CMU School of Drama


Monday, July 02, 2018

Opinion | Dave Eggers: A Cultural Vacuum in Trump’s White House

The New York Times: This White House has been, and is likely to remain, home to the first presidency in American history that is almost completely devoid of culture. In the 17 months that Donald Trump has been in office, he has hosted only a few artists of any kind. One was the gun fetishist Ted Nugent. Another was Kid Rock. They went together (and with Sarah Palin). Neither performed.

1 comment:

Mitchell Jacobs said...

This article brings up many good points, but the one that surprised me most was the difference between Trump’s views and actions (or lack of action) in regards to the arts compared to recent or similar presidents. It is hard for me to believe that in this cultural and political environment any president would make a choice that so obviously attempts to exclude a community as influential and public as performers and artists. It seems to me that Trump is using what happened at Hamilton to rationalize some theory that the fine arts community is pitted against him. While it may be true that he is not “popular” in these groups, I believe that one of the best things Trump could do to repair these broken ties would be to gradually reaffirm and support artists in America and from across the globe. Because art, theatrical performance, and music have become strong aspects of pop culture in recent years, we have more power now than ever. I believe it would be in Trump’s best interests to play nice.