Richard Grenell doesn’t seem to be taking his ousting as head of the Kennedy Center in stride.
Grenell, whom Donald Trump announced on Friday would be resigning from his position at the once-storied arts center, raged on X on Saturday after being called out by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse for putting the institution “out of business.”
“Like a mob bust-out gone wrong, Trumpsters’ looting of the Kennedy Center has put it out of business, and now it needs to be ‘closed for renovations’ as cover-up,” the Rhode Island Democrat captioned a Washington Post article about Grenell’s exit on X. Whitehouse added: “No surprise he’s being replaced.”
A few hours later, Grenell hit back at accusations that the center’s two-year closure for Trump-approved renovations was because of him.
“Your buffoonery knows no limits,” the 59-year-old began a lengthy X post.
“You sat silent while the place went into total disrepair. You sat silent while the staff was paid with monies designed to pay off the future $30 million loan coming due in 2030 because there was no money in the bank to pay salaries,” he raged.
“You sat silent while corporations left because of the hard left woke programming. We fixed it. And we are doing the right thing to close the entire place in a few weeks to renovate it - because of your years of neglect. This Washington game of kicking the can down the road and never solving problems has ended with President Trump.”
“It doesn’t matter what you or the New York Times or CNN says. We are fixing the place that YOU ruined. It becomes a construction site for two years because you failed to keep up with the maintenance. And we have a world-class construction leader to do it the right way. You are welcome.”
Grenell, a Trump attack dog known for his sharp rebukes to criticism, also snapped at journalist John Harwood, who seemingly mocked Grenell’s response to Whitehouse.
“‘We fixed it,’” Harwood replied, to which Grenell wrote: “You ignored the debt and the decay. You didn’t care that the building was falling apart physically and financially. You pretended it was all ok and sustainable - just like you did with the border. Yes, we fixed it.”
Trump, 79, announced he was axing Grenell—who served as the U.S. ambassador to Germany in Trump’s first administration—in a Friday afternoon Truth Social post, where he claimed Grenell had done an “excellent” job.
With Grenell at the helm, the Kennedy Center has been marred by cancellations as artists protest Trump’s alterations to the center, including slapping his name on the front. The Trump appointee has repeatedly grown enraged with several high-profile cancellations, accusing artists of “cave[ing] to the woke mob” and channeling other MAGA talking points.
Ticket sales have also reportedly plummeted at the center, a decline that Trump denies is correlated to his decision to shutter the venue for its $200 million renovation.
In Grenell’s place, Trump announced that Matt Floca, the vice president of facilities operations at the Kennedy Center, will oversee the center while it is closed for two years for Trump-approved renovations.
“As Vice President of Operations, Matt has helped us achieve tremendous progress in bringing the Center to the highest level of Excellence!” Trump wrote of Floca.
According to his Kennedy Center biography, Floca holds a Bachelor of Science in construction management from Louisiana State University. Before joining the center in January 2024, he held various positions for the D.C. government. His bio also states that his “knowledge spans all facets of the real estate industry.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment.
