In the ongoing legal battle over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, one Democratic congresswoman has so far prevailed in court. She has gotten a judge to order the removal of Donald Trump's name from the exterior of the building and from any and all references to the name both online and at the Kennedy Center itself (even in the gift shop). The judge ruled that Congress was the one to create the Kennedy Center, so it would take an act of Congress to change that name.

So Trump's name was physically pried off the exterior wall months ago (in the middle of the night). But the public has not been able to see the results of this, since Trump threw a hissy fit at the judge's ruling and ordered that an enormous tarp be draped over the scaffolding to hide the Kennedy Center's name from view. There are no plans to ever take this tarp down -- at least while Trump remains in office. If he can't have his name on it, then nobody gets to see Kennedy's name, period. Such pettiness is noteworthy, even for Trump.

The Kennedy Center's board, which has been packed with Trump toadies, voted two weeks ago to attempt an end-run around the judge's ruling, by adding a line under the Kennedy Center's name on the outside wall stating that it had been "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump."

But now Trump's minions seem to be resorting to mob thuggery, as evidenced by a court filing this week. While addressing their plan to close the Kennedy Center for extensive renovations for pretty much the rest of Trump's term, there was this not-so-hidden threat:

"Without those efforts, the center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down," the filing said, "with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years."

Got that? If the judge doesn't let Trump and his cabal do whatever they like, then the whole building "will be required to be taken down." And as the rubble where the East Wing of the White House used to stand proves, this should not be taken as an empty threat.

The Democrat fighting to preserve both the Kennedy Center's existence and its historic name fired back, stating that this is "all in the name of one man's vanity," which is hard to argue with, at this point:

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) on Wednesday accused her fellow trustees on the center's board, which Trump chairs and has filled with allies, of effectively holding the building hostage by threatening to demolish it unless a federal judge allows the board to restore Trump's name to the building's facade.

. . .

The trustees "have not-so-subtly said: 'What a nice Kennedy Center you have here. What a shame should something happen to it,'" Beatty's lawyers wrote Wednesday. "This is a breathtaking assault on the rule of law. It is delusional. And it must stop."

The assertion also appears to conflict with a declaration from the center's director, who previously told the court that the planned renovations would neither erect a new building nor tear down the existing one.

A Kennedy Center spokesperson said Tuesday that the filing "describes a hypothetical scenario of what could happen if the Center's desperately needed renovation is blocked by partisan interests."

At this point, the Trump cabal should not be believed on anything, especially after they were caught lying about the supposed financial turnaround after Trump's name was abruptly added to the building. It was also reported this week that what actually happened was the exact opposite (in an article titled: "Kennedy Center Finances Deteriorated Sharply After Trump Name Change"), which really isn't too surprising:

Ticket sales and fundraising collapsed after President Donald Trump's name was added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, even as the center's leaders publicly touted a financial turnaround, according to confidential documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Ticket sales had already dropped in the 10 months following Trump's takeover, but both ticket sales and donations plunged after the Trump-led board of trustees voted in December to rename the center after him and put his name on the front of the building, according to the records.

The documents show that leaders knew both were cratering even as they publicly portrayed Trump's takeover as a financial rescue. In a failed June request to keep Trump's name on the building, for instance, a Justice Department lawyer wrote that renaming the center after Trump "represented a saving of The Kennedy Center which, if this doesn't happen, would go into financial and structural collapse" -- even suggesting in a new filing Monday that without Trump's name and renovation plan, the building "will be required to be taken down."

Just the week before the June filing, the center's own financial projections showed ticket revenue and fundraising had plummeted after the name change, putting it on track to fall nearly $100 million short of its revenue target.

In other words, a classic textbook case of E.T.T.D. ("Everything Trump Touches Dies"). Except for the valiant efforts of Representative Joyce Beatty, who is fighting to preserve not only the name of the previously-beloved Kennedy Center, but now for its very existence. The Kennedy Center can survive a few years of donors fleeing, and it can survive having an ugly tarp covering up its name on the outside. Once sanity is restored to the Oval Office and Trump's planetary-sized ego leaves, the Kennedy Center can then begin to reclaim its honored status in Washington.

If the building is still standing, that is. If it hasn't been replaced by the open-air "Trump Amphitheater" in the meantime.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant