US judge orders removal of Trump's name from Kennedy Center

[NYC Liberal]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - A judge on Friday ​ordered the removal of President Donald ‌Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ruling that the ​iconic Washington venue cannot be ​renamed without an act of Congress.

U.S. ⁠District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington ​directed the Trump administration to take ​down all physical signage bearing Trump’s name and to eliminate any references to a “Trump Kennedy ​Center” from official materials within 14 ​days.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-orders-removal-trumps-name-kennedy-center-2026-05-29/

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. This makes me smile

It would take an act of Congress to change the name of this entity

[FakeNoose]

11. Thank you Judge Christopher Cooper!

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_R._Cooper

[CTyankee]

17. Oh, he'll try to get enough votes in Congress to make the change...

it will be interesting to watch what happens...

[JohnnyRingo]

30. I don't know if he can count on the ones he primaried against.

They're out of a job in November thanks to his Jack Assery.

[wnylib]

56. All the more reason for him to rig the election.

[Lovie777]

2. YES!....................

shithole's already bankrupt or close to it.

[SuzyandPuffpuff]

3. Lololol

LMFAO so happy

[hlthe2b]

4. THIS MADE MY FRIDAY!!! Thank you, thank you, thank (judge and all who brought this news!)

[odins folly]

5. Time to buy stock in ketchup....

[2naSalit]

14. He's beyond katchup...

At this point, he knocks down monuments and starts wars.

[Lonestarblue]

93. He is so hateful and vengeful that he will likely have the Kennedy Center demolished.

He thinks he is king and beyond anyone's control. It absolutely sickens me to see what he has done to the White House.

[COL Mustard]

19. The ketchup delivery guy

Is going to get a lot of overtime this weekend!!!

[GopherGal]

73. And maybe DuPont

if they still make Tyvek suits that Donnie Dipshit's staff must wear to protect themselves from the splatter.

I imagine their PPE stocks must have safety glasses/goggles as well, or failing that, the ski goggles as worn by the USA hockey team to protect eyes from airborne champagne droplets.

[sheshe2]

6. Yes! 👏

Thank you Judge Cooper!

[wnylib]

57. You know that Trump will ignore the ruling.

Guaranteed that he will appeal it. And he will use the ruling to whine about being a victim of unfair judges.

[sheshe2]

59. Of course he will.

[Deminpenn]

91. Nope, he's taking his ball and going home

US President Donald Trump has abandoned his renovation plans for the Kennedy Center in Washington after a judge ruled that his name had been illegally added to the cultural institution.

"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'," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Trump said that he was transferring responsibility for the cultural institution to the US Congress.

Link:https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-no-interest-renovating-kennedy-014035311.html

[Karma13612]

7. This is WONDERFUL news!!

And I’m not going to spoil the mood with complaints about how…



Said in a whisper:
{we shouldn’t have had to endure the heartbreaking demoralizing illegal renaming and defacement of the center in the first place}

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Good!! Pig will now try and put his name on the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, etc. ... just

wait and see...

[AZ8theist]

55. I will start the next civil war MYSELF, if.....

...this A$$HOLE tries to get his pigs anus face on Mt Rushmore.

[SWBTATTReg]

70. Ha ha heh...great!!!

[choie]

9. That's the second order today against the orange bastard

[MolecularDust]

10. Yay!!!

[Vinca]

12. Slowly, but surely. Bit by bit. This will drive him way beyond his current level of craziness.

[DinahMoeHum]

13. One day, a proclamation will occur (I hope)

(with apologies to The Ten Commandments movie of 1956)

Let the name of Trump be stricken from every book and media,
stricken from all buildings, hotels, golf courses, road signs, and commercial merchandise,
stricken from every institution and monument of America and the world.

Let the name of Trump be unheard and unspoken, erased from the memory of men, women, and children for all time.

So let it be written.
So let it be done.

[EndlessMaze]

39. So help me god.....

Amen!

[littlemissmartypants]

50. So help me Dog. Ahhh Women.

[tishaLA]

15. He's like an old enfeebled dog marking its territory

And our courts need to have the deodorizing spray to rein it in.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

16. It is good news but now the seemingly endless appeal process will begin.

And if it finds its way to the Supreme Court…

[AverageOldGuy]

18. It's started . . .

One day Trump’s attempt to establish a dictatorship in the US — supported by about 40 percent of the population – will be over and the rest of us will have to restore our democratic republic.

