John F. Kennedy’s niece praised a Democratic lawmaker as a “national hero” for challenging President Donald Trump’s proposed changes to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, took to social media to applaud Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, who is spearheading a legal challenge to Trump’s effort to rename the performing arts center after himself.
“@RepBeatty is a national hero,” Kerry Kennedy wrote on X on Thursday. “She has fiercely and courageously stood up for the Kennedy Center, for the arts, for Uncle Jack’s memory, for this country’s history, and most importantly, for the law, time and time again.”
“We will not be bullied into silence or submission,” she added. “Thank you, Rep. Beatty. We are all so grateful for your leadership.”
Beatty, who filed her lawsuit challenging the Kennedy Center’s renaming in December 2025, secured a victory this week. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper barred the 80-year-old Republican president from etching his name into the building, a living memorial to John F. Kennedy.
“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper wrote. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”
Following the ruling, Beatty said that Trump erupted into a “tantrum” during a meeting with the board of the Kennedy Center, which the president chairs.
“I mean, let me just make it simple. It was the most unprofessional thing that I’ve ever witnessed,” the Ohio congressman, an ex officio member of the board, told MS NOW on Tuesday evening. Trump reportedly labeled her an “obstructionist” and “dumb.”
Trump administration officials have accused Democrats of letting the center fall into disrepair, while Democrats, including Beatty, have characterized Trump’s rebranding effort as a “vanity project.”
After the high-octane confrontation, the Trump-controlled board voted to close the performing arts venue.
The vote came after the administration failed to convince a judge that the Kennedy Center could not continue to operate without his name on the building. Administration officials have argued that without adding Trump’s name to the center, fundraising efforts could be hampered.
The president then announced on Truth Social that he won’t start his multi-million-dollar renovation project unless courts agree to let him put his name on it.
“If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Trump wrote, “the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.”
On Thursday, Trump suggested that the center, which sits on the banks of the Potomac River, could be “ripped down.” The same day, he was spotted gazing at a poster that read: “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.”
A federal judge then ordered the administration to provide at least 30 days’ notice before making any physical changes to the building.
According to a May Pew Research Center poll, only 9 percent of Americans said it would be acceptable for Trump to name government buildings after himself while serving as president.
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