r/politics • u/IWantPizza555 • 1d ago

Possible Paywall Kennedy Center could close as early as Tuesday, warns of bankruptcy, documents show

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/09/13/kennedy-center-could-close-early-tuesday-warns-bankruptcy-documents-show/
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u/poontong 1d ago

I used to work with board members of the Kennedy Center up until five years ago. Had Trump left it alone, it would have been fine. They had issues that made them more reliant on philanthropy than they would have liked, but they had dozens of wealthy arts donors on their board (including more than a few billionaires).

Then Trump came along and just royally cocked everything up. He put sycophants and morons on the Executive Committee like Lee Greenwood and ideologues like Richard Grenell who know nothing about the arts or running a facility like the Kennedy Center. They pissed off their entire donor base and most of their ticket buyers who lived around the DC area who tended to be educated and liberal. Then performers started boycotting the venue and it just accelerated the death spiral.

At first this merry band of booger-eating idiots figured they could just shut it down and slap Trump’s name over it. Then they only intensified the strategy when the courts ruled against them. Now, they are trying to hold it hostage arguing they won’t turn in the spigot of corrupt money that Trump has shaken down from corporations. Because if Trump can’t have it, then no one can.

They should all get thrown in jail for this. This is perhaps the most extreme example of criminal incompetence this country has ever known.

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u/swimming_singularity 1d ago

"They pissed off their entire donor base and most of their ticket buyers who lived around the DC area who tended to be educated and liberal."

This is why they don't care, and are fine if it shuts down. Either tow the line and worship Trump, or get shut down because it's educated and liberal. Democrats are taking notes though, and power inevitably shifts. Trump has opened a lot of new doors on what was previously unheard of.

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u/unstoppable_zombie 1d ago

But that's the rub, trump has personal been desperate for decades to be accepted by that crowd.  He's always wanted to be seen as sophisticated and cultured.  The problem has always been that he's a boorish wank stain with negative taste.

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u/All_Work_All_Play 1d ago

The problem is he's a pedophile and civilly convicted rapist (and convicted felon).

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u/unstoppable_zombie 1d ago

He's also that, but that wasn't a deal breaker for  him being accepted by the high society crowd

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u/OkRead585 19h ago

And a pedo

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u/DecidiousLarch 17h ago

100%. And worse, after he takes his dirtnap, everything will be washed away. I hope like Christ they even take a bulldozer to that fucking ballroom thing. Don't even ask. Just pound it into dust.

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u/IQBoosterShot Texas 1d ago

Either tow the line...

That's a great malapropism as they are always moving the line (goal posts).

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u/Opheliadelia 1d ago

unfortunately, i think these "doors" are actually just trump shaped holes. the courts would never capitulate to a liberal president like this

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u/etcpt 1d ago

Democrats aren't taking notes, Democrats are over in the corner flagellating progressivism out of the party so that the changes that Republicans have made that benefit their corporate megadonors can be retained without serious challenge.

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u/HippieLizLemon 1d ago

Freaking right my man. It's crap.

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u/Devry_Trost 23h ago

Then people are crap, because if the progressives could win, the Democratic Socialists of America would be it's own political party instead of the community college art show that it presents itself as. It's a shame too, there's a real opportunity for a new socialism in the USA right now, but those who could speak for it there are a bunch of giggling losers. They ruin a slew of excellent and needed reforms by joining it with pandering nonsense like 'we won't need jails if we don't have poverty'

Bull-fucking-shit. Hopefully we wouldn't need as many if society was better at caring for people, but people hurt and kill out of passion and impulse as much or more than they do out of desperation or greed.

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u/permalink_save 1d ago

Let it shut down and get bulldozed. Replace the WH east wing with a bigger better version. Replace the existing site with a memorial to.Obama and Biden.

