President Trump is leaving open the possibility of demolishing the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, declining to rule out such a move as a legal fight over the venue’s name and renovation drags on.
In an interview with Time magazine published this week, Trump was pressed on whether he would commit to not sending in wrecking crews to tear down the center without congressional approval. “I’m not committing to anything. We’re going to see how it plays out in court,” he said. “But if I build it, and if I agree that for the rest of my life, I’m going to be putting up $100 million to have it open to people … then I think the Trump administration should be recognized.”
The remarks come amid a broader dispute over the Kennedy Center’s future. The center’s board voted last month to immediately close the main building for renovations after officials warned of “certain fiscal collapse within weeks” and declared the structure “unsafe for continued occupancy.”
At the heart of the conflict is whether Trump’s name can be added to the building. The D.C. Circuit Court is expected to rule on the matter after Trump’s name was briefly added earlier this year and then removed following a court order. Trump has said renovations will not proceed until the court decides on the name change.
In the Time interview, Trump said he would be “willing to save it, but it’s in terrible, terrible shape.” He added, “Only I can save it, and I’ll tell you the biggest problem with the Kennedy Center — I can build it, but it will lose like many of those places. If you look at Carnegie Hall, New York, and all these places, the artsy places, they lose tens of millions of dollars.”
He also lashed out at the judge who ordered his name removed, calling him a “radical left Trump hater.” Trump questioned why he should support the center if it loses money and he receives no recognition. “Well, why would I want to stick with something that’s going to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, and I’m not even recognized?” he said. “It’s not me; it’s the administration.”
The controversy has been further fueled by a letter from former Kennedy Center employees accusing the center’s leadership of halting planned waterproofing repairs earlier this year. David Seide, an attorney for the whistleblowers, said Executive Director Matt Floca knew about the issues “for years” but canceled the repairs even though Congress had allocated millions for renovation.
“In sum, the evidence shows that the New Problems were in fact well known, were not considered to be high priorities and that millions in taxpayer funds were set aside more than a year ago to address them,” Seide wrote to Congress. The letter also alleges Floca diverted congressional funds for repairs to make “unplanned cosmetic changes” requested by Trump, including repainting the main building’s columns white last year.
Floca has rejected the allegations, saying “the safety of our patrons, artists, and staff comes first.” He acknowledged that the center had long known about a leaking roof overhang but said the extent of internal damage only became clear this summer.
The standoff has become another flashpoint in Trump’s broader political battles, with the former president increasingly willing to defy institutional norms. As he weighs his next move, the fate of one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions hangs in the balance.
