As it turns out, woke leftists would rather shut down the Kennedy Center completely than allow President Trump to renovate and add his name to it.
On Tuesday, the Kennedy Center Board voted to indefinitely close the building down due to unsafe conditions.
President Trump announced the closure in a post on Truth Social:
The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction. The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name. If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place. The attorneys from the DOJ will ask for an expedited appeal. In the meantime, 17 Million Dollars, raised by President Trump, has been put into The Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
This decision comes after a section of the Kennedy Center ceiling collapsed earlier this month following heavy rainfall.
Luckily, nobody was injured.
But, it’s simply too risky to continue operations until some renovations take place to fix the decaying infrastructure.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick shared some footage of the partial ceiling collapse:
Here is the video of the ceiling of the Kennedy Center crashing violently onto the main Lobby floor. Failing roofing, collapsing concrete supports, and steel that is rotting have created completely unsafe conditions.
It was caught on security video, missing one of the Center’s…
pic.twitter.com/g8PI4wsPzg
— Howard Lutnick (@howardlutnick)
September 14, 2026
Here is the video of the ceiling of the Kennedy Center crashing violently onto the main Lobby floor. Failing roofing, collapsing concrete supports, and steel that is rotting have created completely unsafe conditions.
It was caught on security video, missing one of the Center’s security guards by just minutes. If a performance had been underway, patrons could have been killed.
The entire building is in this kind of shape. People cannot be allowed to go into this building any longer. It must be closed and reconstructed, and a major fundraising effort must take place to cover the Kennedy Center’s operating expenses.
Like many other Centers, it operates at a huge loss. For the Kennedy Center, that has historically been $80-$100 million a year.
Only President Trump can deliver the renovation on time and on budget, and only President Trump can raise the money to keep the Center out of bankruptcy.
President Trump has raised millions of dollars to restore the Kennedy Center to its former glory.
But, it’s unclear when these renovations will be allowed to move forward.
This is because a rogue Obama-appointed Judge Christopher Cooper is blocking President Trump’s name from being added to the Kennedy Center to recognize his role in restoring it.
And, renovations cannot begin until the name is approved.
The New York Times reported:
On Tuesday, the center posed an aggressive test of the judge’s order when it closed its doors in what officials called an emergency action designed to protect people from deteriorating conditions inside the building. Shortly after 4:30 p.m., employees heard a sudden notice on the P.A. system: “The center is now closed to the public. Please exit the center by way of the Hall of States.”
The Kennedy Center said in a statement that an immediate temporary closure of the main building was necessary for safety reasons but that an extended closure would begin once the court gives its approval. Earlier on Tuesday, the center’s Trump-allied board voted — for a third time — to close the building, citing a recent incident in which a five-foot-long section of ceiling plaster fell to the ground amid a storm.
But lawyers for Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democratic ex officio board member whose lawsuit is at the center of the court battle, signaled that they would view any closure as in direct conflict with a court order.
“If true,” the lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said in a statement, “it would appear a direct violation of the court’s order and courting contempt.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who has been overseeing the legal fight, barred the center from honoring Mr. Trump with an inscription on the institution’s exterior. He ruled that such an addition would violate his previous order that blocked the board from renaming the center after Mr. Trump.
“Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Judge Cooper wrote. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”
Mr. Trump responded on social media with a stark ultimatum. If an appeals court does not agree to allow his name back on the building, he said in the post, he would block a $257 million renovation of the center that he has been championing for more than a year.
If President Trump’s restoration project does not take place, then the future of the Kennedy Center is at risk.
Without renovations, we don’t know when — or
if — the Kennedy Center will even be able to open again.
AP has more on the situation:
The developments threw into limbo the fate of one of the nation’s most prominent cultural institutions, a place where presidents, lawmakers and celebrities of all political ideologies have gathered for decades to recognize and celebrate the best in American arts and culture.
The venue’s leaders have argued that the massive building, which began construction in 1965, was in dire need of renovations. A partial ceiling collapse in the building’s main hallway earlier this month intensified the calls for renovations.
“The building is not currently built to last, the chairman knows that because he is among the best builders in the world,” Brian Ballard, Kennedy Center board member, said in a statement.
But Trump’s insistence on a physical recognition of his work on the building, reminiscent of his tendency to add his name to buildings as a real estate developer, has been a persistent sticking point — alienating many of the institution’s longtime supporters and facing repeated legal roadblocks.
The fight over the Kennedy Center marks a rare setback in Trump’s second term bid to dramatically remake the nation’s capital in his gilded tastes. He’s demolished the East Wing of the White House and is replacing it with a ballroom and plans to build a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. He’s also eyeing a golf course renovation along the Potomac River.
The Kennedy Center board voted in August to inscribe his name on the Kennedy Center’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would also be renamed in Trump’s honor.
Cooper ruled in May that the Kennedy Center illegally added Trump’s name to the building, ordering it removed. The institution’s leaders complied in June but left a tarp and scaffolding in place where Trump’s name was once displayed.
Hanging over the hearing was the prospect that the administration may seek to demolish the Kennedy Center. In a filing last month, administration lawyers told the court that absent recognition of the president, the Kennedy Center would struggle to raise money for renovations. Without that money, they suggested, the building may need to be demolished, a prospect that alarmed some given Trump’s swift moves last year to dismantle the East Wing.
The Kennedy Center, the lawyers argued, “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, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years.”
After Tuesday’s vote, The Kennedy Center released a video explaining the closure and planned renovations further:
For more than 50 years, the Kennedy Center has stood as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and America’s home for the performing arts.
Today, critical infrastructure throughout the building is failing. A temporary closure will allow us to address these compounding…
pic.twitter.com/ogJjOPZ8lH
— The Kennedy Center (@TKCOfficial)
September 15, 2026
For more than 50 years, the Kennedy Center has stood as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and America’s home for the performing arts.
Today, critical infrastructure throughout the building is failing. A temporary closure will allow us to address these compounding hazards, modernize the Center, and safeguard this national memorial for generations to come.
This is about lasting stewardship— preserving the Kennedy Center today and protecting its future.
Frankly, it will be very sad if leftists prevent President Trump from fixing up the Kennedy Center and instead close it down for good.
The DOJ is asking for an expedited appeal of the judge’s decision, and the case could end up escalating to the Supreme Court.
Fox News provided further coverage in this clip:
NEWS: The Kennedy Center Board has VOTED to SHUT DOWN the performing arts center over safety concerns with the building falling apart and a lack of funding.
President Trump wrote on Truth Social: “The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the…
pic.twitter.com/C1SufoynUO
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress)
September 15, 2026
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