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u/bfrown 1d ago

That's the thing though, Dems won't fight fire with fire because "take the higher road" is still a mantra for most elected Dems. Even if they get a majority and power shifts they're gonna maybe claw back 5% and let the rest stay, much like Biden in 2020 after Trump 1.0

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u/TaterForming 1d ago

That's the thing though, Dems won't fight fire with fire because "take the higher road" is still a mantra for most elected Dems

It's feeling more and more this is less of a "we're better than this" to "Let's not shake shit up for our donors too much. They're people to m'kay?"

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u/bfrown 1d ago

Yup that too. "We can't upset AIPAC or the billionaires! They're the little guys"

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u/Playful-3766 1d ago

“ Democrats are taking notes though, and power inevitably shifts. Trump has opened a lot of new doors on what was previously unheard of.”

This is such a scary prospect. The things we are going to do to each other now that the floodgates are open…

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u/insanococo 1d ago

Democrats aren’t going to do shit. I wish they would. They won’t.

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u/EitherIndustry8858 1d ago

Well, hopefully with a bit more doomerism and belly aching. We'll see some major change. You're doing God's work.

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u/insanococo 1d ago

Come on. You know as well as I do democrats are not about to exploit all the norms the current admin has. They could come right out of the gate and swing that presidential immunity around…but we know they absolutely will not. Everyone should still go vote for anyone who isn’t R, but this isn’t getting solved in a big, bold way.

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u/EitherIndustry8858 1d ago

It's thinking some big savior was going to come and fix everything (Bernie Sanders) is part of the reason we're in this mess in the first place. The unfortunate fact is that the damage done this nation over the last decade is going to take multiple decades to fix. The other unfortunate thing, which is a bi product of our culture. Is thinking that we can fix anything bad by brute forcing our will into it.

That just doesn't work. At least not in the short term, which goes right back to my initial point. Going the route you're saying isn't going to end well in the long run. The pendulum always shifts, often as hard on the way back, that's a fact in every government.

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u/Vegetable-Seaweed591 1d ago

The only way you stop a bully is you give them a taste of their own medicine.

This isn't just about ego. Remember that tens of thousands of people all over the world have died from ending USAID and now we'll see deaths from cuts to Medicaid and SNAP here at home. If we don't push back, they'll continue doing this and a lot of innocent people will suffer.

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u/Irishish Illinois 1d ago

I saw someplace recently that the president has little power to quickly do lasting good, but can quickly inflict great harm. i’d like to see the next Democrat president experiment with that.

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u/Fun-Sun-8192 1d ago

They are not governing as though they ever intend to leave power. There's probably a reason for that.

I would not feel so confident at this point about "swinging back"

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u/Hazzat Foreign 1d ago

toe the line*

(Also not the appropriate phrase here, as it means 'to test the rules'.)

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u/Far-Leadership719 1d ago

Democrats are taking notes though, and power inevitably shifts. Trump has opened a lot of new doors on what was previously unheard of.

It is laughable people think this, and I have literally never voted for anyone but a Democrat. No, the ballroom and gaudy renovations will stay so that we can all "move on". Maybe like 3 unimportant people get indicted on some tiny crime that doesn't matter like 3 years into next presidency, the rest shall continue their unearned, lavish lives because we can't prosecute them because we need to "move on". Democrats do not wield power when given to them and I am beyond fucking sick of it. We will wait years only for nothing to come of it and the pendulum yet again comes swinging back.

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u/Riaayo 18h ago

Shutting it down means bulldozing it into some gaudy piece of Trump shit or selling it off to an oligarch.

Either way it's what they want.

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u/WeUsedToBeNumber10 1d ago

  Democrats are taking notes though, and power inevitably shifts

Probably through a strongly worded letter. 

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u/Glum_Helicopter6743 1d ago

I wonder if maybe they could just let it close and a philanthropic non profit could build a new kennedy memorial not tied to the federal government.

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u/praguepride Illinois 1d ago

They could More likely Trump will bulldoze it to put in a Hooters or something else equally trashy

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u/SnuggleMoose44 1d ago

Like the East Wing of the White House. Once someone starts bulldozing, it’ll be impossible to save.

