Is Donald Trump getting ready to demolish the Kennedy Center?

Construction crews put up metal fencing around the John F. Kennedy Center, a forklift was spotted on premises and President Donald Trump has reviewed signage reading “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.”

Administration officials in a court filing today insisted a closure of the performing arts center was temporary and would last just a week. But developments on the ground suggest the administration may be exploring plans to raze the memorial to a slain president to the ground because courts won’t let Trump put his own name on it.

The board of trustees, dominated by Trump appointees after a takeover last year, for the storied Washington, D.C. venue voted this week to shutter the center for reconstruction. Immediately, Trump posted to his Truth Social account, “The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board's approved name.”

Related: Judge demands answers on Kennedy Center’s Trump tarp of shame

However, Trump appears ready to start on the destruction of the center immediately. CNN reports photographs were taken through the window of Air Force One of Trump on Wednesday reviewing a poster that appears to read “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” That came hours before the administration told a judge the center had to be closed because of structural deterioration.

Meanwhile, the Independent reports construction crews are already preparing the site of the closed arts institution and started requiring hard hats for any crew entering the building.

Related: Trump wants credit for Kennedy Center renovations that haven’t happened. A judge isn’t buying it

Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, a board member for the Kennedy Center who successfully sued to force Trump’s name to be removed from the building’s exterior once, filed a new brief on Wednesday questioning the legitimacy of the closure and demanded any evidence of actual structural issues with the center.

“Given the unexplained and unlawful closure, it is possible Defendants intend to undertake immediate steps in order to make public access practically impossible for the foreseeable future, including by demolishing public avenues of access to the building, and thereby evade the Court’s order by fait accompli,” the brief reads.

Related: Trump administration tells judge: Let us put his name on the Kennedy Center, or we’ll tear it down

Separately, a member of Beatty's legal team, Bridget Kennedy-Bailey, filed a declaration in court saying one of the forklifts moving fencing plowed into structures of the building. "I saw a forklift carrying what appeared to be a more permanent form of fencing drive over to the north side of the building. I saw the forklift run into and hit the pillars on the building several times," she said in the briefing.

The latest moves toward potentially turning the center to rubble follow a nearly two-year obsession with the venue for Trump. After forcing out prior members to install loyalists and naming himself chair of the center, Trump banned drag shows and other LGBTQ+ content and put in Ric Grenell as the institution’s president, though he since left that role. Many artists canceled shows in protest, and some who held commitments while criticizing Trump were met by hecklers invited by Grenell.