A federal judge ruled that President Trump’s name must be taken off the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This order includes removing his name from the building’s facade and all official branding. The court also temporarily blocked the center from closing for renovations this summer.
President Trump responded with frustration on social media, hinting he might abandon the Kennedy Center as a project if he could not steer its future. He mentioned that without the freedom to determine the center’s direction, he had no interest in pursuing what seemed to be a doomed endeavor.
Trump accused Judge Cooper and what he called the “Radical Left” of preferring to let the center fail rather than allowing him to enhance its prestige, something he claimed to have achieved in other projects throughout his life.
Judge Christopher R. Cooper from the Federal District Court in Washington stated the institution’s name, formally set by Congress in 1964, was meant to honor former President John F. Kennedy. The decision to add Trump’s name violated this law, according to the judge.
Cooper wrote, “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.” The ruling mandates that the letters added to the center’s portico be removed within two weeks.
The center’s board of trustees, with many members aligned with Trump, had resolutely voted in December to include his name. New lettering appeared swiftly, naming the building as ‘The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.’