Thursday, March 13, 2025
PMT: What's up with the arts?
I asked AI for an image of "Trump looking at a painting," and it gave me this. Why is it a painting of himself? Why does he have three arms? And why is them holding a tiny gun (pointed at the painting)? I don't know the answers.
But it is clear that the Trump administration is moving into the arts with vigor. Donald Trump himself took over the chairmanship of the Kennedy Center, and filled the board with his friends. And now Shelly Lowe, the head of the National Endowment for the Humanities has been pushed out, and slashed the workforce charged with maintaining art owned by the government.
As with so much going on right now, the question has to be "what is the goal here?" People are assuming it is to turn the arts more toward what Trump prefers (or thinks people who support him prefer). I'm not sure, if true, that is the whole of it... but only time will tell.
