“Overstepped its statutory bounds”: Trump makes his feelings known after judge orders his name be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center

Donald Trump has claimed that his political opponents would rather let the John F. Kennedy Center “die” after a judge ruled that the addition of Trump’s name to the performing arts center in Washington D.C. was illegal.

The board for the Kennedy Center voted to rename it to the Trump Kennedy Center in December 2025. However, on Friday May 31st, US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the name change was illegal as per Sky News. So moving forward, it seems like there will be some changes.

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.” Judge Cooper wrote, stating that the board had “overstepped its statutory bounds” by adding Donald Trump’s name to the building without the approval of congress. The Trump administration has since been ordered to remove all physical signage with Trump’s name on it and eliminate any references to the “Trump Kennedy Center” in official materials.

Donald Trump lashes out

Shortly after Judge Cooper’s ruling was made the president took to Truth Social to type out a 580 word long response to the decision. In his post he writes that the Kennedy Center had suffered from “years of neglect, decay, and poor maintenance,” and that his planned renovations could have transformed it into the “Finest Facility of its kind.”

However, Trump claims that “the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it.” At one point in the post he also claims to be “your favorite President.” However, at the end of the long post Trump seems to put the whole situation behind him, resigning to transfer the “failing institution” back to congress so that they may decide what to do with it.

For now, at least, all materials bearing Trump’s name on the Kennedy center must be removed.