{"id":630340,"date":"2026-09-20T09:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T09:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/630340\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T09:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T09:06:14","slug":"kennedy-center-cannot-hold-as-things-fall-apart-for-trump-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/630340\/","title":{"rendered":"Kennedy Center cannot hold as things fall apart for Trump \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his more sentimental moments, Donald J Trump<\/a> has, like many Americans of his generation, occasionally looked back at those thousand days in Camelot with a dewy eye. <\/p>\n

He was 17 in 1963 when John F Kennedy<\/a> was assassinated in Dallas, so his adolescence was partly shaped by a president whose personal style established the blueprint for the east coast Ivy clothing catalogues. Kennedy was the first to wear sun-blanched chinos, to wear shades. <\/p>\n

During the summer, while flicking through a children\u2019s book written by Usha Vance and featuring presidents past, Trump arrived on the page depicting JFK out boating; chino-ed, tousle-haired with that big Irish grin and, even in animated form, exuding his seductive magnetism.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Kennedy,\u201d Trump said. \u201cHe was a great guy. Handsome. He was the second most good-looking president, they say.\u201d<\/p>\n

The books, scholarly and animated, continue to come thick and fast about JFK. The gossip has never really ceased; the arguments as to the success of a first-term presidency destroyed by those rifle shots on Dealey Plaza remain vivid, and among Trump\u2019s election promises was to release the confidential files to satisfy the beliefs of the ageing army who believe Kennedy\u2019s killing was part of a broader conspiracy.<\/p>\n

Trump belongs to the generation that never fully got over JFK. His imprint and influence are still everywhere in Washington, and the sombre trek up to the Kennedy gravesite and eternal flame, in Arlington cemetery, is always busy. But apart from the gravesite, his memory has been memorialised only in the cavernous white Center for the Performing Arts on the edge of the Potomac.<\/p>\n

This weekend, the Kennedy Center lies closed and a tarpaulin covers the lettering bearing both the honouree\u2019s name and the space Trump\u2019s name briefly adorned. It looks as though a crime has been committed \u2013 and some believe it has. The future of the building is uncertain. On Wednesday, Trump was photographed studying a printed image as he waited to return to Washington on Air Force One: it appeared to read: \u201cKennedy Center Demolished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump had already by then warned that the building could be demolished unless a federal judge, and the board, return his name to the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me to get involved and take that on long term, to raise money to carry it, I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly if we don\u2019t do that it\u2019s going to close. It will end up being ripped down. It\u2019s in very bad shape,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"WorkersWorkers prepare to remove Donald Trump\u2019s name from the facade of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in June. Photograph: Pete Kiehart\/New York Times<\/p>\n

In other words, if Trump can\u2019t have his name on the Kennedy Center, there will be no Center. It doesn\u2019t matter that he is still a little enchanted by the former president\u2019s aura \u2013 or that Kennedy\u2019s nephew, RFK jnr, serves on his cabinet.<\/p>\n

Shortly after returning to office, Trump became chair of the Center\u2019s board and promised a gold-tipped and marble renaissance of the building\u2019s cavernous interior and a programme reflective of the tastes and cultural ideology of his administration. Many artists and scheduled performances were cancelled; many others cancelled in protest. The place became moribund. Trump\u2019s name magically appeared above Kennedy\u2019s and was then removed on the edict of a federal judge.<\/p>\n

Although the board is crowded with friends of the president, he had no control over the ex officio members from Congress, which include Democrat congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a 76-year-old Democrat from Ohio. Beatty this week spilt the beans on the stormy board meeting earlier this week in which the president participated by phone. According to Beatty, Trump told her that she was \u201can obstructionist\u201d and \u201cdumb\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said: \u2018I think you\u2019re incompetent.\u2019 I said: \u2018I know you are incompetent,\u2019\u201d Beatty said on television. <\/p>\n

Things deteriorated from there. Beatty has since filed a motion asking the judge to make it \u201ccrystal clear\u201d that the building can\u2019t be demolished and reminded people that congress has already approved money for a $257 million renovation programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden if his name is on it, it has $256 million in the bank,\u201d said Kerry Kennedy, the late president\u2019s niece \u2013 and the current health secretary\u2019s sister.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t bankruptcy. This is hostage-taking by the president of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018A lot of \u2019em can\u2019t even spell AI\u2019: The technology-extinction debate convulses AmericaOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also part of Trump\u2019s broader construction projects, including the vast ballroom on the east side of the White House; the Trumpian Arc, bigger than the Parisian equivalent, on the approach across the Potomac to Arlington; a planned national garden of American heroes and the ongoing saga over the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial.<\/p>\n

A slew of recent polls suggests a genuine \u201cblue wave\u201d in the forthcoming midterms. The Iran war is at an impasse. Kevin Warsh, his preferred new chair of the fed, has just raised interest rates. Yet over the past few months, Trump has never sounded so energised or happy as when he is talking about the new helipad on the lawn of the White House, or progress with the ballroom.<\/p>\n

Like many Americans, Trump is beginning now to look beyond his presidency. The urgency to push through those monuments to himself is plain to see and in a recent interview, Trump acknowledged that unlike JFK, no future administrations will be honouring him with buildings or statues.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody will do it once I\u2019m gone. When I leave here, nobody will.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his more sentimental moments, Donald J Trump has, like many Americans of his generation, occasionally looked back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,11829,66781,154123,43,1139,40,38,41,39,90],"class_list":["post-630340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-john-f-kennedy","tag-keith-duggan","tag-news","tag-robert-f-kennedy-jr","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}