The question then will be how to deal with Trump’s followers. The example of Nazi Germany after WW II may be instructive.

“Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.

That word is “Nazi.” Nobody cares about their motives anymore.

They joined what they joined. They lent their support and their moral approval. And, in so doing, they bound themselves to everything that came after. Who cares any more what particular knot they used in the binding?”

― A.R. Moxon

When Trump and his dictatorship are gone, and we are faced with dealing with his supporters, remember this:

“They joined what they joined.”

Then, treat them accordingly.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. Can the engraved marble (or limestone?) be moved ...

... to name the Donald J Trump UFC Match Cage at the White House?

I would burst with pride at such a sight

[CaptainTruth]

21. I've got extension ladders & crowbars. Who's with me?

[AverageOldGuy]

22. A word from the Psalms

Psalm 109: 7 - 19

7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him.
8 May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.
9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 May their sins always remain before the LORD, that he may blot out their name from the earth.
16 For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted.
17 He loved to pronounce a curse— may it come back on him. He found no pleasure in blessing— may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him

[LoisB]

41. Amen.

[oberle]

71. I have a bumper sticker on my car that says:

Pray for Trump
Psalm 109

[I_UndergroundPanther]

87. Hopefully

That belt around him will slip upwards and bind him very tightly under his chins to his end

[Martin68]

23. Good to hear. I stopped donating to the center when Trump's name was attached. We used to go there at least once a year.

I'll only rest easy when every single las sign bearing his name is removed.

[J_William_Ryan]

24. "...endless appeal process will begin."

Correct.

It may not be resolved before the end of Trump’s term.

It will allow the next Democratic president to remove his name without it appearing partisan, as that president will be complying with the courts.

[hamsterjill]

25. You'll forgive me, but somewhere in heaven...

Jackie Kennedy is smiling.

[bluestarone]

26. AWESOME!!

[AllaN01Bear]

27. Ding. This.

[Norrrm]

28. That will take 2 1/2 years.

[spooky3]

29. What are the odds that he'll get a renaming bill through Congress?

[Seinan Sensei]

81. On the other hand, if some Board of Directors somewhere allows Trump to keep his name in front of the

“has-a-small-penis theater,”
I’d be good with that


(with apologies to Conan O’Brien)

[sinkingfeeling]

31. Either Congress will try to rename it or he'll cry to the SCOTUS.

[wnylib]

62. Both.

[Smackdown2019]

78. Doubt to both

Republican congress couldn't even agree on naming the house dog. Democratic congress all solidarity agree the houses dog name is trump and will train it to walk backwards with its azz shaved off.

Supreme Court, they got more issues to deal with, than a sign.

[malaise]

32. About time

Rec

[mcar]

33. Make way for flying ketchup!

[riversedge]

34. Judge gave Trumpy Only 14 days to take his name of the Center--so, NO Trump name on it for his Birhday

[wnylib]

63. Do you think that he will comply with the ruling?

[FakeNoose]

68. Or .... HE can change HIS name to "John F. Kennedy"

Yeah, no .... never mind..... I'll see myself out.

[yellow dahlia]

35. Yay!

And how are they going to repair the damage to the stone edifice?

[Ocelot II]

40. They'll have to figure that out, won't they?

They might have to re-face that whole wall. Too bad, so sad.

[LoisB]

45. ...and IT should bear the cost personally.

[yellow dahlia]

48. But it's stone. What if they desecrate it more in the repair process?

They are more than capable of doing so. Desecration is the point.

[Ocelot II]

51. "They" will have to hire competent contractors if they don't want to have to pay for more damage.

[popsdenver]

82. LOL

If it ever ends up being done, Trump will put it out for offers. Some cut rate outfit will try to do it for 100 Million......
One Million for the contractor and 99 Million for Trump as a "finder's fee"...........

[Ocelot II]

83. Probably.

[popsdenver]

84. Hey

He and his male spawn are making a FORTUNE off of Insider Trading while everyone is paying attention to stuff like this.
HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS, and no one is saying a word.......same with many Republicans in the House and Senate, staff members, and Oligarch Donors...........

[NJCher]

90. That's not true

Didn’t you see the story on how Dems are investigating it?

