‘Unhinged’ Trump threw a ‘tantrum’ during Kennedy Center board meeting, congresswoman says

Alex WoodwardWed, September 16, 2026 at 2:21 PM UTC

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The congresswoman leading a legal battle against Donald Trump’s attempts to rename the Kennedy Center after himself said the president flew into a “tantrum" and repeatedly insulted her during a board meeting on the venue’s closure.

The Trump-controlled board voted to close the venue within hours after a federal judge blocked the institution from trying to add the president’s name to the building — again — after members proposed renaming it “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump.”

Trump, who appointed himself the board chair last year, then announced on Truth Social that the building will close “immediately,” and he won’t begin his much-touted, multi-million dollar renovation project unless courts agree to let him put his name on it.

“He went into a tantrum,” Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, the board member leading the legal fight, told MSNOW on Tuesday night. “I mean, let me just make it simple. It was the most unprofessional thing that I’ve ever witnessed.”

For nearly 10 minutes during the hourlong meeting, Trump was “unhinged” and “screaming and hollering” as he labeled her an “obstructionist” and “dumb,” according to Beatty.

Rep Joyce Beatty, who sits on the Kennedy Center board, said Donald Trump berated her for nearly 10 minutes during a board meeting on whether to close the venue after a federal judge blocked Trump’s efforts to name it after himself (Getty)

“He said, ‘I think you’re incompetent.’ And I said, ‘I know you’re incompetent,’” Beatty said.

“He said he was going to hold me responsible if something fell out of the ceiling and killed someone,” she said. “I said, ‘You’re already killing people. We’re at war. We also have people who are starving. You’re doing this.’”

Trump told her she had “never done anything” other than file a lawsuit against him, according to Beatty.

“So I reminded him that he had more bankruptcies than anybody in the room,” she told MSNOW.

“I mean, it really went there, because I was not going to let him,” she told the network. “He was there in his role as chairman of the board. I was not going to let him bully me, intimidate me, and the facts stand for themselves.”

The Independent reached out to the the White House for comment and spokeswoman Liz Huston said: “For decades, Democrats let the Kennedy Center rot as water damage spread, infrastructure crumbled, and a national treasure fell apart under their watch. President Trump did what Democrats wouldn’t by finally committing the resources and the leadership needed to restore the Kennedy Center and make it the finest performing arts facility in the world.”

The board voted to close the building for repairs after the Trump administration failed to convince a judge that the venue was in dire financial straits and could not continue to operate without his name on the building.

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“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” District Judge Christopher R. Cooper wrote Tuesday.

“The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted,” he added.

Scaffolding and tarp are still covering the Kennedy Center’s entrance after a judge previously ordered the venue to remove Trump’s name plates this summer (AP)

In court filings, the Department of Justice has repeatedly argued that the performing arts venue is falling into “financial ruin” and rapidly deteriorating in a state of “terminal decline” — and that the president is the “sole hope” for its financial and structural survival.

At one point, the Justice Department even floated the idea of demolishing the building altogether.

But the government has offered “no proof that current or future donations hinge on President Trump’s name being on the building” and “no competent evidence that removing the Trump name would prevent the Center from fulfilling its artistic mission,” as it has done for the last 60 years, Judge Cooper wrote Tuesday,

In May, Cooper ruled that Congress made it “crystal clear” that the building is only to be named after the assassinated president, “and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial” based on a “unilateral say-so.”

The Trump administration has appealed the judge’s latest order.

The Trump-controlled board has argued that the venue’s financial future rests on Trump’s name being added to the building, though a judge said the government has not offered any proof that current or future donations hinge on whether Trump is involved (AFP/Getty)

The Kennedy Center had until June 12 to strip quickly-installed name plates that briefly rebranded the venue with Trump’s name, which was removed in the early morning hours of June 13.

Last month, the board proposed returning the president’s name to the building as a preemptive honor for what was promised to be a multi-million dollar renovation effort. “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” was set to appear directly below the sign.

The board was scheduled to review a new list of 10 ways to return Trump’s name to the building’s facade, but the item was abruptly removed from Tuesday’s agenda, which instead focused solely on the building’s closure.

“For years, the Kennedy Center has planned to undergo phased renovations, in which we both renovate and maintain some performances. This is how major performing arts centers in the country operate,” Beatty said in a statement shared with The Independent after the board vote.

“But donors, patrons, and artists all fled after the unlawful attempt to rename this sacred memorial after Donald Trump,” she added. “Donald Trump only cares about the Kennedy Center for his vanity. That is wrong and it is a breach of his fiduciary duty as a trustee. Congress established the Kennedy Center as a living memorial to President Kennedy, and I am proud to defend this cherished institution.”

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Source: “AOL General News”