{"id":43976,"date":"2026-08-14T08:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=43976"},"modified":"2026-08-14T08:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:52:19","slug":"trumps-kennedy-center-board-tries-again-to-close-building-add-his-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=43976","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center Board Tries Again to Close Building, Add His Name"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kennedy-center-2025.jpg?quality=80\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-id=\"1617957\" data-title=\"Trump\u2019s Hand-Picked Board Makes Another Attempt to Add Name to Kennedy Center, Shutter Building for \u201cRenovations\u201d\" data-url=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/08\/trump-kennedy-center-shutdown-second-attempt\/\" data-page=\"1\" data-pages=\"1\">\n<p>The newest twist in the drama around the <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/live-coverage\/kennedy-center-takeover\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kennedy Center<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> is once again trying to shut the place down. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/08\/13\/arts\/design\/kennedy-center-closure-board-vote-trump.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><i>The New York Times<\/i> reports<\/a> that the board, led by the president and largely consisting of loyalists, has voted on a resolution to close down the building for renovations.<\/p>\n<p>The decision is not yet final, as federal Judge Christopher R. Cooper still has to approve the shutdown, after previously blocking the board\u2019s attempt to proceed with renovations in May. Then, the judge said that the board had not seriously considered the consequences of closing the center, with Kennedy Center officials promising to do so prior to this newest resolution. The resolution claims that keeping the main building open during renovations would be too expensive.<\/p>\n<p>The Kennedy Center has become a lightning rod for attention during Trump\u2019s second administration, as <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/01\/kennedy-center-every-artist-concert-canceled\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">numerous artists and groups have canceled performances<\/a> at the Center since Trump\u2019s takeover, leading to the theory that Trump wants to close the building to reduce his embarrassment over those cancellations.<\/p>\n<p>Related Video<\/p>\n<p>The proposed renovations of the Kennedy Center, carrying an estimated price tag of $250, includes structural repair work, the installation of new marble floors, and $11.8 million in \u201cacoustical improvements,\u201d per the <em>Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Cooper\u2019s May ruling was only one of many recent legal blows Trump\u2019s received in connection to the Kennedy Center. Just this week, the center was ordered to pay over $250,000 in legal fees to jazz drummer Chuck Redd, following <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/08\/court-orders-kennedy-center-to-pay-drummers-legal-fees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a lawsuit over Redd canceling his Christmas concert<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, earlier this year Trump tried to have his name mounted above John F. Kennedy\u2019s on the building\u2019s exterior, which <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/07\/court-trump-kennedy-center-name-decision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was removed in June following a court order<\/a>. However, as part of Thursday\u2019s meeting to approve the plans for renovation, the board also voted to add Trump\u2019s name below Kennedy\u2019s on the exterior with a sign reading \u201cRestored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.\u201d It will undoubtedly be done in gold.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n\t\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n\t\tn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=1;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n\t\tdocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '1753966171496536');\n\t\tfbq('set','agent','tmgoogletagmanager', '1753966171496536');\n\t\tfbq('track', \"PageView\");\n\t<\/script><script defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v7.0&#038;appId=434175690014\" nonce=\"6gwmbCtM\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The newest twist in the drama around the Kennedy Center: Donald Trump is once again trying to shut the place down. The New York Times reports that the board, led by the president and largely consisting of loyalists, has voted on a resolution to close down the building for renovations. The decision is not yet&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/kennedy-center-2025.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}