President Donald Trump reacted with volcanic fury after a judge ruled his name must be removed from the Kennedy Center, posting a lengthy rant on his Truth Social page Friday, lambasting the judge and angrily declaring he was washing his hands of the project.

Shortly after his second inauguration, Trump appointed himself to the board for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and added several of his allies to the board as well, who then named him chair. It was a divisive move, with the president’s MAGA supporters cheering his takeover, his critics left disgusted, and ticket sales in a free fall.

The announcement last December that Trump’s name would be added to the Kennedy Center sparked swift outrage from members of the Kennedy family and other critics of the president, outrage that spiked after Trump’s name was added to the building’s façade a mere day later. The center’s website, social media, and other digital branding were also updated to say “The Trump Kennedy Center.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the board had “voted unanimously” to approve the renaming, but Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), a board member, posted a tweet saying she had been “muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move,” and noted the name change had not been on the agenda, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) were not present at the meeting and voiced their opposition later in media interviews.

Beatty filed a lawsuit in late December challenging the “illegal renaming,” arguing that  “[b]ecause Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress.” She has been represented by Norm Eisen, along with the organization he co-founded, Democracy Defenders Action, and the Washington Litigation Group.

When Trump announced that the Kennedy Center would be closed for two years for “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding,” Beatty amended her claims to seek to block that closure as well.

On Friday, Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled in Beatty’s favor, ordering both the planned closure to be halted and for Trump’s name to be removed from the Kennedy Center.

“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” wrote Cooper. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

The name change “reflects far more than an innocuous nicknaming,” the judge continued, finding that Trump’s board appointees had “clearly violated the Kennedy Center’s organic statute—and the terms of the trust—when it formally renamed the Center after President Trump and memorialized him on the face of the building.”

“There is no genuine dispute of material fact on this point, just a lackluster attempt to recast the renaming as something it was not: a casual nicknaming,” Cooper wrote, rejecting the Trump administration’s defenses as “too cute by half.”

Trump reacted angrily to the judge’s ruling, inaccurately claiming the board had “unanimously voted” to add his name, and complaining that Cooper was “appointed by Barack Hussein Obama.”

“Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself!” wrote Trump. “Unfortunately, Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see [the Kennedy Center] DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of.”

Trump concluded by writing, “I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the Public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight,” and “[u]nless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND.'”

He added that he has “instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management.”

It was not immediately clear to whom the president intends for the Kennedy Center to be transferred.

The full text of Trump’s post said:

Shockingly, a Judge appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, Christopher Cooper, ruled that The Kennedy Center, which was going to close in early July for largescale renovations and construction due to years of neglect, decay, and poor maintenance, and which was to be transformed by the Trump Administration into the Finest Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World, is not allowed to close for these renovations, which would not be possible to properly do without such a closure. Additionally, Judge Cooper ruled that the 36 Member Board of Trustees, which unanimously voted to add the name “TRUMP” onto the former Kennedy Center, making it The Trump Kennedy Center, did not have the right to do such an addition, and the name, “TRUMP,” must be removed.

The Kennedy Center has lost, over the years, prior to our getting involved a short while ago, Hundreds of Millions of Dollars — In some cases, including ridiculous construction jobs that were done, over 100 Million Dollars a year. I took great pride in taking over a losing Institution, and looked forward to making it into a Great and Prestigious WINNER for Washington, D.C., and indeed, the United States of America. Unfortunately, Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud of, much as I have done, in many cases, throughout my life, and recently, with all of the construction, renovations, and “fix ups” that we have completed with the Department of Interior on Waterfalls, Fountains, Monuments, and other things of Beauty that we have brought back to life in a now SAFE AND SECURE, after Record Setting Crime, Washington, D.C., which is thriving like, perhaps, never before!

Therefore, based on the fact that the Radical Left Democrats care more about opposing your favorite President, ME, than saving a dying Performing Arts Center, almost all of which lose large amounts of money throughout the Country, we are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it. Judge Cooper was given a presentation by leading Building and Construction Experts as to how structurally dangerous the Building is, with rotting beams, parking areas that are subject to collapse, and various other Life and Safety problems, in addition to the fact that it also needs a MAJOR renovation, from an aesthetic standpoint, but he was not “swayed,” and said he wants the Building to, incredibly, remain open and, therefore, dangerous. Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself! I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the Public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight. Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into “NEVER NEVER LAND.” There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I but, that’s OK, I will continue to do, what is considered to be, a great job for the wonderful people of our Country. I have instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

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