Sept. 16, 2026, 10:02 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will “end up being ripped down” without renovations that he’s threatened not to carry out unless his name is added to the side of the building.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Sept. 16, defended his position that he be recognized with an honorary inscription below the main sign of the Kennedy Center ‒ a move the center’s board approved but a federal judge this week blocked.
“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition,” Trump said. “Because, frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down. It’s in very, very bad, bad shape, very dangerous shape.”
The Kennedy Center’s board, composed of mostly Trump loyalists with the president serving as chairman, voted on Sept. 15 to close the iconic institution immediately to undergo two-year renovations that Trump has vowed to help pay for.
Trump and Kennedy Center officials have argued the center’s disrepair after years of neglect has turned into a safety threat to guests attending shows. Congress has approved $257 million for renovations. But the Justice Department says without Trump’s additional fundraising aiming for more than $100 million, the work can’t be completed.
“It’s been badly maintained for 25 years,” Trump said. “I’d like to be able to save but it’s going to take a lot of subsidy into the future, and for us as an administration to want to do that, I think the Trump administration should be recognized.”
After the board’s vote to close the center, Trump warned he won’t pursue the renovations unless U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper’s decision keeping his name off the center’s building is overturned on appeal.
Cooper ruled the Kennedy Center’s plan to add an inscription on the building that says “renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump” cannot move forward. The judge said the inscription violates his previous order in May to remove Trump’s name from the center’s title and signage and violates the 1964 law that created the center to honor President Kennedy after his assassination.
The Justice Department has appealed the decision on Trump’s honorary inscription.
Cooper is expected to later rule whether the temporarily closure of the Kennedy Center also violates his previous order. The judge, in the same May order, blocked the Kennedy Center board’s vote in March to close for two years, citing a lack of adequate information before the rushed action.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
Leave a Reply