Ultimately Trump sees himself as the only great artist, like Kanye, and the pop media confirms this feeling in its utter abandonment of cultural conversation — like the New York Times abandoning design coverage for the past five years for pure politics. Trump didn’t create the cultural vacuum, he only filled it.
Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
119
I could comment but any comment I would write would be as unkind as it would be true. So I'll give this one a miss.
58
How do we feel about the "missing" artists?
Bob: Looks like you’ve been missing quite a bit of work lately.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I wouldn’t say I’ve been MISSING it, Bob.
9
Perhaps just as well. Trump Casino had bright purple three inch shag rugs in the corridors and black lamps with large plastic "jewels" glued to them. Tacky is as tacky does.
141
Do we actually expect real art in the White House when have a guy who hangs THIS on his wall at Mar-a-Lago (warning: it's pretty creepy):
http://featured.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2016/10/07/why-did-trump-insist-a...
37
He referred to the White House as "a dump." What more do you need to know about his sense of culture or respect for art?
125
The arts being out the humanity in all of us and there are so many expressions of art that we are all able to find a place where we feel connected to others. Trump does not value connecting to people, he values what he can get from them. Thankfully the arts continue despite the White House being a nback hole in the midst of all the energy.
59
Trump and Melania are performance artists themselves- her with a passive aggressive scrawl on her back and Donald with his fraud factory, Trump U, playing at being king of the evangelicals. As for music, get a playlist from Stormy Daniels.
71
Why is it a surprise that the Trump Administration is hostile toward the Arts. It's hostile toward truth, honor, decency, ethics, and government service. Moreover, to appreciate the Arts requires education, and intelligence, neither of which Trump has. Trump is just an ignoramus and a real estate fraudster.
120
First, as some have already pointed out, a large part of this issue is due to the loud and overt denunciation of Trump by "artists" of various types, even before he came into office. Many have continued that theme with saying they would refuse to even go to the White House - so somehow, that is the fault of Trump?
But another point - really, on some level, who cares? This whole kerfuffle illustrates yet again the absurd level to which the presidency has been elevated. While we have had presidents throughout history who have been admired for their actions, the Founders would probably gag at the notion that the White House and its occupant are supposed now to be looked at as anything more than political leaders. We ooh and ahh over their opinion on everything, even stupid sporting events, what they or, especially, their spouse wears, what they eat for dinner, and now what music they do or don't listen to.
Apparently many lives are so devoid of any personal in our celebrity obsessed culture, that the President is used as some sort of totem for the nation, an oracle to whom we must look in good times and bad for wise words, solace if there is a bad storm in the country, spousal style and diet tips - enough already. For good or bad, they're politicians, not monarchs, there to serve us, not the other way around!
17
I had the displeasure of spending two hours with DT back in 1974-75 when I was a graduate student working on my MFA in painting in NYC.
A mutual friend to a small group of up and coming artists was trying to do us a favor. She knew someone from work who might be interested in buying art on the cheap but only if the price was “right”. The meeting was prefaced by explaining that the would be collector was not very nice person (not her exact words) and the son of an equally unpleasant developer father. The meeting with Donald Trump and the art students was set up. Upon his arrival he paced the loft and preceded to pontificate and ramble on about all sorts of vague culture and art market topics he knew virtually nothing about. He “critiqued” the work, passed judgement on the group and generally lambasted us with the ultimate denunciation “You are not very good at all..Need to get a job”. When DT left we opened a bottle of wine and toasted our first encounter with a really hideous human who somehow enjoyed posing as an art connoisseur . We laughed and remarked that thankfully we would never again have to see that person. Oh how wrong we were. PS Mr. President, we all did quite well and no thank to your words of encouragement.
230
We must understand that Donald Trump's ideal America is one of mindless philistinism where any open reflection, artistic or philosophical, on the national condition is considered a laughingstock at best and treason at worst.
We must remember that Donald Trump is Joseph McCarthy with a few tenuous constraints that he would rip to shreds, given the chance. Now that it appears that the Trump-McConnell-Ryan axis will soon have a fully compliant Supreme Court majority, the only recourse for Americans who value independent expression will be the ballot box, and even that is at-risk.
It is the height of grim irony that those who wrap themselves the most in the garish banner of "patriotism" are the same ones who advance their own partisan agendas by slapping the label of "traitor" on anyone who opposes them. It is they, not we, who so cavalierly corrupt the ideals of the nation's founding.
This is the playbook of authoritarianism, and the American public seems ready and willing to drink the Kool-Aid.
