Donald Trump‘s legal team is threatening to completely demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts if he doesn’t get his way. The arts center, which is a living memorial to President Kennedy, has been at the center of repeated controversies during the second Trump administration.
Soon after he returned to the White House, it was renamed “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts”, and his name was added to the sign in front of the building. That kicked off a wave of artists refusing to perform there, and in January 2026 the Washington National Opera confirmed they were leaving, as box office revenue had collapsed and donor confidence in the institution was “shattered”.
