Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center takeover isn’t slowing down, even after a federal judge ordered his name removed from the national memorial.
Now, his allies have unveiled another plan that could make his name even harder to erase.
Since returning to the White House in 2025, Trump, 80, has pushed to put his stamp on Washington, D.C. His Kennedy Center campaign has become one of the most contentious examples.
The Trump-appointed board voted in December to add his name to the building. A federal judge later ruled that Congress alone could rename the national memorial.
Still, the latest court filings reveal the board has another idea on the table.
In February 2025, the new board elected Trump as the chair. By December of that year, the Kennedy Center trustees voted to add “Donald J. Trump” to the exterior of the building.
Lawsuits followed.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a former Kennedy Center board member, sued over Trump’s unilateral rebranding.
In May, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that only Congress could rename the memorial. Workers later removed Trump’s name, prompting him to cover the marble facade with tarps and scaffolding in June.
Two months later, the tarp is still draped over the front entrance. And Beatty has filed an emergency motion to stop Trump’s name from returning to the Kennedy Center for good.
In new legal filings on Aug. 18, the Trump-appointed board argued the tarp-covered scaffolding needs to remain to conduct “water testing and structural repairs” to the roof overhanging the front portico.
Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director, said the tarp served as a “necessary safety barrier” in a sworn statement to the court.
The Kennedy Center’s recent status report also noted that the board would not attempt to add Trump’s name to the building before Sept. 8.
However, a proposal from the institution indicated that yet another label could become part of the complex located on Potomac River’s eastern bank.
A new resolution would add an inscription beneath the Kennedy Center’s main signage, further linking Trump’s name to Kennedy’s legacy.
The sign would read: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” Additionally, if the endowment fund reaches $100 million, a third line would be added: “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”
Furthermore, the Trump-aligned board wants to rename the physical grounds of The Kennedy Center as “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
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“[Kennedy’s] name should once again be visible on the facade, and Defendants’ childish refusal to accept this Court’s ruling to that effect should end now,” lawyers for Beatty, 76, wrote in their own court filing submitted on Tuesday.
She called it a “breathtaking act of defiance of Congress and of this Court.”
“Defendants have voted to return President Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center’s facade. This time, Trump’s name will appear on the building’s front portico not once, but twice,” she said according to NPR.
Attorneys asked the judge to allow the board 30 days to explain why workers haven’t removed the tarp.
Opponents of Trump’s self-absorbed Kennedy Center takeover flooded X to voice their opposition and frustration.
One person tweeted, “Trump can’t have his name on the Kennedy Center so he damaged it, hence the tarp. I hate him.”
“This is just another temper tantrum by Trump since his name was to be removed… such a child in an adult role!!!! America voted for this nonsense!!!” a person exclaimed.
The center’s construction explanation for keeping the tarp up fell flat as well. One person blasted, “Even their excuse makes no sense. A tarp not even close to the overhang to repair.”
Trump has a long history of being deceitful to get what he wants. That willingness to stretch the truth for personal and political gain led an X user to write, “The lies never stop with these people.”
Many suspect the reason the tarp hasn’t come down is because, “Dumpty already engraved his name into the stone. That’s why the tarp was put up.”
Trump seems determined to remake the Kennedy Center into a tribute to himself. Neither court cases nor negative public backlash appear to have any sway on the billionaire politician’s egocentric goals.
As the legal battle continues, Trump is also pushing Trump-style makeovers for the White House, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and other D.C. landmarks.
