Thank you again for your wonderful analysis. I was out in the street in the freezing cold on Sunday protesting this lawless regime. It was worth the numb toes and fingers to shout No to the facists. RESIST
Before this vile nightmare was thrust upon us, I didn’t even know you could mix fake Louis XVI with the Beverly Hillbillies and Siegfried and Roy’s predator performance at Las Vegas and call it a style.
Was he able to get Albert Speer to come out of his grave long enough to redesign his Imperial Ball(less) Room?
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime commissioned the infamous "Degenerate Art" (Entartete Kunst) exhibition, first shown in Munich in 1937.
German Expressionism was a powerful early 20th-century art movement in Germany, particularly prominent in Weimar Berlin, that prioritized expressing inner feelings and ideas over objective reality, using distorted forms, jarring colors, and dramatic shadows to evoke intense emotion, fear, and societal unease, profoundly influencing painting (Die Brücke, Der Blaue Reiter) and cinema (e.g., The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) through themes of alienation and psychological turmoil reflecting post-WWI anxieties.
Everything he touches is ruined. As a former performer and attendee at the John F. Kennedy Center, thank you for writing this great article. I won’t step foot in the place.
A total boycott of of the Kennedy Center is entirely appropriate until our wouldbe king takes his name off of it. Trump's name dessicrates the building and the man it was built to memorialize. Trump's MAGA supporters can *try* to fill in for all the missing patrons. I feel they will fail miserably.
The only place his name belongs is on a prison roster. His name should be scrubbed from everything once he is gone, with the exception of a note of infamy in the history books. He is has brought out the worst of Americans. My sincere hope is that these petulant people unhappy with their own life choices finally crawl back under the rocks from whence the came.
I tend to think that there is an intellectual divide in this country wider than the Pacific Ocean. To be here, I obviously place myself on the aware and decency side. Any self-adulation aside, what is the mind of those on the fascist, racist, misogynist side? I keep asking what is to blame? How can those qualities seem admirable or respectable? Despite all the cautions and scolding against saying it, is that side plainly evil?
I totally agree with you, Scott. I keep thinking about people I know and I’m friends with/was friends with, with whom I spoke to before the election last year. I explained project 2025 and what was gonna happen. I told them to do their own research and to dig deep to find out the truth. Unfortunately, they believed every single lie the asswipe talked about. I even had a friend from high school who proudly posted she voted for him on election day, then had the gall to call me and say do you still love me? I keep in touch but not as much as I might have before. I call it complacency, and totally oblivious to what’s going on around them except in their small circles. And that’s the ignorance that I cannot put up with.
It's bad when politics, or rather partisanship, divides friends; but I can't respect someone who thinks bigotry, misogyny, cruelty, grift, and racism are OK. And if I can't respect someone, I can't count them a friend.
She lives in her own world. An easily swayed individual. She’s a nice person and she’s had a tough life. Her first husband beat her hurt her a lot so she doesn’t trust her own instincts, which is why I had hoped to get through to her. Like I said I’m in contact, but it’s once in a great while, I’ll send a text. It’s not with my angst to try to explain anything anymore.
They have taken the easy path in life which means they have achieved nothing, and now they are being given instant gratification by seeing themselves in the vulgar unworthy defacing things of a value they don't understand.
This line could be applied to anything in The Grifter’s adult life, from casinos to universities to steaks, airlines and bottled water:
“Meanwhile, the collapse of the venue under Trump’s reign attests to his regime’s utter incompetence in managing any institution it gets its mitts on.”
And yes, like you, I’m as outraged by this BS stunt as almost anything he’s pulled, though his bumbling response to COVID, inciting a riot on the Capitol, stealing top secret documents, trashing the East Wing and cold-blooded killing of people who had benefited from USAID are still running well ahead.
I saw an unfamiliar word and had to sound it out: ungapatchka! In a long life, I never saw that word in print! But it's a perfect description for the tastlessness he imposes everywhere. Ugh!
Good for you for canceling your tickets, Jen. For anyone else nostalgic for what was, YouTube has many "live" examples from when the Kennedy Center Honors was a dignified and loving show, and meant something meaningful to everyone.
I didn't buy my usual season tickets last summer, so there was no refund to ask for. I didn't make my usual membership donation, either. I felt badly about it, at the time, but now I'm so glad I didn't.
