Trump's battle over the Kennedy Center reached a turning point today when the Center's board voted to close both because the center lacks funds and because it needs renovation.
The board of the Kennedy Center voted on Tuesday to close over financial issues and a dispute over putting President Donald Trump's name on the iconic performing arts venue, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick participated in the board meeting, according to one of the people. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a private meeting.
There's really no doubt that the center needs work. Earlier this month a piece of the ceiling in the Grand Foyer fell 60 feet to the floor. Fortunately, no one was there at the time.
Here is the video of the ceiling of the Kennedy Center crashing violently onto the main Lobby floor. Failing roofing, collapsing concrete supports, and steel that is rotting have created completely unsafe conditions.
— Howard Lutnick (@howardlutnick) September 14, 2026
It was caught on security video, missing one of the Center’s… pic.twitter.com/g8PI4wsPzg
It was caught on security video, missing one of the Center’s security guards by just minutes. If a performance had been underway, patrons could have been killed.
The entire building is in this kind of shape. People cannot be allowed to go into this building any longer. It must be closed and reconstructed, and a major fundraising effort must take place to cover the Kennedy Center’s operating expenses.
Like many other Centers, it operates at a huge loss. For the Kennedy Center, that has historically been $80-$100 million a year.
Only President Trump can deliver the renovation on time and on budget, and only President Trump can raise the money to keep the Center out of bankruptcy.
And that's just the obvious damage. There's a lot more that's not as obvious.
...engineers examining the outside of the building found widespread corrosion in structural components of the soffit panels that form the underside of an overhang wrapping around the center, Floca said in a two-page memo to trustees. Of roughly half of the building’s 278 panels examined, 46 had severe structural corrosion and another 93 had mild-to-moderate corrosion, he said, adding that engineers projected that about one-third require immediate replacement. The report says 2,500-pound ceiling assemblies hang roughly 60 feet above public walkways.
So the closure was a smart move, but as Lutnick notes, the Center doesn't have money to do all the renovation work that is needed. President Trump is prepared to step in and raise the money needed but he wants recognition for that. Back in June, a federal judge said that Trump's name cannot appear anywhere on the premises.
A federal judge Friday ordered that President Donald Trump’s name be scrubbed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and that officials halt plans to close the venue for two years, dealing a significant legal blow to the administration’s sweeping renovation project.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper granted in part a request from Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) for a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking steps toward closure. He also ordered Kennedy Center officials to remove Trump’s name from the center’s building and branding within two weeks.
“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name,” Cooper wrote in his opinion, “and only Congress can change it.”
Trump's name was removed from the building. You may recall Jim Acosta camped out for hours to see it happen. At the time, Acosta compared it to the fall of the Berlin wall.
After livestreaming all day and night trying to see Trump’s name being removed from the Kennedy Center building, Jim Acosta exclaims:
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) June 14, 2026
“This is very much like watching the Berlin Wall coming down."
"It is a sign that humankind can stand up against tyranny."
Holy hell. Just… pic.twitter.com/ccHzWXtT48
In any case, the same judge who ruled back in June repeated his ruling this morning to make clear that any recognition of Trump's renovation or fundraising to save the Kennedy Center would be illegal.
Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that, "Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing."...
The board had recently floated multiple options for getting Trump's name on the grounds, including inscriptions like "Renovation and endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund." Another option: "With Gratitude for Support from President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund."
It's not just the renovations that are the problem. The center is also broke, apart from the ceiling issues. A lot of that has to do with people refusing to attend any event there if Trump's name is on the building.
Internal budgets and forecasts obtained by The Washington Post earlier this year showed ticket sales and fundraising plunging after the board added Trump’s name to the building in December. By May, officials projected the center would collect about $124 million of the $220 million in revenue it had budgeted for the fiscal year, leaving a roughly $23 million deficit even after substantial spending cuts. A center spokesperson blamed the problems on financial mismanagement by previous leadership and said Trump’s name had attracted new donors.
For his part, President Trump has refused to raise the money needed to carry out the renovations without some recognition of his contribution. So as of today the center is shut down and there is no renovation taking place. Democrats in Congress could push to fix this, but it seems they'd rather see the Kennedy Center collapse to the ground than tolerate Trump's name on the building.
I've been to the Kennedy Center a few times. It's a beautiful place, at least it was 40 years ago. It seems like a shame that the Left applies the same orange man bad approach to everything. With a very minimal show of respect, they could get what they presumably want.
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