#TrumpRegime #Smithsonian #Nazis #history #EntarteteKunst #Gleichschaltung
"It was the latest in a long line of attacks Trump has made on the Smithsonian, a network of 21 museums based in Washington, D.C., since taking office. In June, Kim Sajet, then the director of the Smithsonian-overseen National Portrait Gallery, resigned, following Trump’s attempt to fire her for being, in his words, 'a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.' Then, on Aug. 12, the White House issued a letter to the Smithsonian announcing it would begin a 'comprehensive initial review' of selected Smithsonian museums to 'ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism' and 'remove divisive or partisan narratives.' Following up on Trump’s post, a White House official stated that the President 'will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable.'
This routing out of undesirable leaders and content from a country’s museums has precedent in Nazi Germany — a link that becomes even more apparent when we consider Trump’s own hatred of modern art and architecture.
'I’ve always felt that a lot of modern art is a con,' Trump wrote in his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal. In 2016, he said of modern art shown in a Brooklyn Museum exhibition that 'it’s not art. It’s absolutely gross, degenerate stuff.'
His use of the word 'degenerate' was particularly significant. 'Degenerate art' — or, in German, 'entartete kunst' — was a term coined by the Nazi Party in the 1920s to describe modern art, which was seen as antithetical to the Nazi project.
In 1931, as Hitler was leading the Nazi Party to unprecedented success in German parliamentary elections, he announced that he would 'release a tornado' against modern art. Upon his appointment as chancellor of Germany in 1933, he announced a new policy specifying that 'all artistic productions with cosmopolitan or Bolshevik tendencies must be thrown out of German museums and collections.'
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The Smithsonian has, troublingly, already removed references to Trump’s impeachments from its exhibits."
https://forward.com/opinion/764116/smithsonian-trump-degenerate-art/