Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sharply criticized President Donald Trump's continued push to place his name on the Kennedy Center, arguing during a Thursday appearance on CNN that the effort is wearing thin with the American public.

The fight is playing out at the performing arts campus that opened in 1971 as the nation's living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, and it follows Trump's February takeover of the institution, in which he dismissed much of its board and was elected chairman by the newly seated, allied trustees. Although a federal judge rebuked the naming effort in May, the Trump-allied board moved to restore Trump's name to the building's facade with an inscription crediting him with renovating and restoring the center. Justice Department lawyers have warned that the center could be "required to be taken down" if the renovation and naming effort is blocked.

"This is disrespectful. This is repugnant," Carlson said. "The American people are completely tired of these shenanigans. He didn't build this."

Carlson, who left Fox News in 2016 and later settled a sexual-harassment lawsuit against the network's then-chairman, Roger Ailes, in a case that upended Fox's leadership, has repeatedly criticized the president since departing the network.

Carlson was responding to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's impassioned argument supporting Trump's push to shut down the Kennedy Center. Following a hearing, Lutnick exclaimed on Wednesday, "This building is dangerous," citing falling concrete, as he urged the center to close for renovations — a move that was also blocked by a federal judge.

"First of all, sorry to say, Howard Lutnick is not telling the truth," Carlson said. "Donald Trump did not build this, and he's not going to tear it down because the American people will have an insurrection over that."

She added, "The American people, I'm sure, love the fact that Howard Lutnick says that during the week, all Trump does is talk about building stuff."

Carlson went on to argue that Trump should be focused on more urgent problems, and she criticized his other vanity projects.

"We've got a war in Iran that is not solved," Carlson said. "He's now naming Lake Ontario Lake America. He's saying vandalism for the Reflecting Pool. He's not talking about the economy. I mean, the American people at some point are going to have to show the frustration that I am showing right now."

With the naming rebuked by one judge and the closure blocked by another, the dispute now returns to the courts, which will determine whether the inscription stays on the building Trump's allies credit him with restoring.