In other words: give him his marble, or lose the building.
Monday, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge that the Kennedy Center may have to be torn down, making their argument in a brief defending Donald Trump’s name on the building.
In Beatty versus Trump, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty is suing to stop the board from carving Trump’s name into the building’s marble front.
Government lawyer Brantley Mayers wrote that without Trump’s efforts the center becomes a structure that “will be required to be taken down.” He suggested as a replacement a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac.
On August thirteenth, Trump’s hand-picked board voted to inscribe “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” beneath the Kennedy name. The board renamed the grounds the President Donald J. Trump Plaza.
In May, Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that only Congress can change the center’s name. A tarp has covered the portico since June.
Tuesday, the Washington Post published the center’s internal budgets. The center budgeted about $220 million in revenue this year. By late May, officials projected just $124 million. Ticket sales and donations fell after the December vote to add Trump’s name on the building.
The administration’s position appears to be that the building only survives by bearing his name.
In other words: give him his marble, or lose the building.
Notes To My Future Self 