A man holds up an American flag as workers prepare scaffolding ahead of removing lettering from the facade of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., June 12, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump on Thursday hit a massive hurdle in his effort to remake the Kennedy Center in his image.
Trump's personally-picked executive director of the theater and monument claimed he doesn't believe the building is "safe" and said that is the reason for the closure. After a huge storm with hurricane-level winds moved through Washington D.C. in early September, a large chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling. For about 10 days there was a rope around the area where it fell.
It was not until this week that fencing began going up around the Kennedy Center, sparking concerns that Trump would bulldoze it the way he did with the East Wing of the White House.
Lawyer Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund told National Public Radio that the only reason Trump wants to close the building and tear it apart is out of "embarrassment."
"Donald Trump slapped his name on this building, and it drove artists and audiences away and cratered the very successful ongoing operation of the Kennedy Center. He's closing it to cover up the fact of his mismanagement," Eisen said.
Congress has already allocated $257 million for repairs in the building that Trump claimed he needed. The plan was to do these renovations in stages so that shows could continue. Now there is no season for the Kennedy Center after so many performers pulled out.
Eisen said there's no reason to close it and "there's certainly no reason to demolish it."
The Kennedy Center completed a major multi-million-dollar expansion and renovation in 2019, adding an annex and doing other projects. So, there have been larger questions about why Trump has painted the building as dilapidated.
The judge ruled that there must be 30 days' notice in advance if there is a destruction order or if it intends to "significantly overhaul" the building.
"The judge has made very clear, including in our repeated wins on the naming of the building, that Donald Trump can't rename it for himself. What an absurd suggestion that Congress has legislated the operations of this building, naming it. Otherwise, that's an emergency order," Eisen said.
The NPR host Michel Martin asked about the East Wing of the White House. Given what Trump did to the structure last year, there have been fears that he'll do it to the Kennedy Center and whatever other buildings he wants.
"Do you think that the administration is already trying to cause permanent changes or damage to the building, and do you have any confidence that you and other litigators addressing this can keep the Kennedy Center from facing a different fate than the White House East Wing has already done?" Martin asked.
Eisen agreed that he thinks that's what they're talking about.
"I do think that the administration is contemplating demolition out of embarrassment and humiliation," said the lawyer. "First, because affixing Donald Trump's name destroyed the artist and audience base, and second, because the court won't let him keep his name on there, and he's saying the quiet part out loud."
Eisen said that, unlike with the East Wing, there was already litigation in place over the Kennedy Center.
"We had a judge assigned," he explained. "We immediately went to the judge. We got an order before the demolition had substantially commenced. There has been some glancing damage that they started to do. We got that order, and the Kennedy Center will not meet the fate of the East Wing."
"We worked overnight, as you heard; there was a blizzard of motions by our legal teammotions by our legal team, and we succeeded. There will be no demolition, Donald Trump's name will never go on the building, and it will never be demolished," Eisen promised.