The boot-licking board that runs the Kennedy Center has had the Justice Department issue a warning to a federal judge that the building may need to be razed unless Donald Trump’s name goes on it.
On August 13, the board voted to carve the words “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” into the front of the building and to rename the grounds “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
One of the board members, Rep. Joyce Beatty sued to stop the renaming of the center. The board claims the center is so dangerously dilapidated that it faces closure, and only Donald Trump’s intervention and fund raising can save it.
The warning relies on a bogus claim that the money follows the recognition. Without “prominent recognition” of Trump’s efforts, “the donors will not contribute, and the Center will continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral,” the filing said.
The Washington Post, however, reports that donations and ticket sales fell off a cliff after the board oversaw Trump’s name being added to the Kennedy building.
The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, ruled in May that only Congress could approve a name change to the Kennedy Center.
DOJ lawyers proposed in the Kennedy Center’s place “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,” the filing said.