A Trumpian Kennedy Center is warning to all cultural institutions

Into the pale stone wall of the Kennedy Center, above its elegant terrace on the edge of the Potomac River, are carved bold and idealistic sentiments.

- Charlotte Higgins

Those are the words of John F Kennedy, after whom the US's national performing arts centre is named. The impulse to build it came from Dwight D Eisenhower; it was given JFK's name after his assassination; and it opened in 1971, to the music of Leonard Bernstein and the choreography of Alvin Ailey, in the presidency of Richard Nixon. The Kennedy Center, in short, was designed to be bipartisan, a place of gathering for Democrats and Republicans alike, a proud showcase of the best of America’s dance, opera and music.

For 50 years it carefully trod that line, its board balanced by members of Congress from both sides of the political divide. But it turns out it can take just months to unravel half a century of high-minded purpose.