For more than half a century, the Kennedy Center has stood on the Potomac as a federal testament to the nation's commitment to the arts — a stage named for a slain president, built to outlast any single administration. When asked directly whether that commitment might be literally demolished, Donald Trump offered only silence dressed as an answer. In Washington, an unanswered question is rarely an empty one, and the uncertainty now hanging over this landmark touches something larger than architecture: the government's relationship to culture itself.