‘Muscle-flexing or urgent threat?’ How Trump’s assault on culture echoes the Nazis targeting ‘degenerate art’

As the US president hangs a fist-pumping portrait of himself in the White House and seeks to purge museums of ‘improper ideology’, our writer finds chilling parallels at a new show about the Nazis ridiculing of modern artDonald Trump has unveiled a new portrait of himself and it’s the most autocratic yet. A painted version of his fist-pumping stance after being shot in July 2024 now greets visitors in the entrance hall of the White House. This “Fight, fight, fight!” canvas is true strongman art.It is just the latest in a series of artistic moves by Trump that look disturbingly tyrannical. When he complained that a portrait of himself in the Colorado State Capitol building was “purposefully distorted” it was taken down as quickly as if the US were Stalin’s Soviet Union. And he has ordered JD Vance to purge the Smithsonian museums of “improper ideology”. But how seriously should any of this be taken? Is it an urgent threat to democracy and culture or mere muscle-flexing? Continue reading...

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