Donald Trump has raised the extraordinary prospect of demolishing the Kennedy Center if he isn’t allowed to shut down the storied venue for renovations—including putting his name back on the building.
As the president moves to remake the performing arts center in his own image, Justice Department attorneys warned in a court filing that the current facility was “structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital.”
What’s more, the administration’s lawyers argued, blocking Trump’s plan to close the center for two years while he rebuilds it could cause donors to flee and contributions to dry up.
“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,” wrote Justice Department attorney Brantley T. Mayer.
The extraordinary warning is the first time the administration has raised the prospect of demolishing the center if Trump and his MAGA-stacked board don’t get their way.
It comes amid a bitter legal fight over Trump’s attempt to put his personal stamp on an institution Congress established in 1964 as a “living memorial” to assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
Since then, it has been generally understood that Congress has the power to change the name.
But the administration’s court filing argues that Trump is the person most “uniquely qualified” to rebuild the Kennedy Center given his “unrivaled expertise and experience in real estate and construction, and prominence as President.”
In an apparent reference to the board’s desire to keep Trump’s name on the building, the filing also says that “without the prominent recognition of The Trump Administration, and President Trump’s efforts, the donors will not contribute, and the Center will continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral.”
“The Trump Administration, and President Donald J. Trump, should, therefore, be given the respect and dignity of acknowledgment,” Mayer wrote.
Trump took control of the Kennedy Center after returning to office, replacing its leadership and installing a board that made him chairman.
In a move that enraged Kennedy’s family, the board - whose members include Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and country crooner Lee Greenwood - subsequently voted to add Trump’s name to the building.
However, a federal judge later ruled that only Congress had the authority to change the Kennedy Center’s name, and Trump’s branding was eventually removed from the facade in June.
Undeterred, the Trump-controlled board voted this month to try again.
Under the new plan, the building would remain formally named for Kennedy but carry the words “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.”
The grounds would also become “President Donald J. Trump Plaza,” with another Trump reference potentially added if a proposed fund reaches $100 million.
However, Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democratic congresswoman and Kennedy Center trustee, has gone back to court to stop the plan.
The demolition threat is particularly striking given fresh reporting from The Washington Post that the Kennedy Center’s finances appear to have deteriorated dramatically after Trump’s name was first added.
Confidential budget documents obtained by the Post show ticket sales and fundraising plunging after the December 2025 takeover, with the center projecting roughly $124 million in fiscal 2026 revenue against a $220 million target and a $23 million deficit.
One official described the period after Trump’s name went up as an “absolute fiscal cliff.”
The center disputes that account, blaming financial problems inherited from previous management.
