The political circus never stops in Washington. This time, the stage is literally a stage. Representative Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who successfully fought to strip Donald Trump’s name off the Kennedy Center, is back in court. Her new complaint? The former president and his loyalist board are throwing a petulant tantrum by letting the iconic venue rot into what her lawyers call a “lifeless husk.”
It is a classic DC turf war. Trump took over the board after his second inauguration, immediately firing the center’s president, Deborah Rutter, and stripping voting rights from ex officio members like Chuck Schumer and Marco Rubio. He complained about a $26 million deficit. He whined about drag shows and “woke” programming. Then, he slapped his own name on the building. The sign read: “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts.”
Beatty sued. She won. Last week, workers scraped Trump’s name off the facade after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that only Congress has the power to rename the place. Cooper also blocked Trump’s retaliatory plan to shut the venue down for two years of “renovations.” But winning in court is one thing. Getting the doors open is another.
According to a fresh court filing, the Trump-controlled board is malicious. They are dragging their feet. Beatty’s legal team claims the board is violating the judge’s order by refusing to schedule any actual performances, aiming to effectively shutter the venue by July 5, 2026. They want a ghost town.
The board’s lawyers are playing semantic games. They argue the judge’s order didn’t explicitly force them to book new acts or resurrect dead schedules. Judge Cooper did note the board has an “affirmative duty” to keep the show going, but he left the door open just wide enough for bureaucratic foot-dragging. The board says they are weighing their options. A vote is set for mid-July. They might close it anyway. They might keep it half-open. Or they might actually fix it. Do not hold your breath.