I don't think I can take credit for rebelling. The season didn't look that good to begin with, only three shows I was interested in, and I really didn't want to pay money to an institution that Trump and his lackeys were now running. But then I'd think, "But there are people whose jobs will be affected, like custodians, restaurant workers, and box-office people, and is it fair to punish them because I hate Trump?" I dithered during July -Sept, and finally decided no, I just wasn't going to support the Kennedy Center for a few years.
I think you've hit on a common dilemma: wanting to make a point with Rump & co, but it invariably results in collateral damage to the support personnel involved. What is the solution for that, if any?
Everything Donny Convict touches dies. He is certainly trying to kill the Republic. These are times that try thinking people's souls. Do not despair. Organize!
“Despots historically have recognized that monopolizing culture is essential to dictatorial control”
Trump recognizes nothing——except for one thing: the insatiable hole in his psyche which requires he be revered for “greatness”, which is only motivated by his deepest recognition: that he is inadequate, because he is a moron……and there is no cure for Stupid.
Thank you again for your wonderful analysis. I was out in the street in the freezing cold on Sunday protesting this lawless regime. It was worth the numb toes and fingers to shout No to the facists. RESIST
I only wish that from Trump’s obscene signage straight to G-d’s ears.
I’m sorry but G – D has not shown any signs of listening to any of us
Because G-D does not exist.
I've had serious doubts since the Holocaust.
“Pageantry as truth.”
Before this vile nightmare was thrust upon us, I didn’t even know you could mix fake Louis XVI with the Beverly Hillbillies and Siegfried and Roy’s predator performance at Las Vegas and call it a style.
Was he able to get Albert Speer to come out of his grave long enough to redesign his Imperial Ball(less) Room?
ICTT, his "style" is more like what happens when Louis XVI meets Russian Bordello.
Trump is kitsch.
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime commissioned the infamous "Degenerate Art" (Entartete Kunst) exhibition, first shown in Munich in 1937.
German Expressionism was a powerful early 20th-century art movement in Germany, particularly prominent in Weimar Berlin, that prioritized expressing inner feelings and ideas over objective reality, using distorted forms, jarring colors, and dramatic shadows to evoke intense emotion, fear, and societal unease, profoundly influencing painting (Die Brücke, Der Blaue Reiter) and cinema (e.g., The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) through themes of alienation and psychological turmoil reflecting post-WWI anxieties.
I always thought it was a cross between a third world dictator's palace and a Victorian brothel.
We really need someone to rewrite the British WWII ditty, "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball."
My favourite part is the last line, devoted to Goebbels.
You can actually get that 'ditty' on ITunes!
I was just told that someone DID rewrite the song, last March.
Recorded by The Bear Jew on YouTube.
Lyrics:
Donald, has only got one ball!
Elon, has two but very small!
And JD, might be a lady
Because Vance beneath the pants has none at all!
And YouTube. With pictures. Pictures of marching soldiers and flags, that is.
Love the "Ball(less) Room and the rest of your comment. One million likes.
Everything he touches is ruined. As a former performer and attendee at the John F. Kennedy Center, thank you for writing this great article. I won’t step foot in the place.
A total boycott of of the Kennedy Center is entirely appropriate until our wouldbe king takes his name off of it. Trump's name dessicrates the building and the man it was built to memorialize. Trump's MAGA supporters can *try* to fill in for all the missing patrons. I feel they will fail miserably.
Unless they hire Village People all the time, forget about that highbrow stuff nobody likes.
The only place his name belongs is on a prison roster. His name should be scrubbed from everything once he is gone, with the exception of a note of infamy in the history books. He is has brought out the worst of Americans. My sincere hope is that these petulant people unhappy with their own life choices finally crawl back under the rocks from whence the came.
Maybe a tomb stone with his name on it would be better yet.
A urinal placed at his tombstone would be an apt memorial to Donald Trump.
Hopefully, actual prisons will be named after Trump.
Damnatio memoriae - a Latin term describing scrubbing, pick-axing, erasing and chiseling someone's name from everywhere to erase his memory.
Except history books. We should never forget this.
I've been saying that, too. Another person with a strong interest in history?
“ The only place his name belongs is on a prison roster”
I would add, a hospital chart followed by a tombstone. Escorted to his final destination by the most dreadful Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come.
As an artist I thank you from the depths of my creative soul.
I just stopped by to complement you on the first time I've seen the word "ungapatchka" used in the popular press. My bubbe would be very pleased.
