Donald Trump

Trump Threatens To Demolish Kennedy Center Unless He Can Put His Name on It

Just like he's doing with the White House ballroom, Trump suggests he would rather bulldoze a federal structure and build something else in its place, no matter what the law says.

Joe Lancaster | 8.26.2026 12:20 PM

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This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that if President Donald Trump is not allowed to add his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, then he may have no choice but to raze the entire structure and start from scratch.

It was the latest salvo in the increasingly ridiculous saga of Trump's desperate attempts to add his name to a building, no matter what the law may say.

The Kennedy Center is structured as partly public and partly private: It receives federal money for maintenance and upkeep, but its programming is funded through ticket sales. Originally called the National Cultural Center, Congress passed a resolution renaming it after Kennedy in 1964.

Since retaking office, Trump has had the center in his sights. "We don't need woke at the Kennedy Center," he said last year, complaining about its programming. During a visit, he said the facility was in "tremendous disrepair" and lamented that "the whole place needs work."

Heeding Trump's request, in last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress apportioned more than $256 million "for capital repair, restoration, maintenance backlog, and security structures" at the Kennedy Center.

In practice, that seems to have largely consisted of reshaping the center in Trump's image. He replaced the 18 Democratic appointees on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees........

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