Photo Credit: Kelly Sikkema
The Kennedy Center’s Trump-appointed board has voted to close the facility over a continuing dispute over putting Trump’s name on the building. Oh yeah, and for “renovations” too.
The Kennedy Center’s board of Trump allies voted on Tuesday to close most of the performing arts center on the heels of a federal judge (once again) blocking the institution from putting Trump’s name on the facade.
According to Trump, the closure was necessary for safety repairs. But he also said those repairs could only happen if the board was allowed to add his name to the iconic venue. A federal judge has ruled—twice—that adding anyone’s name to the building (other than the late President John F. Kennedy, for whom it was named after his assassination in 1963) can’t happen without Congressional approval.
“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’ blessing,” said U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Tuesday’s ruling.
The Justice Department has already appealed that ruling. The board meeting featured some snarky exchanges between Trump and Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), who has led the campaign to block efforts to add the president’s name to the institution.
Trump participated in the board meeting virtually and said he had given $17 million to an endowment intended to support the institution, but that it was contingent on his being memorialized there. He called Beatty “incompetent” and said she was “holding up everything.” Beatty responded, “You’re holding up the whole country.”
The board claims that the building has been in dire need of repairs for years, which became even more imperative after a partial ceiling collapse in the building’s main foyer earlier this month. But the institution’s longtime supporters, many of whom already feel alienated over the president’s takeover of the facility, fear possible demolition if Trump does not get his way.
In August, the Kennedy Center board voted to inscribe the president’s name on the Kennedy Center’s facade so that it would read, “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would also be renamed to honor Trump.
Administration lawyers claimed in a filing last month that without recognition of the president, the Kennedy Center would struggle to raise money for renovations, which could lead to the building being demolished. But Judge Cooper ruled that the government has offered “no proof that current or future donations hinge on President Trump’s name being on the building” and “no competent evidence that removing the Trump name would prevent the Center from fulfilling its artistic mission,” which it has done faithfully for the last 60 years.