87
I will never forget reading about the judge who presided over the Bosnian genocide trials in the Hague. When asked how he could bear hearing about all the atrocities and sufferings committed day after day, he touchingly replied, "I go every day to see the Vermeers." It is art that lifts our soul, inspires it, heals it, transforms it, ennobles it -- but, of course, first one must have a soul. The dead eyes of Trump shows a hollow shell devoid of a soul. And that is what make him dangerous.
118
Art is supposed to transcend politics. That many artists these days feel compelled to express their anger at the Trump administration at every opportunity doesn't exactly put them above the fray. Don't blame Trump for a lack of culture in the White House when the artist community at large has sent a very loud and clear message that he shouldn't bother inviting them.
7
Lucky for us, there's a tweet from @realDonaldTrump explaining this situation. From 2012. Guess we need to add "psychic" to the list of All The Things Nobody Will Ever Do Better Than Him™.
"Deals are my art form. I like making deals, preferably big deals." - The Art of the Deal 11:55 AM - 21 Dec 2012
13
How can one care for the sensitivity of the arts if not caring to families, parents and children? No doubt wrenching art will reflect this time. This is all, way too disturbing with no end in site, though there will be an end. Truth will confirm this. At some point this vacuum of greed, no empathy, defense, power for self sake, ignorance, division and insult will end.
18
Donald Trump seems to be against any form of expression unless it agrees with his views. It is an authoritarian trait designed to hype the tyrant and is to be expected.
29
Artists of all genres across this country are now participating in what could be called “the Boor War.”
21
Trump's failure to read is probably due to semi-literacy, but I'm more concerned that he doesn't seem to have read the Constitution at any point.
Otherwise I don't much care if he snubs the arts.
17
I suspect that if there was a musical group called 'The Trumps', he would embrace them. This is a very sick individual running the country, as we all know.
49
This is just another indicator that Donald Trump lacks humanity. He is unread, uncultured, and non-humorous (many have noted his seeming inability to laugh). Perhaps Trump has not invited any artists to the White House because his fragile ego is afraid of being upstaged. Or perhaps he has invited many of them but, they (like the Philadelphia Eagles) have declined his invitation in protest of his racist policies and authoritarian proclivities.
36
This is a piece that is long overdue and something I’ve thought about frequently during this ‘presidency’.
Ironically, I’ve seen Trump in person just once, in May of 2003 while I waited in line for tickets to Le Mis. DT and his then girlfriend Melania walked in the theatre. He probably left during the break but at least he’s been to at least one cultural event.
20
oh, for heavens sakes, what next. The President is indifferent to non linear differential equations? After all we live in a very non linear world. Just more Trump trashing for whatever reason.
7
With all due respect, Dave Eggers has cause and effect reversed when he writes, "When we are without art, we are a diminished people — myopic, unlearned and cruel."
It is because we, or at least, the people in the White House, are myopic, unlearned and cruel that they do without art. As Shakespeare puts it in The Merchant of Venice, "The man that hath no music in himself, / Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,/ Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils."
49
Trump's culture goes as far as a boy at a wrestle-mania event.
26
It would mean he—and other people there—would be applauding someone other than him, right? Can't have that.
54
What we have is a moral vacuum in the White House.
19
Kanye created a firestorm just by visiting the white house. Remember the white house ball where Trump and Melania danced? The musicians who performed there were scorned for doing so. Remember when Trump used a song without permission on his campaign and got sued?
Even if you were invited, the risk of being targeted for deplatforming by activists is real. Any gain of performing there is likely overshadowed by the risks that performing there would incur.
Any artist who did perform at the white house at Trump’s invitation would instantly be labelled a heretic, a nazi sympathizer, a witch, a person who denies the existence of others. That’s the arts community. How many right wing shock jocks did obama invite to the white house? Many in the arts might just be a more sophisticated version.
“Every great civilization has fostered great art, while authoritarian regimes customarily see artists as either nuisances, enemies of the state or tools for the creation of propaganda. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev asserted that “the highest duty of the Soviet writer, artist and composer, of every creative worker” is to “fight for the triumph of the ideas of Marxism-Leninism.”
True. Much art today in the west does exactly this. If you were to poll professors in the arts many would be sympathetic to Marxist Leninist ideas. Intersectionality is a variation on them. Is Trump irrational to be wary of people who hate him?
8
His aesthetic extends his particular brand. We have a car salesman fascist, a 'Price is Right' fascist, American style. No high black boots or severe aesthetic for him. Its cheap American culture all the way.
11
Cat scratch fever.....
6
Great column, thank you.