[Biophilic]

44. Righting Shifts now, repairs later.

We just have to begin. If things go right there will be a whole lot to fix and repair in a couple of years.

[yellow dahlia]

46. Indeed. So much desecration to try and repair.

[Biophilic]

49. Yup, it won't be easy and no matter what things will never be the same.

I’m hopeful that is a good thing.

[yellow dahlia]

54. The repairs will be going on far past our lifetimes.

[Biophilic]

60. Yes, and the one thing that keeps me going is the hope that this nation will finally face it racist history.

[TommieMommy]

36. Yippee 😁 yippee 😁 yippee 😁

[Ocelot II]

37. Awesome!

[FloridaBlues]

38. He will appeal this if he can.

[Ocelot II]

47. Of course he will. He'd appeal a parking ticket or an overdue library fine,

and regardless of his chances of actually winning the appeal. But every court defeat is throwing more sand into his gears and I love it.

[riversedge]

42. ALSO trumpy -- may not proceed with its plans to close the institution for two years!!!!

............
U.S. District Judge ‌Christopher ⁠Cooper has given the Trump administration just 14 days to remove every single sign at the center bearing Trump's name and to delete all references to a "Trump Kennedy Center" in official materials for the center.

Cooper's ruling is a permanent injunction which asserts that the center’s board of trustees — which is stocked with Donald's MAGA cronies — may not proceed with its plans to close the institution for two years. The bizarre closure was originally announced after a string of prominent artists canceled performances in response to Trump’s takeover of the center. Ticket sales were also struggling.

The judge explicitly stated that all signage is barred from indicating that the building “is named for any person other than President John F. Kennedy.”

..........

Link to tweet

?s=20

[FakeNoose]

69. What's awesome is that the precedent has been set ... other judges can rule in accordance

I think our awesome federal judges are going to save this country from Chump.

[gordianot]

43. I hope Tom Llamas and NBC eat shit.

Tom needs to get a job at CBS

[Blue Owl]

52. Rip that pedophile's name off and burn the letters

[634-5789]

53. HAHAHAHAHAHA...whew!...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[BeneteauBum]

58. Ha!

Peace ☮️

[Tanuki]

61. Let the damnatio memoriae begin!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae

[BigmanPigman]

64. He still won't do it. He flaunts all laws....

Ballroom, ballroom, ballroom!!!!!

He is above the law and doesn't give a shit what so ever.

[orleans]

65. supreme court here he comes again. (just assuming) nt

[Quanto Magnus]

66. Like they'd listen to a judge

who rules against them....

[Cha]

67. Yeah, So Fuck Off, PEDO. nt

[LetMyPeopleVote]

72. MaddowBlog-Federal judge rules Trump's name must be removed from Kennedy Center

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper said in his ruling.

Remember when Trump’s handpicked allies claimed they’d added his name to the Kennedy Center?

A judge just set them straight.

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it. ... The Kennedy Center must be named for, and is meant to honor, President Kennedy alone.”

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-05-29T19:36:05.727Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/federal-judge-permanently-blocks-effort-to-add-trumps-name-to-kennedy-center

U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper said in a 94-page ruling, “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. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

The president’s allies apparently tried to convince the judge the rebranding was little more than adding an informal nickname, but Cooper, an Obama appointee, didn’t buy it. From the ruling:

The rechristening is not, as Defendants suggest, like calling the “Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection” the “Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” which is merely a clerical rearrangement. Nor is it akin to calling the Federal National Mortgage Association “Fannie Mae,” which, as even the Defendants admit, is simply a “play on the pronunciation of its acronym.” The administration’s efforts to alter the names of other institutions — calling the Department of Defense the “Department of War,” for example — are beside the point. Most fundamentally, none of these examples implicate a presidential memorial that was legislatively intended to honor a specific public figure. The “Trump Kennedy Center” label adds an entirely new name to the Center’s formal title and relegates President Kennedy’s name to second place. If that is not a renaming, what is?

.....Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex officio member of the center’s board who was excluded from voting on the name change, quickly filed suit, arguing not only that the process was improper, but that the entire gambit was illegal for the simplest of reasons: A name change required congressional approval, and that had not happened.

Cooper agreed, writing, “The Kennedy Center must be named for, and is meant to honor, President Kennedy alone.”

