The Bulwark: BOMBSHELL: The Kennedy Center Isn't Closed For "Renovations"--It's Bankrupt!

[marmar]

Apr 22, 2026 Bulwark Takes

Sonny Bunch speaks with whistleblower Josef Palermo, who saw the collapse of the Kennedy Center from the inside. The Kennedy Center president Ric Grenell and the Trump administration said the shutdown was about renovations. But Palermo says the real story is financial collapse, political interference, and a dramatic shift away from the institution’s mission. From six-figure ticket markups to a fundraising pitch delivered during an October 7 memorial, Palermo lays out how things went wrong and how fast it happened.

[Lovie777]

1. Oh for pete's sake..............

[Johonny]

2. I cant believe Trump would bankrupt something

Last edited Thu Apr 23, 2026, 11:39 AM - Edit history (1)

He has no track record of this... right?

Hate the Americans that voted for this idiot.

[calimary]

9. Hard not to.

[Omnipresent]

3. Like casinos owned by a certain person, we all know?

[displacedvermoter]

4. Done intentionally then,

as it obviously didn't have to happen. I imagine they knew that as soon as he slapped his name on it, donations and attendance would die, triggering fiscal disaster.

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. And why would that be, you ask?

Obviously Shitler took all the $$ for some other pet project, either rounding up immigrants or making war on someone who didn't start anything. You choose.

[aggiesal]

16. Ballroom ring a bell? n/t

[progressoid]

6. The Atlantic - What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center

On the day I was laid off from the Kennedy Center, I felt a little like Dolley Madison saving the Stuart portrait of Washington before the British sacked the capital. I was the staffer in charge of the artworks in the building. A crucial difference is that my institution, unlike the White House in 1814, had been on fire for months.

About a year elapsed between the moment President Trump took over the Kennedy Center in early 2025 and his declaration this past February that he’d decided to shut down the nation’s cultural center for two years. In between, we had seen artist cancellations, shrinking audiences, firings of old staffers and influxes of new ones—a lot of drama, just not onstage. The date Trump announced for the closure was July 4, the country’s 250th birthday, an event that I had been hired to help commemorate as the institution’s first curator of visual arts and special programming.

Though staffers had been assured that we’d have our jobs until July, I was one of dozens of people let go on March 26. From the moment I received a calendar invitation for a meeting with human resources, I knew I had to scramble. Shortly after Trump’s shutdown announcement, the center’s president, Richard Grenell, told me to “get rid of everything” in the permanent collection because we needed all new art for the reopening. Although I had slow-walked this demand for several weeks by pretending I was waiting on another colleague for updates, I now had only two hours to tie up loose ends. I hurriedly emailed the families of the late maestro Julius Rudel, the center’s first artistic director, whose bust sits outside the Opera House, and of the late Nehemia Azaz, whose wood-carved installation depicting 43 instruments mentioned in the Jewish Bible covers a wall in the historic Israeli Lounge. They had been anxious about the coming closure, and I told them I would no longer be able to give them updates about the artworks. (A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center says that it is taking inventory of all artwork as part of preparations for the closure.) I was told to pack up my stuff that day, although at least my exit was more dignified than that of a colleague from the development office, who, a couple of months earlier, had been terminated while conducting a tour for donors.

...https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/04/inside-kennedy-center-shutdown-drama/686801/

[Ilsa]

26. "...terminated while conducting a tour for donors."

That must be like a coloratura soprano getting the hook while singing Mozart's Queen of the Night aria. It looks bad and sounds worse, but the ones doing the firing are the philistines. Let's face it: Trump's taste (and by extension his friends') is all in his mouth. He is hostile towards nature, natural beauty, the arts, Science, intellect, etc.

[erronis]

30. Archival copy of this excellent piece in The Atlantic

https://archive.ph/96J29

[progressoid]

31. Thank you. I looked earlier and couldn't find it.

[ratchiweenie]

7. "Richard Grenell, told me to "get rid of everything" in the permanent collection because we needed all new art for the

reopening."

How much of that art being retired will end up in the private homes of these crooks. On permanent loan.

[Figarosmom]

8. Figured - that's what trump does

[BeneteauBum]

10. Not surprised

Everything the orange creature controls falls apart…..

Peace ☮️

[xuplate]

11. Trump keeps getting better and better at breaking things.

[crosinski]

25. Practice makes perfect!

[Bev54]

12. I am not totally convinced this wasn't the intention from the start

It was named after a very popular Democratic President and would own the libs if they destroyed it.

[liberalla]

13. What is this? His 7th bankruptcy???

[Soul_of_Wit]

14. Like most Donald-related revelations...

...my reaction is always, "Didn't we know this x months ago?"

[aggiesal]

15. Once Mierda47's name was added, this was predictable ...

Everything Mierda47 touches goes to mierda.

[sop]

18. EM47TGTM is the new ETTD.

[aggiesal]

19. I got that !!! ...

[Lars39]

17. As planned.

[sop]

20. The Kennedy Center sits on prime riverfront land, someone wants to acquire it cheap to build a new Trump Tower.

[JoseBalow]

21. He put his name on it, so of course it turned to shit

Everything drumpf touches turns to shit.

[BidenRocks]

22. Tom Steyer's ads are saying how he is so rich,

he doesn't need special interest money and is above corruption.

Where in the hell have we heard that before?

Xavier Becerra for Gov.
He even looks the part of a wise statesman!

[Ilsa]

27. Rick Jackson, a rags-to-riches billionaire in Georgia,

is running for governor. He is in the primary with trump-supported Doug Jones and attorney/football coach Derek Dooley. Jackson likes comparing himself to Felon4547 ("I'm so rich&quot and says the dumbest "anti-woke" crap in his ads.

[pfitz59]

23. The looting of America

by a consortium of thieves! They cannot stand the word 'public', and want to privatize everything.

[Pas-de-Calais]

24. EVERYTHING he touches,,,,,,,,

[magicarpet]

28. Bankruptcy,... that's trDUMPee's forte. He is an many times over expert and considered a candidate of excellence in,..

..... the practice of grind it into the ground business bankruptcies.

The meager ticket sales have taken a major plunged at the JFK performing center since djt stuck his nose in the door. The ticket sales at the front door booth have not been sufficient enough to pay for the for the burning of a lone 15watt incandescent light bulb. Let alone the monies needed for a serious theater production or professional show.

Maybe Kid Rock can come give a five year long concert series to help keep the JFK Center afloat ? Cage fighting, kick boxing, and wrestling that causes massive traumatic brain injuries are also able to draw huge audiences. Very enjoying and entertaining If you are the Neanderthal caveman sort. Also to, Monkey grinders are also very entertaining, they put on a wonderful show. Just a few ideas to help out.

?si=mO1nMKj_z5lVZJ2y

[peggysue2]

29. This is so disgusting!

To take a beloved American institution dedicated to the arts and the memory of JFK, purposely run it into the ground through gross malfeasance and grift and then conceal the nature of its closure is beyond the pale. And criminal.

Trump and his Flying Monkey Brigade belong behind bars, the electrified sort, to remind them of the animals they've become.

Another flaming example of ETTD!