The Trump administration has been insisting to the courts—and everyone else—that the only way the Kennedy Center can stay open is if President Donald Trump’s name can be slapped on it, because those people who raced to donate because Trump’s name was on it would take their money back if Trump’s name isn’t on it.
It turns out that pretty much the opposite is true. Basically, once Trump befouled the place, donations went through the floor.
And it turns out that despite Trump repeatedly decrying how the Kennedy Center was insolvent, crumbling, and so on, it was solvent—until Trump took over.
Wow. Who could have predicted that the guy who managed to have his companies go bankrupt six times would not be a good steward of money?
In a genuinely impressive state of affairs, the sitting president’s reign has been so catastrophic for the storied performing arts venue that while gifts dropped 42% after Trump’s handpicked board voted to put his name on the building in December, donation pledges dropped more than 100% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the last quarter of 2025.
Wait, how does that work? How do you lose more than 100%? Is this some sort of newfangled math that they teach the kids these days?
A tax expert explained to CNN that a drop could exceed 100% if earlier pledges were withdrawn. What a one-of-a-kind achievement! Trump must be so proud.
These days, it appears that the Kennedy Center is essentially being run like one of Trump’s bankrupt casinos from days of yore. The Washington Post reported that the center has maxed out what the bank will lend it, spent money donors gave under express conditions that the money not be spent, and written off pledges because people just stopped paying. Great job, everybody.
The Kennedy Center’s costs have always exceeded what it brings in from ticket sales and federal appropriations, which is where private donors come in. But that’s not unusual. As Andrew Taylor, head of the arts management program at American University, told The Washington Post: “Nonprofit performing arts centers do not make positive revenue on earned income. That’s why they’re nonprofits.”
But while the center wasn’t profitable, given there’s no such thing in this setting, it was stable until Trump took over, at which point everyone—donors, audiences, and performers alike—bailed.
Nonetheless, the Department of Justice has been beclowning itself in front of judges, saying that the organization has only been able to pay its bills thanks to the millions “raised by President Trump that were infused into the Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat.” Also, “the stakes are existential,” whatever that means.
To be fair, Trump may very well have raised some scratch to keep the lights on for a stretch, but the only reason he would have needed to is that his antics wrecked everything in the first place.
Meanwhile, Trump is still behaving like a family annihilator, willing to literally destroy everything in his path if he can’t have his way. He’s refusing to commit to not tearing the building down, a stance that simply ignores the existence of court rulings telling him he needs congressional permission to do anything here. But you see, only he can save it.
That’s literally what he’s saying.
“Only I can save it, and I’ll tell you the biggest problem with the Kennedy Center—I can build it, but it will lose like many of those places,” he rambled. “If you look at Carnegie Hall, New York, and all these places, the artsy places, they lose tens of millions of dollars.”
Yes, yes they do, Donald. They’re nonprofits. Perhaps someone can explain that to you in short words—maybe with a couple PowerPoint slides. Where’s Natalie Harp?
If Trump’s vision for the Kennedy Center was so amazing, so profitable, people would be donating money. Artists would be begging to get booked. People would be clamoring for tickets. But everyone hates Trump and his low-rent, tacky garbage vibe.
In his heart of hearts, he knows it—and it kills him.