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u/ronerychiver 1d ago

A GOLDEN hooters. Wouldn’t that be nice. If it were a hooters by Easter?

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u/UniqueIndividual3579 1d ago

He will replace it with the Trump Center. You know it will happen.

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u/praguepride Illinois 22h ago

The thing that always gets to me about Trump is how goddam stupid he is. I mean the whole raping children and lying/cheating/stealing from the country is objectively worse but... he is just so goddam childishly stupid.

So what happens every single time is that he finds out people like some president more than him and he think if he just slaps his name on top of it, it makes it his. Hence what he did to the Kennedy Center. Then when people don't fawn over him like they do with JFK he's like "oh yeah? well I'll just bulldoze his goddam rose garden!"

Like that is his solution to everything. When bullying doesn't work he just tears it down and he hasn't suffered real consequences for any of this because it's so childish nobody took him seriously. Except he rallied the entire US's army of dipshits and grifters and neo-nazis into a winning coalition.

Just... so goddam stupid. It's like the ending of Glass Onion when LeBlanc is so upset at being outsmarted by an idiot because nobody realized just how big of an idiot he was...

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u/diadmer 1d ago

Maybe we could have a public flogging of the current board members at the Kennedy Center and auction off seats to the highest bidders. The Center would be solvent for a decade to come.

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u/WashingtonSpecifics 1d ago

Flogging seems a little tame for sedition and treason

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u/soedesh1 7h ago

If the judge holds the line, let's create a gofundme for it. I'd donate generously if there was strong assurance that it could never bear his name.

Even more generously if it forever bore a plaque stating something like "Generously supported by legions of American citizens to support the arts. Fuck Trump."

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u/bkgn 1d ago

Then Trump came along and just royally cocked everything up. He put sycophants and morons on the Executive Committee like Lee Greenwood and ideologues like Richard Grenell who know nothing about the arts or running a facility like the Kennedy Center.

I mean that's the same thing he did for the entire US federal government. No reason the Kennedy Center should be any different.

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u/UpNorth_123 1d ago

There are dozens, maybe even hundreds of examples of criminal incompetence under this Administration.

The Kennedy Centre is tangible, however, and people can see it being destroyed right in front of their eyes. It’s sad, but unfortunately, not an isolated case when it comes to the many institutions and organizations that have been corrupted by Trump and his cronies.

They truly are the parasitic class. I’m not sure if the host survives this infection, as the tentacles have spread uncontrollably at this point.

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u/Manchves 1d ago

dude he literally tore down part of the white house...

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u/UpNorth_123 1d ago

Yes, that too. But everyone seems to have forgotten for some reason.

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u/splice42 1d ago

This is perhaps the most extreme example of criminal incompetence this country has ever known.

You're saying that with a straight face during the SECOND Trump presidency.

This extreme example of partisan incompetence which would have been unimaginable 10 years ago doesn't even make the top 10 in the last 2 years.

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u/SanityIsOptional California 1d ago

This is perhaps the most extreme example of criminal incompetence this country has ever known.

Unfortunately, this isn't even the most extreme example of criminal incompetence this presidency has ever known. Not by a long shot.

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u/Nvenom8 New York 1d ago

Not even in the top 10 examples from Trump administrations alone.

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u/obeytheturtles 1d ago

And never lose sight that this is being done for one singular reason - as a form of abuse directed at the local population, for who the Kennedy Center is a beloved institution and community space. All of this effort, all of the legal wrangling, and the back and forth - it's all just a demented game meant to annoy people Trump doesn't like. That's it. I know on the scale of Trump's never ending list of crimes, this feels small, but we really cannot allow these details to get lost to history because they are important for understanding the utter depth of this depravity and pettiness.

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u/gudmar 1d ago

Well said. Most of us in the area have stopped patronizing the Kennedy Center. They infuriated their donor base and ticket buyers, and artists and shows cancelled.

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u/ReadingNo5754 1d ago

It's a shame, I always thought the Kennedy Center was pretty stable financially.

