What did Donald Trump do today?

He got slapped down hard by courts, twice.

Kathleen Williams, the federal judge in Trump's now-dismissed lawsuit against the IRS reopened the case today, citing "grievous allegations" that Trump had perpetrated a fraud against the court. While it's highly unusual for a judge to issue this kind of order, courts have the inherent power as a co-equal branch of government to enforce their own rules. In this case, that means investigating (as 35 retired federal judges implored Williams to do in a friend-of-the-court brief) whether the "settlement" that created a $1.8 billion slush fund and excused Trump and his family from ever having tax laws enforced against them was reached in good faith between two genuinely opposed parties.

The settlement, which has enough money in it to provide every convicted insurrectionist who tried to forcibly overturn the result of the 2020 election with more than $1.1 million dollars, is incredibly politically toxic for Trump. Congressional Republicans normally loyal to Trump have called it "stupid on stilts" and "a slush fund to pay people who assault cops" that's "utterly stupid" and "morally wrong."

It's extremely unlikely that it would ever have been allowed to go into effect, even if Judge Williams hadn't reopened the case to investigate the apparently fraudulent nature of the case. But even if Trump starts cutting checks without legal authority to do so, state governments have already started working on legislation to claw back any such payouts through special 100% taxes—the sort of showy move legislators only do when it's a sure political winner.

It's not clear if Trump knows or cares about Williams' order, but another federal judge provoked a torrent of outrage from him today. In a 93-page ruling, Judge Christopher Cooper found that Trump had no legal authority to slap his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The name of the center, as Cooper noted, was fixed by the law establishing it, and cannot be changed unless Congress passes another law.

Trump's obsession with the Kennedy Center is personal. He stocked its board with loyalists, made himself its Chairman, and gave himself the emcee gig at its annual awards (which saw record low ratings). He also had his name physically put on the façade above President Kennedy's. He responded to Cooper's ruling with a furious 580-word tantrum on his social media. 

Cooper's order also halts Trump's plans to shut the Kennedy Center down for two years for "renovations," which were really an excuse to cover up the fact that artists and patrons were boycotting what had once been one of the most important artistic venues in the world.

Why does this matter?

• The laws of the United States and the rules of its courts apply to Donald Trump. 

• There are more important things in the world than Donald Trump's ego.