Another way of looking at the Trump demolition of Kennedy Center thing is that it’s not one of his taunts but something he actually plans to do.
A new photo shows President Donald Trump eyeing a poster that appears to reference the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts being demolished, hours after he warned that the building “will end up being ripped down” if he is not properly recognized for his efforts to renovate it.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, the Ohio Democrat battling Trump over his efforts to get his name affixed to the Kennedy Center, notified a federal judge Thursday morning in a court filing about the image and the president’s threat.
Not a taunt but a threat.
Beatty, a day earlier, asked Judge Christopher Cooper to schedule an emergency hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on what she says is the “unlawful” closure of the Kennedy Center by its board of trustees in violation of a prior order by Cooper.
In her filing Thursday, Beatty’s lawyers told Cooper, “Plaintiff files this Notice to apprise the Court of two new pieces of evidence that came to light last night.”
“First, yesterday evening, in response to reporter questions regarding the Kennedy Center project, President Trump stated, ‘for the Trump administration, for me, to get involved, and to take on long term, and to carry it, or to raise money to carry it, I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition,’” the filing said.
″‘Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close, it will end up being ripped down,’” Trump had said, the lawyers noted.
Shame if something happened to it type of thing. It’s somehow magically going to close and magically be ripped down.
The attorneys added, “Separately, a photo has been circulated on social media depicting President Trump reading a placard on Air Force One that appears to read ‘Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.’”
Probably something Natalie Harp found for him.
The center’s closure came after Cooper on Tuesday rebuffed a new effort by the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees to honor Trump by putting his name on the center in recognition of planned renovations to the building. The board voted to close the center for renovations after Cooper issued his order.
Trump later Tuesday said the center would close immediately, and that planned renovations and reconstruction would not occur until Cooper’s initial ruling barring the addition of Trump’s name to the center was reversed by either a federal appeals court or the Supreme Court.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the photo.
In a statement Wednesday, Beatty’s lawyers said, “Closing the Kennedy Center without Judge Cooper’s approval appears to directly violate his order. This is an assault on the rule of law.″
“The board cannot simply ignore Judge Cooper’s rulings whenever it suits them. In this country, no one — including the president — is above the law,” the attorneys, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said.
But if he can get away with it, then he is. So far no one has been able to stop him.
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