WASHINGTON, June 13: The curtain started to come down for President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Centre on Saturday.
After a day of legal manoeuvres and thunderstorms, workers began the process in the early morning hours of removing the letters spelling out the Republican president’s name from the facade of the iconic performing arts venue. They were a few hours past a court-ordered deadline and did their work shrouded by a tarpaulin, much to the frustration of onlookers who had gathered for hours hoping to witness a dramatic moment symbolising the limits of Trump’s power.
As the sun rose over Washington, the tarpaulin remained in place, leaving it impossible to determine whether all the letters had been removed. Shortly after midnight, the Kennedy Centre asked a judge to extend the deadline until noon, citing the storms for delaying the work. The court agreed to that request Saturday morning.
The removal of Trump’s name closes one of the more unusual chapters in the history of the Kennedy Centre, which began construction in 1964 and was dedicated to the memory of the slain president, Democrat John F Kennedy. At what is typically one of the few relatively nonpartisan spaces in Washington, Trump has wielded tremendous influence over the venue during his second term.
Though he rarely discussed the Kennedy Center during his 2024 campaign, Trump moved quickly to oust the institution’s leadership when he returned to office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building. (AP)
