THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has made the physical survival of the Kennedy Center part of its defense of a plan to return Donald Trump’s name to the landmark.
Administration lawyers warned that the performing arts center could eventually require demolition if extensive repairs are not completed.
“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site,” the lawyers wrote in a response filed late Monday.
The filing opposes an emergency request from Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex officio Kennedy Center trustee. Beatty wants U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to prevent the center’s Trump-appointed board from carrying out its latest recognition plan.
The board voted 20-3 on Aug. 13 to inscribe “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” on the building. It also approved “President Donald J. Trump Plaza” as the name of the center’s grounds.
The administration says the inscription leaves the center’s formal name intact. Its lawyers characterize the additional wording as recognition of Trump’s role in restoring the building.
“Such acknowledgements of major donors are ubiquitous in similar facilities,” the filing said.
Cooper has scheduled a hearing Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026 at 2:00 p.m., to consider whether that distinction complies with an order he issued three months ago.
The May decision resolved an earlier attempt to attach Trump’s name to the institution. The center had changed the lettering on its white marble façade to read “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” prompting Beatty to sue.
Cooper ruled that the venue “must be named for, and is meant to honor, President Kennedy alone.” He concluded that Congress gave the center its name and holds the sole authority to change it.
Trump’s name was removed in June. A large tarp has covered the affected section of the façade since the removal. A federal appeals court subsequently denied the administration’s attempt to keep the name in place during its appeal.
Beatty’s latest request asks Cooper to enforce his ruling before Trump’s name can return in a different format. Her lawyer, Nathaniel Zelinsky, rejected the administration’s position.
“This filing—which reads like it was written personally by Donald Trump—is legally baseless,” Zelinsky said.
The dispute reaches beyond the wording on a building. Federal law directs the board to maintain the center as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy, whose 1963 assassination led Congress to name the institution in his honor.
Cooper’s decision will determine whether the board can place Trump’s name on that memorial through an acknowledgment adopted under its own authority.
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Jesus fucking Christ.
The plaque that Trump wants put up on the front of the Kennedy centre (against the judge's order) implies that in some way Trump has organised and paid for the required renovations, when in fact $257 million of taxpayer's money has already been allocated and set aside for The Kennedy Centre renovations.
So why should Trump get any credit when it's the taxpayers who have paid for the renovations?
This is just a ploy to get his name onto the front of the Kennedy Centre again.