Told by a Federal Court That Only Congress Can Rename the Kennedy Center — the "Living Memorial" to an Assassinated President — Trump's Administration Filed a Court Argument Warning That if He Isn't Given Naming Recognition, the Building Will Become an "Unsafe, Decrepit Structure That Will Be Required to Be Taken Down," Possibly Replaced by an Amphitheater; the Financial "Death Spiral" It Cited Began the Day Trump Took the Place Over
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was created by Congress in 1964 as a "living memorial" to the assassinated president, and federal law bars naming it for anyone but him. That has not stopped Trump from trying to put his own name on it. After his hand-picked board voted in December 2025 to rebrand it "The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center," a federal judge, Christopher Cooper, ruled in 2026 that "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it," and ordered Trump's name removed — it came off in June, leaving a tarp over the facade. The board then tried again, moving to emblazon the building "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump" and rename the grounds "President Donald J. Trump Plaza" by September 8. And in an August court filing fighting to do so, the administration made a remarkable argument: without the renovation and the naming recognition, "the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down," perhaps to be replaced by "a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River." Critics called it what it looks like — a threat to damage a national memorial unless Trump gets his name on it. The filing's claimed "death spiral" of fleeing donors and collapsing finances is real, but its cause is inconvenient: the Kennedy Center ran a $6 million surplus in 2023, and the ticket sales and donations only dried up after Trump seized control of it, installed himself as chairman, and remade its programming. He is pointing to a fire he set as the reason he must be allowed to carve his name into the wall.