Kennedy Center Closed Off as Panicked Trump Defies Judge
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters The public was turned away from the Kennedy Center on Wednesday as construction workers erected fencing throughout the performing arts center plaza, one day after Donald Trump’s hand-picked board voted to shut it down.
The black fencing and other barriers, such as neon cones across the driveway, were still being positioned as the Daily Beast arrived on the scene before noon.
A security guard would not answer questions about when they started putting up the fencing or discuss the Kennedy Center at all, but a flurry of activity was underway.
Crews moved metal barriers and orange plastic ones quickly by hand and with a forklift as they worked to block access to the performing arts facility’s entrances.
Opponents of the Kennedy Center’s closure filed a motion for an emergency hearing in federal court on Wednesday.
A preliminary injunction preventing the board from fully closing the center remains in place despite Trump’s vow that it would close “immediately.” The Daily Beast asked the White House and Kennedy Center for more information.
Laura Bligh, who worked at the Center in the 1980s and 1990s, stood outside protesting as the fencing went up.
She was carrying signs that read “Shame on the Trump Board—you have destroyed something precious” and “there is an injunction (remember?).
“Trump’s hand-picked board is not interested in the performing arts.
All they’re interested in is doing what Trump tells them to do, and he also is not interested in the performing arts,” Bligh said.
She has been out protesting for several weeks and said she wants the Kennedy Center back.
“I want Trump’s connection with it to be completely severed.
I want the patrons to come back and embrace this wonderful, joyous performing arts center,” she said.
The fencing went up one day after Trump threw a tantrum when District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked the president from adding his name to the Kennedy Center for a second time.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.thedailybeast.com — the content belongs to The Daily Beast.
