Trump Kennedy Center to close for renovations amid renaming backlash

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that starting on July 4, the Trump Kennedy Center will close for two years to undergo renovations, Fox News reports.

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Trump announced on Truth Social that the complex will close on the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, with construction to start on a “new and spectacular entertainment complex.”

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Following a long review with contractors, arts experts and others, the president said that temporarily closing the centre would allow renovations to be completed faster and at a higher quality than if performances continued during renovations. Trump added the money is already in place — though he did not give specific figures or sources for the money.

Renaming controversy

Last December, the board of trustees for the “John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” voted unanimously to add Trump’s name to the venue, officially changing the title to “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” The move sparked a backlash of artists cancelling performances at the venue, and several members of the Kennedy family criticized the name change.

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Joe Kennedy III, a former House member and grandnephew of the late president, said that “the Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law.

“It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says,” he added.

A mockup of Trump’s plan for a memorial arch in Washington. Getty Images Photo by Jim Watson /Getty Images

Trump’s construction projects

Trump has made major construction projects a notable part of his administration. His latest plan is for an “Arc de Trump” in Washington — a planned arch in the style of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, standing at 250-feet high, significantly taller than the 100-foot Lincoln Memorial and the French arch.

Reports say that Trump wants to earmark a plot of land near the Memorial Bridge over Washington’s Potomac River for the project, however experts say the arc would not be ready in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, adding approving and building a new memorial typically takes years.

Last September, Trump unveiled a “Presidential Walk of Fame” along the colonnade of the White House’s West Wing, which displays gold-framed portraits of himself and 44 other presidents along the exterior wall. In place of former president Joe Biden’s picture is a photo of an autopen signing his name, pointing to Biden’s cognitive decline at the end of his presidency.

Other White House developments include paving over the Rose Garden and building a $250-million ballroom, along with adding figurines, cherubs and appliques to the Oval Office, reflecting the style of Trump’s opulent Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Critics have sharply criticized the renovations, with one guest columnist for the New York Times calling the remodels a “Gilded Rococo Nightmare.”