No one on the public relations team at the Kennedy Center or representing the National Symphony Orchestra or the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts series was able to be reached for comment. The president’s announcement implied that those organizations would cease all planned activities for a period of two years.

If any forethought was given to the livelihood of the musicians who perform regularly in the Kennedy Center, no mention of it was made in the President’s statement. President Trump claimed that his decision would be “subject to Board approval,” but as of Trump’s reconfiguration of the Kennedy Center board last year, the board is merely a rubber stamp for presidential decisions.

Although no specifics are given, it seems that the Kennedy Center would be demolished much like the White House East Wing and something new built in its place. As with the ongoing reconfiguration of the White House campus, the funding and architectural decisions will happen entirely outside the supervision of the United States Congress, as well as any other of the usual authorities, and with unspecified private funding.

This impulsive decision follows closely on the departure of Washington National Opera from the Kennedy Center and composer Philip Glass’s withdrawal of the world premiere of his Fifteenth Symphony, part of a mounting wave of artists abandoning the arts venue because of Trump’s ham-fisted take-over. The closure would be an easy way to cover over the impending financial disaster resulting from these cancellations.