The Trump administration is making a rather extraordinary argument in its fight over the Kennedy Center: Keep Donald Trump’s name on the building to give him credit for the renovation, or the center could be taken down.
Justice Department lawyers told a federal court that without Trump’s involvement, including his fundraising efforts and the addition of his name to the Kennedy Center, the iconic Washington venue is headed toward structural and financial disaster.
In a court filing Tuesday, government lawyers described the center as “decrepit, dilapidated, crumbling” and argued that it “cannot be saved” without Trump and his administration.
Congress has already approved $257 million for renovations. But according to the administration, that’s not enough.
Government lawyers argued that Trump’s fundraising campaign, which aims to raise more than $100 million, is necessary to complete the project.
And they had a message for Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, a Kennedy Center board member who is fighting Trump’s attempt to put his name on the building:
Take Trump’s name—or watch the Kennedy Center deteriorate.
“The crisis is so acute that, without the Trump Administration, its people, and President Trump, the Center cannot survive, either structurally or financially,” the lawyers wrote, according to the USA TODAY.
They went even further, arguing that Beatty should prefer Trump’s name on the building to the possibility of the center becoming an unsafe ruin.
“The bottom line is this: Even Beatty should prefer a healthy, restored Center to a decaying hulk that is doomed to inevitable destruction or collapse,” they wrote.
That argument will get its day in court Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 27 to consider whether Trump’s name should be permanently blocked from the Kennedy Center and its grounds.
Cooper previously ordered Trump’s name removed from the building’s façade after it was added as part of the administration’s changes.
He also temporarily blocked the Kennedy Center from closing during construction after determining that the board had moved too quickly.
The board later revisited the issue and voted Aug. 13 to close the center for two years while renovations are completed.
That option is projected to cost about $285 million.
A slower renovation plan involving partial closures over four years would cost roughly **$580 million**.
Government lawyers are now warning that without the administration’s preferred approach, the building could continue deteriorating until it has to be demolished.
“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down,” they wrote.
They suggested that, if that happens, officials could eventually consider replacing it with something entirely different—such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River.
But there is another fight happening here, and it has little to do with construction.
It’s about the name.
The Kennedy Center board voted to restore Trump’s name to the façade and add it to the grounds.
The proposed name is: “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”
If Trump’s fundraising effort reaches $100 million, the façade would instead read:
“The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
The board also voted to name the plaza surrounding the center “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
The administration insists those changes don’t violate the 1964 law establishing the center as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy.
Government lawyers argue that Trump’s name merely recognizes his contribution to the renovation.
“The inscriptions only describe President Trump’s role as the one responsible for the Center’s renovation and restoration,” they wrote.
Beatty sees things very differently.
She has filed an emergency motion asking Cooper to block the Trump administration from restoring his name to the building.
Beatty called the board’s decision “a breathtaking act of defiance.”
“It bears emphasis: On the law, the latest renaming resolution is a breathtaking act of defiance,” her filing said.
She also accused the board of openly defying Cooper’s previous order by putting “Trump Kennedy Center” back into the building’s name.
The dispute now comes down to an extraordinary choice presented by the Trump administration: Put Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center—or risk losing the Kennedy Center altogether.
