It’s impossible to read the news.
Not because the reporting is bad or its accessibility or how it’s too terrible to stomach — although that last point might be debatable. It’s because there’s just way too much of it to get through.
The sheer volume is overwhelming and off-putting, and I’m sorry to say that President Donald Trump’s “flood-the-zone” method seems to be working.
For this reason, I assume most people missed the news last week that President Trump appointed himself chairman of the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts — more commonly known as the Kennedy Center — perhaps the premiere cultural institution of this country.
The Kennedy Center was created as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy following his assassination in 1963.
Since its inception, the Kennedy Center has served as a cultural gathering place for artists and has long stood as a beacon of nonpartisan collaboration — a place to celebrate artistry that is exempt from the volatile changes of American politics.
Although past presidents have always played a role in forming the board of the Kennedy Center, no president has so brazenly inserted themselves into its structure as Trump has.
Considering all that has happened in the several weeks since the new Trump administration took over Washington, caring about this appointment might feel pointless.
Amidst the dissolution of personal freedoms, thousands of government jobs, Congressional power and countless other pressing issues, one might wonder why Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center is worth whatever remains of your anger.
Imagine this takeover serving as a warning signal of something larger, something that threatens all of us.
A shift is occurring not just in the Kennedy Center, but in the way our politicians interact with art and culture at large. Already, we can see the ways in which conservative media — mainly through podcasts and sports — have influenced swaths of young adults.
Trump’s ideology is already embedded in youth culture. How long will it be before his wants overtake culture entirely?
The playbook is being written right now. We can see it in the way the Kennedy Center takeover is being handled.
As chair, Trump will maintain full control over the center’s governing body and plans to cancel all LGBTQ+ related programming, as well as eliminate productions that lean into “woke culture” — whatever that means.
If you think this takedown of art will stop with one cultural institution, you are naive.
Popular culture emanates from places like the Kennedy Center. Artistry cannot be fostered or protected without cultural organizations that give it the space to grow, and grow organically, without political influence or pressure.
Unlike all of the other powers that the executive branch has forcefully taken under its wing, art is a singular and uncontrollable force. It is not the kind that takes well to oppression, especially not the oppressive force the Trump administration has proven itself to be.
It cannot be created in good faith when made under strenuous, hateful ideals. It instead becomes a copy of its oppressor, propaganda fueled by narcissism and extreme insecurity.
Art has always had a stake in the political leanings of this country. It is exercised in protest, in celebration and in nearly every instance in which creative expression is both necessary and suppressed.
It’s this very power that makes art an ideal target of oppressors.
Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center might appear far removed from those unaware of the center’s cultural significance, but the threat of his action should be a warning to everyone who believes in the right to creative expression.
Artistic repression is not coming soon — it is already here.
when you rely on government money you become enmeshed in the political process