The Trump administration has raised the prospect of demolishing the Kennedy Center if the president is prevented from carrying out his planned overhaul of the performing arts institution.
In a court filing submitted Monday, Justice Department attorneys representing the Kennedy Center argued that the building could deteriorate to a point that would necessitate its demolition. If matters were to reach that stage, they wrote that a large outdoor amphitheater could be one replacement.
“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. Such a replacement will fail to adequately honor President John F. Kennedy, but would be simpler and more economical to build, operate, and maintain.”
According to The Washington Post, this marks the first time Donald Trump’s allies have explicitly raised demolition as a possible fate for the building. A spokesperson for the venue subsequently emphasized that the scenario was hypothetical and would only become relevant if its proposed renovations were prevented from moving forward.
Kennedy Center officials maintain that the complex is in serious need of repair. On that note, the filing states, “The Kennedy Center is in terrible trouble. The crisis is so acute that, without the Trump Administration, its people, and President Trump, the Center cannot survive, either structurally or financially.”
The possibility of demolition arrives amid a much larger legal fight over the current administration’s plans for the more than 50-year-old complex. Earlier this month, its Trump-aligned board voted to once again close much of the venue for two years of renovations after a federal judge blocked an earlier attempt to do so. The board also approved an inscription beneath the building’s existing name reading “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump” in addition to plans to name its plaza after him.
Those moves came after US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that the board had illegally added Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, which Congress designated as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy. He ordered Trump’s name removed and temporarily halted the planned renovation closure, finding that the board had not adequately considered the consequences.
“We are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it,” the president subsequently wrote in a Truth Social post. “Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself! I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the Public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who sits on the Kennedy Center board as an ex officio trustee, is now asking Judge Cooper to block the latest effort to put Trump’s name on the building. A hearing on her request is scheduled for Thursday.
Since Trump took control of the Kennedy Center and replaced much of its leadership in 2025, numerous artists and organizations have severed ties with the institution or canceled appearances. Philip Glass, Béla Fleck, Renée Fleming, and others are among those to withdraw from scheduled performances, while the Washington National Opera also ended its decades-long relationship with the venue.
