For weeks now we have seen a ceaseless flood of stories about how the entertainment sector of our society is reacting to the decision by the Trump administration to take control of The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. There has been all manner of melodramatic teeth-gnashing, every promise of doom predicted, and there is an ever-growing list of performers and others who either quit their residency or pledge to boycott performing.
This has all been done despite any of the cultural horrors being visited upon the center, but what is telling is that this hysterical reaction is in response to the effort to curb cultural rot like drag shows for children and allowing some space for possible conservative content to be presented. This is seen as a completely unacceptable move.
The moves made by the administration are not without merit. The programs therein have been increasingly activist in nature over the years, the venue has fallen into disrepair, and it has been financially unviable – all while the recently fired president of The Kennedy Center, Deborah Rutter, was pocketing an annual salary well over $1 million. After installing his choice of board members, President Trump was voted in to become Chairman of the Board at the Kennedy Center.
The amusing thing is that some of the critics have stated that this is unacceptable because it is politicizing this center for the arts. Imagine that – a location created by Congress, named after a president, and sustained with government funding might become political! Members of Congress are always part of the boardroom, and the First Lady traditionally serves on the board of trustees. To go further, along with annual federal stipends, the Kennedy Center has received additional emergency funding, as well as getting grants from agencies like the National Endowment of the Arts and the Department of Education. Perish the thought of politics ever entering into play.
This Trump takeover has led to much outrage from the entertainment and arts circles, as well as the press. A number of contributing artists have pulled out of relationships at the Center, and more acts continue to declare they will refuse to play the venue. Perhaps the best was when the producers of “Hamilton" canceled its scheduled dates. Along with the makers of the political production decrying the politicization, they said – make sense of this – that they were making this move to not perform out of concern their shows would be canceled and employees put out of work.
The latest to declare they were severing ties was Ben Folds, his stunted rationale promoted by CNN's Brian Stelter.
Ben Folds: "There is an instinct, an authoritarian instinct, that is true in all authoritarian times in history: Take control of the culture, take control of the arts early on." https://t.co/mwfVgTdm6s
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 30, 2025
This just proves the case that while artists might be talented in certain ways, it in no way should be interpreted as their being somehow brilliant. Just analyze this quote in its simplistic manner: Donald Trump has taken over leadership of a solitary entertainment location, and it is said to be a move “to take control of the culture, take control of the arts.”
It is not at all surprising that artists might approach things emotionally, but the hysteria is meant to mask their projection. This is a reaction to moves looking to possibly diversify the programming and include other productions. But the entertainment ecosystem reacts like Sne. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) learning a POC member joined his private club.
Accusing anyone of an authoritarian takeover of the arts is done because it infringes on the totalitarian control the left has on many institutions. Any ground whatsoever gained by the Right is seen as disastrous. The press screeched when Elon Musk took over one of the social media platforms. (Recently, Brian Stelter whined that removing fact-checkers in January would allow for conservative opinions to be heard.) When the movie "The Sound of Freedom” became a surprise hit a couple of summers ago, Hollywood recoiled at the thought of a conservative hit and the entertainment press deemed it a Q-Anon film. The Emmys only had four nomination slots in 2023 for Late Night Talk Show honors, due to rules on the number of acceptable shows leading to coming up one shy of a fifth nomination position; this was mostly because it refused to recognize the top-rated Gutfeld!” in that category.
But the wailing over the takeover of the Kennedy Center - and subsequently the culture - has already been exposed as pure hype. This month the annual awarding of The Mark Twain Prize for Humor was held, with Conan O’Brien honored. There was a herd of comedians in attendance and throughout the night it was a steady stream of barbs and critiques hurled at Trump and the new construction of the board.
Somehow, amid all the claims of a takeover and the controlling of content, these comics were perfectly free to say anything they wanted on the very stage they were claiming was sporting metaphorical iron bars. The once-humorous David Letterman had this to say about that evening: "I'm not a historian, but I believe that history will show in the history for all time, this will have been the most entertaining gathering of the resistance, ever."
It never dawned on Letterman, nor those in attendance, nor the shortage of those screaming about the recent moves at the Kennedy Center, that the very reality that they were able to express their resistance that night contradicted the belief that they needed to resist against a perceived threat. It is a common sight from the entertainment complex that they loudly proclaim to a sprawling audience how they refuse to be silenced.
Somehow we always manage to hear these claims of their being silenced, which is something they never seem to listen to inside their own heads.