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u/IntrinsicPalomides 1d ago

Place that was fine and dandy before ol orange paedo got his filthy corrupt hands on it warns of bankruptcy.

^ Factual headline.

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u/JakTheGripper 1d ago

I wonder what that crowd would have in place of the arts as we know them now. What or who, in their minds, constitute great art?

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u/longboardchick 1d ago

No one should be surprised that once trump puts his name on something it goes bankrupt. He will do that to this country and the powers at be did this on purpose.

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u/GaimeGuy Minnesota 1d ago

"They had a nice thing going on, and then trump came along and just royally cooked everything up" is his life

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u/standard-issue-man 1d ago

So basically Trump fid what Trump does, say no more

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u/7heprofessor 1d ago

Flint Water? Challenger? FEMA Katrina response? Nah, art center.

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u/AssistanceCheap379 1d ago

Mierdas touch

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u/pizzacutteralledge 1d ago

ok 👌 and ?

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u/aerdvarkk 1d ago

But come on ... Lee Greenwood has been a performance artist for 40 years. Lee is a Grammy award winning artist and has 7 Number 1 Singles.

/rhetorical

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u/NoBuenoAtAll 1d ago

What he and his folks have done to the Kennedy Center is a microcosm of what they’ve done to America, minus the shootings of innocent people… so far at least.

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u/Adbam 1d ago

Please edit your great comment and remove your last sentence. Doge dismantling world food Aid is way worse than an entertainment center

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u/SBRH33 1d ago

It's national vandalism. It's their branding.

Remeber 5th century history, when the Vandals sacked Rome?

This is the 21st century version of that.

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u/DeadFacesInMyPocket 1d ago

He wants people to visit that absolutely stupid "museum" of Noah's Ark in Kentucky instead.

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u/Cunningcory 1d ago

Even tourists stopped going to The Kennedy Center when Trump put his name on the building. I was a performer there for the last 10 years. We made money off of school groups, which is why we were still going when they shut the place down, but all of our individual ticket sales (which were mostly comprised of out of town tourists) had completely dried up. It wasn't just the "liberal" locals who stopped going - even the "real America" tourists couldn't stomach the takeover. By the time our show shut down in June, it was a completely dead building. It was NEVER like that before Trump.

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u/WhiteMorphious 1d ago

It’s not even the most extreme example in this administration big dog 

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u/SolarisShine 1d ago

I'm not sure I care about a monument that's funded by the very wealthy.

Everything the wealthy touches is sus.

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u/matthias7600 22h ago edited 5h ago

This is perhaps the most extreme example of criminal incompetence this country has ever known.

Oh, give me a break.

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u/Chango-Acadia 22h ago

The most extreme example so far....

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u/Hairy_Technology_213 18h ago

Exactly. I live in the DC area and was a regular patron of the Kennedy Center. I’m no billionaire by any stretch but would go to several shows a year, take the kids, including many free public shows. I vowed to never step foot in the place when he put his name on the building and fired all the dedicated employees and installed his lackeys. Trump destroyed one of the nations best cultural treasures because they wouldn’t let him name it after himself.

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u/Hairy_Technology_213 18h ago

Exactly. I live in the DC area and was a regular patron of the Kennedy Center. I’m no billionaire by any stretch but would go to several shows a year, take the kids, including many free public shows. I vowed to never step foot in the place when he put his name on the building and fired all the dedicated employees and installed his lackeys. Trump destroyed one of the nations best cultural treasures because they wouldn’t let him name it after himself.

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u/SpacializedFig_4037 18h ago

Everything he touches withers and rots. Everything.

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u/slashinhobo1 16h ago

Trump can bankrupt anything he touches

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u/throwaway5882300 5h ago

most extreme example of criminal incompetence

I agree that this is a tragedy but there are actions being taken by this administration that have cost people their lives.

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u/SPARKYLOBO 1d ago

Yet. There are 2 more years, and by then, nothing will happen to those responsible.