Posted on 08/25/2026 2:35:12 PM PDT by thegagline
The Trump administration threatened to tear down the Kennedy Center if plans to add President Trump’s name to the front of the building and also make extensive repairs are blocked.
Without the president’s support, the Kennedy Center will need to be demolished and replaced with a new structure, lawyers for the Trump administration warned in a legal brief filed late Monday.
And donors will flee — leaving the center in a “financial and structural death spiral” — if they don’t see Trump properly honored with his name on the entrance of the building, they argued.
The attorneys, led by Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, outlined Trump’s support for construction repairs as well as his financial backing, which includes $258 million from Congress and millions of dollars from new donors.
“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down,” they note. The historic facility would likely be replaced with a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that “will fail to adequately honor President John F. Kennedy, but would be simpler and more economical to build, operate, and maintain.”
The Trump administration was filing its response to a lawsuit from Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) to keep the president’s name off the building exterior and to stop a planned two-year closure for renovation work.
“President Trump’s efforts and prestige provide the sole hope for the Center’s financial survival, and structural renewal,” the attorneys write.***
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
(1) adding the inscription “renovated and restored by President Donald J. Trump” on the front of the building under the Center’s name;
(2) adding the phrase “endowed by The Trump Kennedy Center Fund” (which is already in existence, and ready to go!), under the first inscription; and,
(3) naming the site that contains the Center the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
Mr Trump…. you’re a great president. There’s zero need for the rampant narcissism which is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.
Thanks for clarifying. If I’m understanding you correctly, Trump isn’t actually proposing to change the name from “The Kennedy Center” to “The Trump/Kennedy Center” but simply wants his role in its renovation to be acknowledged on the signage. I can live with that.
I’m against changing the actual name from “The Kennedy Center”. Trump will have plenty of opportunities to have his name enshrined. It already has been with Palm Beach International Airport being renamed in his honor, recently. There’s no need to take away or dilute an honor already given to someone else.
I hope.
He is serious.
My life would be unchanged if there was no Kennedy Center.
Of course the TDS a-holes at the NYP will focus on the name when the renovations are the real issue here.
This is counterproductive. Just make the repairs and forget about the name change. There are better things to do.
Why should any public money be spent on it at all?
I agree 100%
The GOP needs a galvanizing issue as we enter the 2026 midterm election, and there is no issue facing our Great Nation that is more important than, or more unifying to Americans from all corners of the country, than ensuring that the Kennedy Center bare the name of President Donald J. Trump.
This ranks way up toward the top of my WGAF list. Far as I’m concerned the Mob got him elected and the Mob got him dead. Bobby and John deciding to get the CAPO’s after prohibition bootlegging made the Kennedy fortune for old Joe just didn’t fly. IMO. Chicago machine beat Nixon not John.
Understanding your point. Let’s ask the question apparently no one asked. How did the building get this bad? Why did the previous governments not spend money to maintain the building? Seems all our government wants to do is over spend on big projects. Maintenance is not sexy but it’s cheaper than a new facility.
If Democrats can’t control something they destroy it or crap on it.
You are correct. The Kennedy Center will remain. The plaza at the Kennedy Center will be named “The Trump Plaza”
Congress created it and Trump threatens to tear it down. Trump is acting out of bounds again.
“There’s zero need for the rampant narcissism which is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.”
That depends on why he appears to be engaging in it.
The complaint for injunctive relief pertains to Trump memorializing his name three times at the Kennedy Center. The NY Post is reporting on the litigation which centers on the names.
He didn’t say he’d tear it down. If not fixed it will become unsafe and have to be destroyed. You can’t read or is this bot Tuesday and not announced?
Just let him put his name on there. What’s the problem?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.