Trump’s Cultural Purge Begins

The bastard actually did it.

For years, Trump steered clear of the Kennedy Center like a vampire avoiding a crucifix. The annual Kennedy Center Honors, the Mark Twain Prize—those events were not his scene. Too much culture, too many people who could read without moving their lips. He was a man who thought steak should be well-done and that "Citizen Kane" was about having a really big house. High art and Trump mixed about as well as bath salts and a Florida Wal-Mart.

But now? Now he owns the place.

In a move so brazen it would make a banana republic dictator blush, Trump has appointed himself chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. That’s right—America’s supposed “cultural beacon” is now officially a stage for Trump’s vanity projects, a golden toilet for the arts. If there was ever a symbol for America’s rapid descent into an intellectually malnourished hellscape, this is it.

The Great Kennedy Center Purge of 2025

Like some discount version of Stalin with a spray tan, Trump purged the entire board, axing 18 Biden appointees in one fell swoop and installing a cabal of loyalists, including Richard Grenell—his longtime sycophant and former ambassador to Germany—as the new interim president.

Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter? Fired. Renée Fleming? Gone. Ben Folds? Resigned in disgust. Shonda Rhimes? Jumped ship.

The exodus of artists came fast and loud—like rats fleeing a sinking cruise ship captained by a man who can’t read a map but insists he knows the best ocean routes. And with them went the last shreds of artistic integrity at the Kennedy Center.

Trump, of course, played the role of gleeful executioner. He took to social media, posting an AI-generated image of himself conducting an orchestra—a fittingly dystopian image for a man who thinks conducting means pointing at someone and saying, "You’re fired."

“We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!” he wrote, like a cartoon villain just before the screen fades to black.

The Trumpification of American Culture

In a sane world, the idea of Trump personally shaping the arts would be laughable. This is a man whose cultural touchstones are professional wrestling, “The Apprentice,” and whatever Fox News tells him he should be mad about. The closest he’s come to artistic expression is waving his tiny hands around like a malfunctioning animatronic at a Chuck E. Cheese.

But here we are.

Gone are the days when the Kennedy Center represented the best of American culture—ballets, operas, high theater, avant-garde risks. Now? Expect a lineup featuring Ted Nugent’s one-man show America’s Only Real Music and an all-MAGA production of Cats starring Kid Rock and the MyPillow guy.

The Kennedy Center Honors? Prepare for a future where Scott Baio and Kanye West get their moment of glory, while anyone with a working frontal lobe is politely disinvited. The Mark Twain Prize for Comedy? You’d better believe Greg Gutfeld is already writing his acceptance speech, and the award will soon be renamed The Trump Prize for Saying the Right Things While Owning the Libs.

This isn't about “de-woking” the arts—it’s about total control. Trump doesn’t consume culture so much as he warps it to fit his own bloated reflection. Now, with the Kennedy Center firmly under his greasy thumb, he can decide what culture even is.

Nixon vs. Trump: A Tale of Two Paranoids

The irony is that Nixon, the original bogeyman of paranoid authoritarianism, at least had the decency to stay the hell away from the Kennedy Center. When Leonard Bernstein’s Mass debuted in 1971, Nixon refused to attend, fearing it would be some radical leftist spectacle that might give him an aneurysm. But he never tried to shut it down.

Trump? No such restraint. The man is rewriting the script in real-time, turning America’s most prestigious cultural institution into a state-sponsored MAGA theater. He doesn’t want to ignore the arts—he wants to own them. The same way he wants to own elections, courts, and the very idea of truth itself.

He is not content to simply dominate politics. He wants to be the arbiter of American taste, the final gatekeeper of what is acceptable, what is worthy, and who is allowed to be celebrated. It’s an ego trip so massive it would require its own zip code.

Welcome to the New Kennedy Center: Now With More Fascism!

This is the future of American culture under Trump’s second reign.

Drag shows? Canceled. Diversity programs? Eliminated. Modern art? Only if it’s a painting of Trump riding a velociraptor with an American flag cape.

And don’t be surprised when the next step in Trump’s cultural revolution is requiring loyalty oaths from performers. Want to be considered for a Kennedy Center Honor? You’d better have a framed picture of The Donald in your home. Want to perform on stage? Make sure your act includes at least one moment of forced patriotism—a bald eagle, a Lee Greenwood song, maybe a heartfelt reading of The Art of the Deal.

Because that’s what this is really about. Trump has never cared about the arts, but he has always cared about revenge. And what better revenge than taking over an institution that once mocked him and forcing it to kiss the ring?

The chill is real. Already, corporations are distancing themselves from anything that could be seen as “controversial.” Booz Allen just pulled out of World Pride. The Smithsonian, while technically independent, is gutting its diversity programs. Everyone is scared. And fear is exactly what Trump wants. He doesn’t need to explicitly ban things—he just needs to make people afraid to try them.

The Final Curtain?

This is just the beginning. Trump’s second term is unfolding like a revenge tour on steroids, and no corner of public life is safe—not the courts, not the government, and now, not even the goddamn symphony orchestra.

Somewhere, JFK is looking down on all this, probably chain-smoking and shaking his head. The center named after him—an institution meant to celebrate American excellence—has now been reduced to a plaything for a man who once told Howard Stern he had to fast-forward through dialogue in movies because it bored him.

We are witnessing the death of culture in real-time. And the worst part? It’s all happening with a standing ovation from the people who should be fighting back.

The house lights are dimming. The curtain is rising. And the show?

It’s a goddamn horror story.