CNN anchor Jake Tapper says the real reason President Donald Trump is closing the Kennedy Center is because nobody wants to perform there anymore and seats are going unsold.
Trump announced Sunday he would be shuttering the D.C. arts venue for two years to focus on “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding.”
But in a video posted on X, Tapper questioned that narrative, pointing out that ticket sales at the center had fallen to levels last seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Whatever spin the White House wants to put on this, a lot of artists and a lot of would-be performing arts goers have voted with their feet, and the voting for the president was not positive,” Tapper said. “Though, of course, I’m sure he’ll reject that because he tends to reject negative election results.”
Tapper visited the center, which Trump has renamed after himself, after the president said he has decided to cease “Entertainment Operations” on July 4 for roughly two years.
Continuing on his one-man quest to remake the capital to his own taste, the 79-year-old said he would take the “tired, broken, and dilapidated” venue and make it into a “new and beautiful Landmark.”
Trump, a former real estate developer, said he had conducted a one-year review of the institution with “Contractors, Musical Experts, Art Institutions, and other Advisors and Consultants,” and considered both a partial and full closure.
He justified shutting the center completely, claiming that “interruptions with Audiences from the many events” would impact the speed and quality of the makeover.
However, Tapper claimed that performers and attendees going cold on the MAGAfied version of the Kennedy Center was the real cause for the decision.
“Because of what the president was doing, artists started canceling their performances here. And in fact, it got so bad that last October, the Washington Post reported that ticket sales for orchestra, theater and dance performances were the lowest they had been since the COVID pandemic,” he said.
Renowned composer Philip Glass withdrew the long-anticipated world premiere of his Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln,” last week, citing “current leadership.” One day later, the center’s newly appointed programming chief resigned after less than a week in the role.
Earlier this month, Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming also pulled out, with the center attributing her exit to a “scheduling conflict,” while the Martha Graham Dance Company canceled its planned April performance.
The Washington National Opera, meanwhile, brought its five-decade run at the center to an end earlier this month as well.
Trump began his MAGAfication of the Kennedy Center last year by purging its board and firing its president and chairman. He appointed loyalist Ric Grenell as president and installed himself as chairman.
He claims, of course, that he is saving the institution on the bank of the Potomac River.
“People don’t realize that The Trump Kennedy Center suffered massive deficits for many years and, like everything else, I merely came in to save it and, if possible, make it far better than ever before!” he wrote in a Truth Social post last week.