As part of Friday’s order, which almost certainly will be appealed, ordered the administration to remove all physical signage and all other official documentation within 14 days. He also declared that Beatty must have voting rights as an ex officio member of the board.

If that weren’t enough, Cooper also blocked Trump’s appointees from closing the Kennedy Center’s doors on July 5 for planned restoration efforts in which the president has taken a keen interest.

“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law,” Beatty said in a statement. “The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”

The president was far less pleased.

This ruling made me smile

[ShazzieB]

74. Hmmm.....

He'll obviously appeal, all the way to the top if necessary. If it gets to SCOTUS, we can always hope that they will decline to hear the case. If they do decide to hear it, they'll be faced with either displeasing Trump or rulling counter to the Constitution. I think it's possible that not all of the Sinister Six will be up for something that brazen. If four justices want to hear the case, they'll hear it, so at least 2 of the Sinister Six would have to say no along with the 3 liberals. I HOPE they'll decide it's too much of a hot potato to touch. I know they've declined to hear some of his appeals. Let's all hope this is another one of those.

No matter what the final outcome is, there are sure to be delays along the way. It sucks to have a SCOTUS that we can't count on to do the right thing.

[JoseBalow]

75. The cherry on top will be when the quality talent returns

[TBF]

76. It's JFK's birthday today - wonder if the judge knew?

I only know because I saw Kerri Kennedy's post on Facebook. But what a great gift to the family!

[EuterpeThelo]

92. Happy birthday

Mr. President (sung in breathy Marilyn voice)!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

77. COURT REVERSES UNLAWFUL RENAMING AND HALTS SHUTDOWN OF KENNEDY CENTER, REAFFIRMING THE RULE OF LAW

Democracy Defenders Action
‪@democracydefendersaction.org‬

BREAKING: Fed judge rules Trump’s hand-picked board illegally renamed the Kennedy Center.

Board members literally muted @repbeatty.bsky.social when she tried to object to the illegal renaming. So, she sued—and WON.

The Kennedy Center will keep its name, and Trump has 2 weeks to remove his.

COURT REVERSES UNLAWFUL RENAMING AND HALTS SHUTDOWN OF KENNEDY CENTER, REAFFIRMING THE RULE OF LAW
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued a ruling reversing the unlawful renaming and halting the planned closure o
www.democracydefendersaction.org
4:33 PM · May 29, 2026

BREAKING: Fed judge rules Trump’s hand-picked board illegally renamed the Kennedy Center.

Board members literally muted @repbeatty.bsky.social when she tried to object to the illegal renaming. So, she sued—and WON.

The Kennedy Center will keep its name, and Trump has 2 weeks to remove his.

— Democracy Defenders Action (@democracydefendersaction.org) 2026-05-29T20:33:38.016318Z

[Maru Kitteh]

97. It is such a striking embodiment of the grace and class we once aspired to

I feel like it’s a wounded white dove. What a shame are we if we just stand by and watch her pass - but I don’t think we will. I think that with time that wounded white dove will rise and fly higher than ever.

[Wednesdays]

79. Let's see how long this lasts.

The Felon will go judge shopping until he finds someone to reverse this.

[Marcuse]

80. His hero.

[Bayard]

85. Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy!!!

[Diraven]

86. Ten bucks says

He'll just have it torn down now.

[onenote]

95. I'll take that bet. Loser donates $10 to DU.

[electric_blue68]

88. Too bad. So sad!

:

Yeah, I know....appeals. Still....

[state of stupid]

89. OH NO!!!! PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME THAT "the donald has been bent over and had it stuck to him!!!"

WHY I ALMOST FEEL LIKE CRYING except my joy for celebrating is probably a hundred times
stronger. It is about time somebody sent a torpedo up AGENT ORANGE"S tailpipe that he has
no defense for!!!! I can almost see and hear the WHINING about how everybody picks and abuses
poor, poor, poor Wittle Donald. Oh, the travesty and the disrespect shown to the most beloved
ever EMPEROR Trump!!! OH MY WHAT SHALL WE EVER DO except to smile and no that no matter
how big the TURD, sooner or later we are more than able to flush it and move forward. Hopefully
we do not forget the struggle, so we do not have to deal with it again!!!!

[QueerDuck]

94. But the anchor points and the scars in the marble will remain. 😢😡

[louis-t]

96. Can I volunteer?

I'm not kidding.