‘Trying to hide’: Kennedy Center refuses to take tarps off where Trump’s name was removed

President Donald Trump suffered a severe humiliation this month when the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was finally ordered by a federal court to remove Trump’s name from the side of the building , clarifying that Congress only allowed Kennedy’s name to be on the facility. Now, days later, tarps are still covering the spot where Trump’s name was, and, according to The New York Times, it’s starting to arouse suspicion . Some are even questioning whether the name was in fact fully removed at all. Matt Floca, the operations chief for the Kennedy Center, “filed a sworn declaration with a federal court later that day saying that Mr. Trump’s name had been removed,” noted the report. And at least some letters were taken off, as “a New York Times photographer captured evidence through an opening in the tarp that the letter ‘A’ came off,” as well as a “D” in a separate photograph. The Kennedy Center will not give a direct explanation for why the tarps aren’t coming down, with one spokesperson saying, “The scaffolding and tarp will remain up as crews address maintenance needs of the marble and soffit panels. Best, Public Relations.” Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), the Kennedy Center board member who sued over Trump-aligned officials’ mishandling of the facility in the first place, told The Times, “Donald Trump is embarrassed. He lost in court, his name came down, and now he is trying to hide the result from the public.” It’s the latest episode in a long saga of Trump efforts to assert control over the Kennedy Center, which has seen a collapse of ticket sales and the withdrawal of a number of performers as the facility has grown more explicitly MAGA-aligned. Trump also attempted to shut down the Kennedy Center for two years of “renovations” in response to the decline, which was also blocked by federal courts.