Kennedy Center Washington closed: Palace of Shame

For the USA, it is a first-class state funeral: Donald Trump's shameful treatment of the internationally important cultural center "Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" in the US capital Washington has now been expanded to include another inglorious chapter. Perhaps the wandering ruler will even provide the conclusion to an already catastrophically meandering narrative about the infirmity of an institution from a former cultural beacon to a dilapidated palace of shame.

On Tuesday, the board of the Kennedy Center, which was largely determined by Trump, met for a meeting at the end of which the decision was made that the cultural temple named in honor of the Democratic President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, would be closed until further notice.

The official reason given is safety concerns; parts of the ceiling paneling in the lobby have come loose and could fall on visitors. However, no renovation measures were initially decided. In any case, Trump wants to ensure that the national cultural center, whose entrance has been scaffolded for some time, is renamed the “Donald J. Trump Center”.

Trump wanted to push through this name change as early as December last year and had his name placed on the outside of the marble facade in front of Kennedy's. The official name change was prevented solely by the executive branch's system of checks and balances; this established that only the Chamber of Congress can order such a name change.

Even though Trump has now installed followers like the former US ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, to important positions in the Kennedy Center: when dealing with the trappings of power, he simply shows no greatness, he has no human scale, he complains like an angry child whose castle in the sandbox has collapsed. The more Trump wants to assert his legacy during his lifetime, the more cultural workers distance themselves from him and the institution he damaged.

The list of artists and institutions that have now stopped supporting the Kennedy Cultural Center and no longer exhibit there, hold guest performances or premiere works is long: The National Opera Washington, the composer Philip Glass, the soprano Renée Fleming, country superstar Rhiannon Giddens, the Martha Graham Ballet Company, ... In addition, many important cultural managers have resigned from the board of trustees at their own request or have stopped providing artistic advice.

Especially since ticket sales and donations for the Kennedy Center have fallen radically since Trump and his people wielded the scepter there and had donated works of art removed indiscriminately.

At the board meeting on Tuesday, Trump tuned in live from the White House and shouted at Democratic MP Joyce Beatty, it was announced. Beatty, who remains on the Kennedy Center board of trustees, successfully challenged the name change in court. She told the Wall Street Journal that Trump "threw a tantrum because he lost in court."

The legal dispute is spreading widely; monument protection organizations and architects' associations are now also suing because of the renovation of the Kennedy Center planned by Trump and his family.