Mine too! I just said the same thing, before I saw your comment.
Does my heart good to see my late mom’s favorite insult used so perfectly! She would agree,
Great idea to ask for ticket refund. Keep us posted.
She received a refund! Seems like the Center itself cannot hide from this.
I tend to think that there is an intellectual divide in this country wider than the Pacific Ocean. To be here, I obviously place myself on the aware and decency side. Any self-adulation aside, what is the mind of those on the fascist, racist, misogynist side? I keep asking what is to blame? How can those qualities seem admirable or respectable? Despite all the cautions and scolding against saying it, is that side plainly evil?
I totally agree with you, Scott. I keep thinking about people I know and I’m friends with/was friends with, with whom I spoke to before the election last year. I explained project 2025 and what was gonna happen. I told them to do their own research and to dig deep to find out the truth. Unfortunately, they believed every single lie the asswipe talked about. I even had a friend from high school who proudly posted she voted for him on election day, then had the gall to call me and say do you still love me? I keep in touch but not as much as I might have before. I call it complacency, and totally oblivious to what’s going on around them except in their small circles. And that’s the ignorance that I cannot put up with.
It's bad when politics, or rather partisanship, divides friends; but I can't respect someone who thinks bigotry, misogyny, cruelty, grift, and racism are OK. And if I can't respect someone, I can't count them a friend.
Perhaps your friend might explain how voting for a man who enjoys tearing families and communities apart makes her lovable?
She lives in her own world. An easily swayed individual. She’s a nice person and she’s had a tough life. Her first husband beat her hurt her a lot so she doesn’t trust her own instincts, which is why I had hoped to get through to her. Like I said I’m in contact, but it’s once in a great while, I’ll send a text. It’s not with my angst to try to explain anything anymore.
That is a very sad situation.
Sadly, it seems the human brain has a long way to go in evolving to “intelligent”
They have taken the easy path in life which means they have achieved nothing, and now they are being given instant gratification by seeing themselves in the vulgar unworthy defacing things of a value they don't understand.
This line could be applied to anything in The Grifter’s adult life, from casinos to universities to steaks, airlines and bottled water:
“Meanwhile, the collapse of the venue under Trump’s reign attests to his regime’s utter incompetence in managing any institution it gets its mitts on.”
And yes, like you, I’m as outraged by this BS stunt as almost anything he’s pulled, though his bumbling response to COVID, inciting a riot on the Capitol, stealing top secret documents, trashing the East Wing and cold-blooded killing of people who had benefited from USAID are still running well ahead.
Hitler was demented too. We need to stop him.
All power-hungry maniacs are/were!
Bless you, Jennifer Rubin.
I saw an unfamiliar word and had to sound it out: ungapatchka! In a long life, I never saw that word in print! But it's a perfect description for the tastlessness he imposes everywhere. Ugh!
Good for you for canceling your tickets, Jen. For anyone else nostalgic for what was, YouTube has many "live" examples from when the Kennedy Center Honors was a dignified and loving show, and meant something meaningful to everyone.
I didn't buy my usual season tickets last summer, so there was no refund to ask for. I didn't make my usual membership donation, either. I felt badly about it, at the time, but now I'm so glad I didn't.
Me too! Good for you, Betsy! If we each do what we can, we can move this thing in the right direction...
I don't think I can take credit for rebelling. The season didn't look that good to begin with, only three shows I was interested in, and I really didn't want to pay money to an institution that Trump and his lackeys were now running. But then I'd think, "But there are people whose jobs will be affected, like custodians, restaurant workers, and box-office people, and is it fair to punish them because I hate Trump?" I dithered during July -Sept, and finally decided no, I just wasn't going to support the Kennedy Center for a few years.
I think you've hit on a common dilemma: wanting to make a point with Rump & co, but it invariably results in collateral damage to the support personnel involved. What is the solution for that, if any?
....and it will always be the Gulf of Mexico.
Everything Donny Convict touches dies. He is certainly trying to kill the Republic. These are times that try thinking people's souls. Do not despair. Organize!
He’s trying to kill our souls as well.
“Despots historically have recognized that monopolizing culture is essential to dictatorial control”
Trump recognizes nothing——except for one thing: the insatiable hole in his psyche which requires he be revered for “greatness”, which is only motivated by his deepest recognition: that he is inadequate, because he is a moron……and there is no cure for Stupid.
Thank you for outing the miserable wretch yet again!