Last year, Donald Trump announced that he was taking over the Washington arts venue, the Kennedy Center, and replacing its board with a hand-picked board of loyalists. That board later added Trump’s name to the venue, and after that, numerous artists, including composer Philip Glass, cancelled performances and otherwise cut ties with the venue.
While the Kennedy Center hosted last week’s premiere of the Melania movie, its schedule was looking bare for the coming months. And now, the president has announced plans to close the Center for two years.
“After a one year review of The Trump Kennedy Center, that has taken place with Contractors, Musical Experts, Art Institutions, and other Advisors and Consultants, deciding between either Construction with Closure and Re-Opening or, Partial Construction while continuing Entertainment Operations through a much longer period of time, working in and around the Performances, I have determined that The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World,” Trump announced in a long run-on sentence of a Truth Social post.
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“Based on these findings, and totally subject to Board approval, I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time, with a scheduled Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything that has taken place with respect to such a Facility before,” Trump said. “Therefore, The Trump Kennedy Center will close on July 4th, 2026, in honor of the 250th Anniversary of our Country, whereupon we will simultaneously begin Construction of the new and spectacular Entertainment Complex.”
If the two-year timeframe is true, the closure will last until summer of 2028, just six months before the end of Trump’s presidency. Any delays could push the closure past the end of Trump’s term. That indicates that Trump’s dream of presiding over a major performing arts venue as president will likely not happen, at least for the next two years.
The Kennedy center saga is like that scene in Goodfellas where they decide to just burn the restaurant
— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 2, 2026
Closing the Kennedy Center for two years so the government can install a $29.99 all you can eat buffet *with* a dessert bar and a folksy gift emporium
— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) February 2, 2026
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
