Donald Trump Threatens to Destroy The Kennedy Center
Seems like an appropriate measure…
By: Austin Abbring
August 25, 2026
This story has the energy of a toddler who just got a fifteen-minute timeout at recess for running on the blacktop before reaching the playground. In a response that can practically only be depicted as “if I can’t have anything nice, no one can!”, Donald Trump has threatened to demolish the Kennedy Center if it is not closed for renovations. The Department of Justice (DOJ) warned that if the Kennedy Center is not shut down for two years to complete an estimated $260 million renovation, the Trump administration will demolish the building and replace it with an outdoor amphitheater or something of the sort.
Following a legal challenge against the Kennedy Center board by Representative Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a board member, earlier this year, a federal judge ruled to block the 2-year closure and name change. Only Congress can rename the Kennedy Center, and Donald Trump attempted to attach his name to the historic landmark, which honors former President John F. Kennedy, without Congressional approval. Recently, the Board of Trustees for the performing arts center, of which Trump is Board Chair, has been overhauled with the addition of Susie Wiles, Usha Vance, Dan Scavnio, Allison Lutnik, Pam Bondi, and other sycophants. They voted (20-3) to add Donald Trump’s name to the building in favor of “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” as well as to rename the surrounding grounds of the center as the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza”.
If the building is in “disrepair” as the Trump administration claims, then just do the renovations. The inanity of trying to attach his name obviously suggests he (Trump) does not actually care about the legacy of JFK or the preservation of a historical building. The average American is not necessarily opposed to spending tax dollars to restore landmarks in and around D.C. They do not care when it is reasonable. Either do it, or don’t.
Donald Trump is so concerned with leaving a physical legacy around our Capitol, but it is not going to work. At this point in his presidency, he is the most unpopular president in the modern era. His first administration’s popularity and polling aren't much better either. No one in their right mind is going to honor these years or reflect on them with any high regard. Threatening to do the unprecedented and unconscionable to one of our country’s more beloved memorials would not go a long way towards shoring up that legacy.
Ever since Donald Trump hijacked the Board of Trustees and attached his name to the building, the Kennedy Center has seen drastic drops in ticket sales and has experienced significant financial shortcomings. Reporting from The Washington Post, which now leans Republican, says the center is on track to fall $100 million short of its profit goals and is projected to run a $23 million deficit. Artists no longer want to perform there, and people do not want to show up. Financially ruining the Kennedy Center would just be yet another feather in the cap of Donald Trump's extensive list of failed or bankrupted ventures.
This story is a perfect indication of where the president’s head is at. He is obsessed with these vanity projects, i.e., the Lincoln Reflecting Pool, the “Arc de Trump”, the destruction of the East Wing of the White House for a ballroom, the grotesque gold-plated and embroidered everything, and the renaming of the Kennedy Center are just a few that come to mind. Anything but governing, right? Anything but dealing with rising inflation and energy prices, the Iran War, or the Housing Crisis, et cetera. Not that I actually want him to govern or handle any of these issues, as his political philosophy on these issues is detrimental to progress, peace, and democracy, but if you were a MAGA voter, you should be infuriated. Donald Trump has completely abandoned MAGA principles, stands for absolutely nothing but personal profiteering, and has quite literally done almost the exact opposite of everything he campaigned on. I, and you as the reader, I am sure, are not surprised by any of this in the slightest. However, for the people who fell for it, it is time to call a spade a spade. Come back to reality (11 years too late) and finally admit that this man does not, and has never actually, cared for America or the apparatus of people he is supposed to govern and lead. He is a complete conman and has been his whole life. Throwing a tantrum and threatening to destroy a performing arts center because he cannot lawfully add his name is plentiful evidence.
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