Trump Administration Warns Kennedy Center Could Be Demolished If It Isn’t Fixed

A tarp remains in place on the facade of the John F.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Aug.

25, 2026. —Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images President Donald Trump has been in an ongoing legal battle to attach his name to the John F.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts —and his Administration has suggested what could happen to the living memorial if he doesn’t get his way.

In a court filing , Justice Department lawyers on behalf of the Washington, D.C., memorial argued that, without Trump, the center—which they described as “structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital”—faces “a financial and structural death spiral” that could eventually push it toward demolition.

“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, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,” the lawyers wrote.

The lawyers added that “such a replacement will fail to adequately honor President John F.

Kennedy, but would be simpler and more economical to build, operate, and maintain.” It appears to be the first explicit warning from Trump’s allies of potential demolition of the storied venue, which first opened its doors in 1971 in honor of the assassinated former President Kennedy.

The venue, however, has undergone various updates, repairs, and expansions.

How Trump's Ballroom Went From a State of Renovation to Threats of Demolition At the start of Trump’s second term, he overhauled the center’s governing board and packed it with allies.

That board voted in December last year to rename the venue as the “Trump Kennedy Center.” In February, he also ordered the center to close for two years to make way for renovations.

But in May, a judge ruled against the name change, citing powers that rest only in Congress, as well as the closure.

The judge ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the venue.

Earlier this month, the board voted to append Trump’s name to the center again, seemingly testing the court’s decision.