after the Center said in a statement that the temporary closure was necessary following a recent incident in which a five-foot-long section of ceiling plaster fell to the floor during a storm. The planned two-year closure is expected to begin once a court approves the move.
Lawyers for Democratic ex-officio board member Rep. Joyce Beatty — whose lawsuit is key in the court battle — said that the closure “would appear a direct violation of the court’s order,” adding that it was “courting contempt,” according to the Times. The move is in keeping with Trump’s act first, litigate later renovation spree around Washington, which has included the unannounced demolishing of the historic East Wing of the White House in October of last year, as well as affixing his name to the Kennedy Center without necessary prior congressional approval and the groundbreaking for what is described as a 250-foot-tall “Triumphal Arch” (aka “Arc De Trump”), which historians and veterans’ groups have said would obscure the view of the Lincoln Memorial and disrespect those buried in nearby Arlington National Cemetery for veterans.
Former real estate mogul Trump has long savored adding his name to his construction projects, but the desire to include it on the Kennedy Center has turned into a pitched battle. Before Tuesday’s closure, Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled that Trump’s name could not appear on the building’s exterior as it violated his previous order blocking the board from renaming the building.
Last December, the board voted to add Trump’s name across the building’s façade, creating the unwieldy title, “Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” After a judge blocked that change, angering Trump, the messaging was changed to read: Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump, in addition to a move to name the plaza surrounding the building for Trump. In May, Cooper ruled the renaming unlawful, saying only Congress was authorized to make such changes, ordering the removal of Trump’s name from the marble facade. While on appeal, the Center somewhat complied with the order by installing a tall warren of tarp-covered scaffolding that almost completely obscured the front of the building.
“Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Judge Cooper wrote on Tuesday. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.” The Center filed a notice of appeal shortly after Judge Cooper’s ruling and Trump wrote in a social post that if the appeals court doesn’t rule in his favor, he’d block the renovation he’s been insisting over the past year is vital to keep the building open. Last year, Trump was named the Kennedy Center’s chairman by his loyalist board, an unusual move for a chief executive, especially one who had steadfastly avoided attending events at the Center during his first term, including the annual glitzy Kennedy Center Honors.
“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Trump wrote, “the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.” It was unclear at press time where the more than $200 million Trump has said is necessary to repair the building will come from, though in his post he claimed that he has placed $17 million to date from unnamed sources in the “Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat.”
Since the start of Trump’s second term, the Center has seen a massive exodus of talent and programming, with a number of artists and shows pointedly pulling their events in response to the Trump takeover of the venue. According to the Times, since July, the typical mix of musicals, orchestral performances and cultural events have slowed to a trickle, leaving the typically bustling building nearly empty most days.
Trump’s allies have said that the President is deeply committed to making sure the Center is renovated and restored, though his interest is reportedly predicated on having some “appropriate recognition” on the Center’s exterior, with the Times reporting that a recent draft resolution submitted to the board said the venue was at risk of bankruptcy barring a Trump-fueled fundraising effort.
The AP noted that, given Trump’s prior actions, there are fears among some supporters of the Center that, barring the addition of Trump’s name, the administration may move to demolish the performing arts hub. In an August filing, administration lawyers told the court that without a prominent recognition of Trump on its exterior, the Kennedy Center would struggle to raise money for renovations, suggesting that it might need to be demolished and replaced with what has been described as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River.
