I think it represents part of high society that is desperate to receive validation from. Sure, it’s great when a whole stadium full of tobacco-chewing rednecks in overalls cheer for you but Trump wants applause from a segment of society that has already decided it has absolutely no use for him. As with various women and children he has encountered over his lifetime, if he isn’t given what he wants he will take it by force.
It seems likely to me. For similar reasons, he’s had a hate on for the NFL and its team owners (nearly all of them billionaires) for decades, because they blocked him from buying a franchise several times in the 1980s. NFL ownership is a very exclusive club, and they didn’t want him in their club.
Thirty days notice or…what? And don’t tell me what the judge or congress can do, because there ain’t no Wizard to hand them courage or a heart, respectively.
Ironic that Robert Kennedy jr. serves in the Trump Administration.
I realize Trump wouldn’t listen to him either.
From Washingtonian Magazine:
What Happens If the Kennedy Center Goes Bankrupt?
Prof. Super is quoted in the article as saying the administration is doing illegal stuff here, but just not by failing to spend the $257 million appropriation, assuming they are not.
And AI is telling me that there is nothing on the web to show whether or not any of the $257 million has been spent.
P.S. Re the headline on my link, it is misleading. The article explains that they cannot go bankrupt due to being governmental. But just maybe – seems too good to be true – a judge could appoint a nonpartisan receiver.
It’s absolutely this. This is exactly the reason that 19th century robber barons like the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers became philanthropists – they could well afford to part with some of their vast wealth in return for acceptance by polite society.
Trump doesn’t do philanthropy – to him, it’s all about greed, power, and self-glorification. So he just tried to bulldoze his way into culture by brute force, and completely failed, just like he fails at everything else he does.
It has been funded by both. Donations and taxes.
And then what?
If I speed I’m breaking the law, but if for some hypothetical reason the police refuse to issue me citations for doing it, does it really matter?
So a judge says he must give a 30 day notice before any renovation or demolition can occur. Or what? What are the possible consequences Trump might face if he ignores that order?
To paraphrase Stalin, “No building, No Problem”
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Democrat condemnation and probably a congressional censorship. Who cares? His base loves it when he acts decisively and pisses off his enemies. This is a win for Trump
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Fines? Again, who cares, somebody will pay them for him.
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Arrest? 0 chance. He’s President and presidential immunity protects him from that. He won’t face any penalties after he leaves office either because he’ll defend himself by saying he was acting within the duties of the office. If there is any legal wrangling going on here it will last well beyond what time Trump has left on this Earth.
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Impeachment? Who cares? He’s been impeached twice and was never remotely close to being removed from office. That’s a threat with no teeth.
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Go after the contractors? Again, a fine is pointless because they’ll be paid by Trump supporters (not Trump). If they’re threatened with jail they might simply say they’re acting on the authority of the President of the United States. Even if the order is “illegal” I think they’d still have a valid argument. And let’s remember the words of Nixon, “when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal”.
Past experience, look at the East Wing and his ballroom. Courts have tried to stop him every step of the way but he just kept on building. The Supreme Court chose not to act. They explicitly said construction could continue without ruling on the legality of his actions. In other words, by not ruling they’ve made his actions legal.
In the end, Trump will face no consequences by ignoring court orders. Just like the ballroom, the Supreme Court will plausibly (though not guaranteed) just roll over. Whatever legal wranglings occur will happen well after the new building is up and would just result in a lot of words on paper.
On the plus side, he’ll have a performing arts center dedicated solely to him.
Win, Win
I can see Trump having the Kennedy center demolished, but never having a new structure built. And if he violates the latest court ruling about notification, it will just be a Republican lesson to America’s children that the law doesn’t mean anything, and the courts are just a nuisance.
I know this will probably be the case, but once he’s out of office, who’s going to pay for his defense? When he doesn’t have any political weight to throw around, when he can’t promise people government positions, when he’s not likely to actually pay them, maybe, finally, lawyers will stop representing him when it means not only will they be putting their law license in jeopardy, but they won’t get paid for it either.
Maybe. I doubt it, but I can hope. But, if it does come to that, if enough lawyers decide he’s not worth the risk, maybe prosecutors can finally pounce on him.
At best he has 10 years left in his life. His strategy for court cases he’s likely to lose is just to prolong the case as long as possible. Plenty of unreputable lawyers know how to tie up courts with meaningless arguments that will drag the case beyond his lifespan. And if there are any penalties assessed he’ll slow roll those too just like E Jean Carrol. There’s just not enough time left to punish him.
This is the real damage. Not just children but other unethical people who would use political office for personal gain. We’ve been very lucky in this country to have a successful democracy. Trump is the first President (maybe Nixon too) to introduce such corruption into the system. If it’s not checked we’re in big trouble as a country.
But will they be willing to do that for no pay, no possibility of political gain and the very real chance of ruining their career? Once he’s out of office, defending citizen Trump, ISTM, is going to be like defending a sovereign citizen.
Interesting article-
There is plenty that’s bizarre about President Donald Trump’s attempt to take the Kennedy Center hostage over a judge’s refusal to let him put his name on it. He’s now indicated twice in recent days that he will abandon the center — and even let it be “ripped down” — if the courts don’t change the ruling.
But high on the bizarreness quotient are Trump’s claims that the Kennedy Center needs him. They just don’t make sense… But Congress last year appropriated $257 million for renovating the building. Trump apparently wants credit for getting Congress to do that — and is trying to hold that funding up to get what he wants. But it’s Congress that put up the money.
It’s also pretty evident that, to the extent the center is in financial trouble, it coincides with Trump’s efforts to take it over.
As recently as September 2024, tax documents showed the Kennedy Center running more than a $41 million surplus — with $307 million in revenue and $266 million in expenses.
Congress last year appropriated $257 million for needed renovations. But Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday that those renovations will not take place unless his name is again added onto the building.
I entertain no delusions that Trump cares about a court order. But I believe that so far his Regime has avoided an OPEN defiance of a court order. So if the bulldozers roll this week, we will have crossed that line.
Should be impeachable, of course. And with Republicans starting to stray from the path of 100% support-and-compliance with his wishes…
Well, none of us should get our hopes up. Still, it’s an interesting situation.
Isn’t that a Chinese curse? “May you live in interesting times”
He’ll be dead by then. But I doubt anyone but Kid Rock and Ted Nugent would perform there. Fitting as they have as much style and grace as Trump.
Well, that curse does seem to apply to almost everything in 2026. But specifically, I was noting Republican defections from the Utter Adoration they used to offer Donald----and hoping without getting too invested in hoping. (That something would come of this change in the atmosphere.)
In other news: there was a lot of peaceful protest yesterday at the Kennedy Center: human chain and everything:
No, not really, that is mostly a misunderstood translation.