Trump lackeys threaten to shutter Kennedy Center unless it can be illegally turned into a personal monument to the person responsible for destroying it
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Leaders of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, installed by President Donald Trump, say the center is on the brink of bankruptcy and argue that putting the president’sname on its facade — and thus ensuring his fundraising efforts — may be the only way to avoid imminent and “certain fiscal collapse,” according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The bleak assessment is laid out in a 57-page packet distributed to the center’s board of trustees ahead of a special meeting Tuesday, when the Trump-led board is scheduled to consider two resolutions aimed at addressing twin crises confronting the national performing arts center: one financial, the other physical. Center officials say they could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts “within a matter of weeks” and argue that publicly recognizing Trump could secure his help raising enough money to keep the institution afloat.
Center officials are also recommending that the board close its main building immediately, warning that remaining open would endanger lives. Board approval, which seems likely, means the center could close as early as Tuesday.
The presentation makes clear that Trump’s support hinges on getting public credit for his involvement. The financial resolution says Trump has offered to “raise the necessary funds to keep the Center from bankruptcy” while the building undergoes a sweeping renovation. But it says Trump is unlikely to provide “fundamental oversight” of that project or lead a financial rescue without “appropriate recognition” of his role.
Together, the two proposals represent a remarkable new phase in Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, which has been engulfed by financial turmoil, leadership upheaval and litigation since he installed himself as chairman last year. Trump and his allies have repeatedly portrayed his leadership — and his name — as essential to rescuing the institution, even as ticket sales and fundraising have plummeted under their stewardship.
Trustees are being asked to choose among 10 texts that could be placed on the building’s exterior beneath its name, including one reading: “Renovation Restoration and Endowment overseen by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
It’s far from Trump’s most important abuse of power, but between the illegality, the self-aggrandizement, and the mob capo logic it’s among the most illustrative.
On the soft regime-aligned side, enjoy this argument from Megan McArdle about how it was wrong for people to boycott the Kennedy Center in light of the Trump takeover, because Trump’s amorality meant that he couldn’t be persuaded, so people had no choice but to go along and keep buying tickets to Lee Greenwood Sings the Songs of Toby Keith or whatever else was being put on by Trump’s goons. Apparently Kennedy Center patrons did find this persuasive — one thing about Trump 2.0 is that it cleanly separates people who understand how to respond to a shakedown and people who don’t.