The Kennedy Center's Financial Follies: Separating Fact from Fiction The news cycle is prone to exaggeration, but Donald Trump's claim that the Kennedy Center has been hemorrhaging "tens of millions of dollars, even hundreds of millions of dollars" for years is a particularly egregious example.
This assertion seems more suited to a tabloid headline than a serious discussion about the financial realities facing one of America's most beloved cultural institutions.
Federal audit records from 2024 paint a different picture: despite operating at a deficit, the Kennedy Center actually managed to eke out a surplus of millions of dollars.