Will Trump actually demolish The John F. Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts because he can’t rename it for himself? Or at least add his name to it? Fears he might pull the same stunt as he did tearing down the East Wing of the White House before anyone could stop it are growing and with good reason. He was caught, on Air Force One no less examining a large poster that showed demolition and enough letters to indicate it was labeled in big red letters “Kennedy Center Demolished.”
Multiple outlets have reported on this, and if you want to see images both of Trump (through the windows of AF-1 and an aide holding the poster at the foot of the plane later) you can check out The Daily Beast story. It’s worth the time to read and offers some details and context that suggest Trump is really going to try and literally destroy The Kennedy Center if he doesn’t get his way. It opens describing how Trump was caught inspecting a large poster boasting of the demolition hours after threatening that the building could be “ripped down.”
Trump has during his second term become rather obsessed with the place and his slain predecessor. I can’t help but wonder if he wants to one-up Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his wife who fancied themselves the ‘replacement’ John and Jacky Kennedy. Come to think of it isn’t the intention to rename the Kennedy Center Opera House for Melania? Regardless, Trump demanded his handpicked board of losers slap his name on the place giving himself equal billing with Kennedy. A federal judge slapped him down and ordered it removed and as you know the ever petulant Trump STILL has a tarp up hiding the fact his name actually was removed! Being Trump he was determined to find a way, and thoughts of ‘If I can’t have it (named for ME) then nobody can formed in the spaces between the clumps of toxic waste in Trump’s head:
In August, the Trump administration floated the prospect of knocking the Kennedy Center down and replacing it with an outdoor amphitheater, unless it could be shut down for two years to carry out renovations, claiming it was “structurally unsound” and “embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital.”
Trump has refused to give up having his name on the building and as I noted the tarp put up to hide his name being taken OFF are still there. No doubt because he figured eventually his appeal would get to SCOTUS and ‘his” Justices would let him slap his name up again. No doubt with no tarps hiding that work as he’d want to make a ‘f**k all y’all’ spectacle. Still, SCOTUS hasn’t always given him what he wants so he formed a contingency plan. I for one think it’s something he seriously intends to do (or try like hell to do) since this isn’t some bogus article his human printer (aka the weirdly devoted Natalie Harp who btw was with him) handed him on a sheet of paper. No, some thought and effort went into that big poster he was caught looking at:
On Wednesday, AFP/Getty Images photographer Brendan Smialowski captured Trump inspecting a poster visible through the windows of Air Force One as he returned from campaigning in North Carolina.
While the full poster could not be seen, the words “Kennedy Center” and what appeared to be “DEMOLISHED” in capital letters were visible above a photograph that was difficult to make out but may have been a possible blueprint for a plan for the site.
The font also matched the one Trump uses in many of his Truth Social posts.
The linked article goes on to mention Trump lackey Bill Pulte (Director of U.S. Federal Housing) followed Trump off Air Force One carrying large poster boards but it seems was ready to deal with cameras that always record Presidents boarding and exiting the plane and had them turned around to conceal their contents. (The linked article has a picture of that too) It should be noted Pulte is a key member of the Trump-installed (ahem) ‘leadership’ now overseeing the Kennedy Center. He was spotted standing next to Trump as he looked at the poster!
Would Trump really have the building knocked down? Hell, I can see him ordering Hegseth to round up military engineers and explosives people to rig the place for an ‘implosion demolition’ and make a big show of pressing the button himself! In any case ex-Officio Board Member (by statute Trump couldn’t get rid of the members of Congress appointed to the board) is raising the alarm:
On CNN on Wednesday, Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the board who has been fighting Trump’s plans in court, said “the country should be in an uproar” over the potential demolition.
“It‘s clear to me that the president has thrown a tantrum,” she said. “He didn‘t get his way in the court, and he was challenged in the board meeting. And so now he‘s doing what people do when they throw a tantrum and they don‘t get their way: ‘I’m going to tear it down.’”
One last point. Team Trump is claiming the building is falling apart and put out a photo of what they say is a section of ‘collapsed ceiling’ in the lobby. You can see a large picture of the alleged ‘water damage’ here on Politizoom. The article calls bullshit on the Kennedy Center Board’s claim and to me it sure doesn’t look like plaster which is what that ceiling is made of. It looks like a pattern of freaking dirt was laid out and pieces of drywall were scattered around. For the record I grew up in a house built in 1900 and it had plaster walls an ceilings. When replacing a bedroom door frame that had been damaged by fire (long story) my dad cut out a bit of the plaster and re-did it. When he cut it out the residue was white powder – NOT that brown stuff (again, sure looks like dirt) you see in the linked article’s title picture.
I mention this because I saw a blurb yesterday about a member of the Kennedy family who actually still works at the Kennedy Center. In Security! She found the doors locked when she went to work yesterday and was told the building was closed. She went back later and got the same b.s. so she walked around and all the entrances had been blocked AND she saw forklifts bringing in more gating to keep people away. What really got her attention (and mine) was she observed forklifts striking (multiple times) the building. A column in fact. It’s like Team Trump intends to keep doing damage to the building to create “evidence” when they are back in court claiming the building is falling apart.
Stay tuned. And don’t be surprised if in the dead of night flatbeds unload demolition equipment and start knocking down walls before the sun comes up.
