The Kennedy Center is just Trump’s latest hostage

Donald Trump has in lurched, in short order, from would-be savior to abductor of the Kennedy Center, replacing vows to restore the facility’s greatness with a threat to demolish it if he can’t put his name on it.

Construction crews fenced off the center on Wednesday, making it the latest in a series of Washington landmarks where Trump’s grand renovation plans have devolved into stalled construction projects that have left public facilities closed to the public.

Trump told reporters Wednesday that the Kennedy Center might be “ripped down” if his administration did not receive “recognition” for working to improve it. Later he was photographed studying a poster board that appeared to say, “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” A spokesperson for the center countered Thursday that “nothing is being demolished.” And US District Judge Christopher Cooper, who previously ruled that Trump’s name must be removed from the facility’s wall, ordered the administration to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolition.

Still, the performing arts venue is shuttered. After securing $250 million in congressional funding and vowing to “bring it to a higher level than it ever hit”—marble armrests; performances like Les Miserables; “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS”—Trump has not improved the Kennedy Center. He has closed it and threatened to raze it.

This is part of a pattern. Trump’s costly campaign to make Washington “safe and beautiful” is floundering, with projects stalled in the face of legal challenges and construction flaws. As criticism mounts, fences have risen across the nation’s capital, with parks closed down indefinitely.

With the Kennedy Center, and DC generally, it’s hard to avoid the similarity to a creepy courtship. Imagine Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle, were he the president. If he can’t possess it, he threatens to kill it.

In June, the White House touted the reopening of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. That followed repairs to its filtration system and installation of “American flag blue” liner by firms awarded no-bid contracts to complete the work before July 4. Trump celebrated the work, claiming, falsely, that prior presidents spent more money on less successful repairs.

But after the lining peeled and pool filled with algae, the pool closed for further fixes. Trump, without evidence, blamed knife-wielding vandals for the problems. And the Justice Department issued criminal charges against three people who had removed pieces of liner from the pool for allegedly defacing it.

The DOJ later dropped those charges, acknowledging that evidence showed flawed construction caused the pool’s problems. The pool’s main contractor has agreed, telling the government in progress reports that errors by its own workers caused the pool liner to peel.

The reflecting pool has remained drained since July. And the National Park Service has erected fencing cutting off the landmark and nearby walkways from public access. Signs on the fences, echoing Trump, assert that the government is “repairing areas damaged by vandals and completing a historic effort to clean, fix, and beautify the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool”—and fault past administrations for “neglecting this iconic national landmark.”

To the east, even more of the National Mall— a mile-long stretch—is also closed until January for “turf restoration.” That includes the area that was used to host Trump’s controversial Great American State Fair this summer. The Park Service has not attributed the closure to the fair.

South of the White House, the Ellipse, a park area along National Mall, has mostly remained fenced off since June, when a UFC Fight Trump hosted at the White House on Trump’s birthday damaged the grass there. The Park Service says the Ellipse is closed “because of events happening in and around the White House.”

On the other side of the White House, Lafayette Park, where the administration recently spent $17.4 million through a no-bid contract to repair two ornamental fountains, is also surrounded by fences. That closure is supposed to be temporary, but the Trump administration has proposed permanently fencing off the park— often a gathering spot for protesters—to improve security.

At White House itself, Trump’s beloved ballroom is moving ahead. But high fences around Lafayette Park and the rest of the White House perimeter mean the unpopular project, partly paid for with public money, is cut off from taxpayers’ view.