Trump takes a sledgehammer to the Arts and Culture of Washington DC as he continues destroying the US

The one talent we always knew that Trump possessed was destruction. As a businessman he filed for bankruptcy SIX  times. They were the result of over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City and New York: Trump Taj Mahal (1991), Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino (1992), Plaza Hotel (1992), Trump Castle Hotel and Casino (1992), Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts (2004), and Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009).

Trump said “I’ve used the laws of this country to pare debt. … We’ll have the company. We’ll throw it into a chapter. We’ll negotiate with the banks. We’ll make a fantastic deal. You know, it’s like on The Apprentice. It’s not personal. It’s just business.“ He boasted,  “I’ve used the laws of this country to pare debt. … We’ll have the company. We’ll throw it into a chapter. We’ll negotiate with the banks. We’ll make a fantastic deal. You know, it’s like on The Apprentice. It’s not personal. It’s just business.”

In 2006, Trump bought the Menie Estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, creating a golf resort against the wishes of residents on an area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. As well as ruining the environment. despite his promises of 6,000 jobs, the golf course has created only 200 jobs

In 2013, the state of New York filed a $40 million civil suit claiming that Trump University made false claims and defrauded consumers. In addition, two class-action civil lawsuits relating to Trump University were filed in federal court; they named Donald Trump personally as well as his companies. All three cases were settled in November 2016, after Trump’s election to the presidency, for a total of $25 million.

In fact it was Reality TV  that saved Trump after six bankruptcies. Trump was never the largest real estate developer in New York and he was far from the most successful. But that’s not what the opening sequence of the The Apprentice depicts: he didn’t need to be a competent businessman in real life, because he played one on TV.

When it comes to the art and culture of this country Trump has used his ignorance to destroy the very essence of how we celebrate the arts. When he came to power in 2016 he was the first President who refused to participate in events honoring recipients of the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors awards . The 2017 ceremony was held on December 3, 2017, without them, marking the first time that neither the president nor the first lady attended; Caroline Kennedy was the host and presented the Honorees.  Donald and Melania Trump also did not participate in any of the events of the 2018 or 2019 editions.

Yet in his first weeks back in The White House, instead of just focusing on urgent matters like the  war in Ukraine Trump decided to reak his revenge on The Kennedy Center. He fired all the impartial Board Members that Biden had appointed , and replaced  them with his own sycophantic cronies (such as Pam Bondi and Mrs Vance).  For Chairman, he appointed Ric Grennel the gay ex Ambassador whose’s presence on social media, where he often “trolls” progressives and pushes a litany of right-wing claims, has already concerned US diplomats.  And there was immediate fall out with The Center cowtowing to Trump and cancelling  shows “who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture” such as The Gay Mens Chorus,  and The International Pride Orchestra.  But then several stars stepped up and said they would now not perform at the Center and would take their shows to other venues : they include Issa Rae,  band Low Cut Connie  and Rhiannon Giddens as a start off.

Plus Renée Fleming the renowned soprano said that she would step down as an artistic adviser to the Center :The singer and songwriter Ben Folds said he would resign his post as an adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra, which is overseen by the Kennedy Center: The television producer and writer Shonda Rhimes  resigned as treasurer of the Kennedy Center’s board.  In the week following Trump’s announcement, ticket sales dropped by roughly 50 percent compared with the previous week, a stunning aberration, according to several Kennedy Center staff members who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.

Elsewhere in DC there have been cancellations of TWO major art shows courtesy of Trump.  The Art Museum of the Americas has canceled two exhibitions respectively centering Black and queer art. The institution, which is run by the Organization of American States (OAS), in early February announced the cancellation of “Before the Americas,” a group show curated by Cheryl D. Edwards themed around the transatlantic slave trade and African diaspora and featuring work by contemporary and modern Afro Latino, Caribbean, and African American artists. Museum officials told Edwards that the Trump administration had withdrawn funding from the exhibition, which had been slated to open March 21 after four years in the works, on the grounds that it was a “DEI program and event.”

The saddest thing of all, is we know that this is only the beginning