Entartete Kunst was a term adopted by the Nazi Party to describe modern art. ‘Degenerate Art’ was systematically removed from state-owned museums and banned in Nazi Germany on the grounds that it was an “insult to German feeling.” Created by Joseph Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda, more than 16,000 works of art were deemed ‘degenerate.’

The recent announcement that the Kennedy Center will be closing for “two years” perfectly sums up the current nightmarish dystopia of Trump’s America.

Having staged another coup at the Kennedy Center, making himself chairman, unlawfully adding his own name to the front of the building and appointing a board of stooges, Trump is so frustrated by the totally predictable result – audiences are staying away in droves and several major artists have cancelled their bookings – that he announced the Center is going to be closed for two years for “redevelopment.”

Ominously, Trump also said that he’s closing The Kennedy Center on the 4th of July 2026: exactly 250 years after the signing of the declaration of independence! WTF?

“I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time, with a scheduled Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything that has taken place with respect to such a Facility before,”

So in other words, it’s being shut down. Forever. Let’s not kid ourselves.

Trump is basically announcing to the world, quite literally, that America’s self-evident truths of inalienable rights have been suspended. The timing is symbolic and calculated to elicit maximum trauma. He is confirming what the rest of the world already knew: American culture is finally dead. From now on, the public shall be exposed to government approved entertainment only.

We can’t have good things because we have been judged ‘unworthy.’

The billionaire elites foresee a future marked by conflict, scarcity and societal collapse. They dream of splintering governments and carving up the world into hyper-capitalist, democracy-free havens under their sole control, with their high-tech private domains protected by hired mercenaries, serviced by AI robots and financed by cryptocurrency. Art, beauty and culture play no role in this world – unless they can be co-opted somehow for propaganda purposes.

Plus, they have absolutely no taste.

Control of the media is the primary soft-power means of controlling a society that would still like to pretend it’s a democracy. At the very least, it can provide some great cover and distraction while the ICE Schutzstaffel terrorizes the public and the detention camps are upgraded.

People who think these weapons will only be used against hapless migrants have a rude awakening coming.

What Trump and his coterie of billionaire backers and grunt media shock-troops are doing is nothing less than an updated version of Gleichschaltung; the process of Nazification in 30’s Germany where all branches of the government and corporate state were forced to submit to the will of der Fuhrer. More than that, they had to do it visibly, publicly and with groveling subservience if they were to have any hope of surviving…and for some, prospering…

It’s the politics of contempt, hatred, fear and loathing. And it looks, feels and smells a lot like fascism. Naked, belligerent fascism. The GOP are consolidating their power, and they intend to keep it. Since there are no more laws left to break, the primary goal at this point is for the Trumpists to enrich themselves as much as possible while they terrorize the population into scared, unquestioning subservience.

But we must also realize that for this to happen, at least half the population wanted it all along – the result of four decades of brainwashing and dumbing-down the population with ever-poorer education.

The long game, indeed.

Unlike previous fascistic movements, however, Trump has absolutely no interest in creating a new, or even noticeably different, America than the one that already existed – mostly because he’s too stupid and disinterested in building anything beyond his own ‘brand.’

Trump is what happens when kleptocracy meets kakistocracy and spawns.

It’s a shame that the Democrats are too busy sucking up to Wall Street to notice.

What Trump, Miller, Homan, Bondi and Co. are pushing is full-blown fascism akin to that of Goebbels, Himmler and Hitler from 1933. It’s hard to see any difference.

The tech bros and billionaires have shamelessly prostrated themselves at the altar of Trump and MAGA. Presumably they think their wealth will save them, as long as they toe the line. Whatever the reason, it looks cowardly, or venal, or both.

But they’re sadly mistaken if they think they can trust Trump in any capacity.

Good luck with that!