14
Mr. Eggers is incorrect. Lots of "artists" support Trump:
Roseanne Barr
Ted Nugent
Scott Baio
Kanye West
Kirstie Alley
Willie Robertson (of Duck Dynasty)
Stephen Baldwin
Gary Busey
Hulk Hogan
Kid Rock
Tila Tequila
The weight of their collective contribution to American Culture can't be overstated.
56
This is a surprise?
15
If only we had Joan Baez performing at the White House African Anerican students would perform as well as Asian students in school, no one would use illegal drugs, and gangs would vanish.
4
“myopic, unlearned and cruel”
Mr. Eggers’ contributions to culure now include this most egg-elegant description yet compsed of that orangutan-colored amoral imbecile. Mr. Eggers may well have composed the precise three words to carry to Posterity the whole of this shameful, disgusting period in “our” history—and he did so in under thirty characters!
29
Surprise headlines of the day:
1. Donald Trump doesn't emphasize culture (really, if that surprised you did you ever look at the furniture in his home?).
2. NYT seeks to find more and more microgrievances for complaint fodder about the Trumps.
Culture can continue without the White House. This is just another NYT tantrum over nothing.
13
Trump and his administration are a disgrace to US and all humanity.
32
Of course he has no empathy for the arts and humanities.
Or art history. Or reality itself!
Even the jokes write themselves. His own relationship with the arts is a fraud:
Donald Trump falsely told a reporter that he owned a $10 million Renoir: “Two Sisters (On The Terrace).”
His is a fake.
Truth is the real painting's on the wall at the Art Institute of Chicago:
The Renoir was gifted to them in 1933 by Annie Swan Coburn, who acquired it for $100,000 from the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who bought it from the artist in 1881.
Full stop.
22
Most of Trump's personal traits are despicable. One of his worst traits is his total lack of any sense of humor.
21
Perhaps there is art in the white house. Think of Trump as the attic version of Dorian Gray.
12
Is "philistine" the word I'm looking for?
10
No one with any class or self respect wants to be anywhere near this gang of thugs, liars, thieves, Russian assets, and I don't care do you let them eat cake tone deaf hypocrites.
How many days left until November 2020?
20
Sorry, Ronald Reagan does not get rehabilitated so easily. Here's his contribution to Art: "Welfare Queen"; Philadelphia, MS. .... the list goes on.....
1
President Trump's idea of art is gold plating.
39
Most of the concerts in the Obama years were hip-hop for his celebrity cronies.
6
Trump is the antithesis of artistic thought and expression. Trump is intellectually empty and unintelligent. It is no wonder that artists don't like him, and he does not like art or artists.
10
Trump is indifferent to a piece of land belonging to the US housing a bunch of people who speak Spanish whose lives and property have been destroyed by a hurricane. What do you expect
23
What were you expecting, Sonny Rollins and Steve Reich? "We write symphonies," remember?
2
myopic, unlearned, and cruel.
sound like anybody you wish you didn't know?
5
Trump has an inferiority complex....he has great distate applauding people of great talent..artists, scientists, etc.
He wants people to applaud him or folks he can manipulate, he is so self-absorbed it is maniac.
30
Ah yes. Ted Nugent. NRA spokesperson and owner of Sunrise Safaris for the slaughter of animals in the US and Africa. Perfect cultural representative of the Trump Dynasty.
18
He loves "Fox & Friends"! Doesn't that count?
8
What did you expect from this Philistine who was never known to embrace theater or the arts in New York.
17
Bush read voraciously; Obama wrote books; Trump reads and writes his golf scores.
22
“We write symphonies.” - Donald J. Trump
3
Of course, you''ll blacklist any artist who goes to the Whitehouse.
13
Trump, who feeds his body with physical junk food by preference, also prefers nothing but mental junk food -- Fox News, "reality" TV shows, and the like -- for his brain. It's at least consistent of him.
13
This PARIAH PRESIDENT has the insight, awareness, and humanity of a rock. He does not live, he exists.
His world centers on him, with his self consuming black hole for a soul. Sad really~~~~~~~~
19
Trump will show YOU! He'll have a UGE concert on the south lawn featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!
8
It would poison for any legitimate performer to show up. And this is not liberal partisanship. No one wants to be associated with a lying, racist, bully...etc. Well, no one except Republican Politicians.
19
A true malignant narcissistic sociopath is unable to admire creativity in others, particularly if they overshadow him or put in relief his gaping insecurities and unquenchable thirst for admiration and fealty. His gaze is only trained towards himself. Anyone else is a threat. Tyrants fear and despise the arts because they mean freedom. Trump is so stupid it’s just that he can’t stand the idea of others stealing the spotlight.
27
All of your liberal performers refuse to come to the White House. Whose fault is that?
6
Now that I think about it .. what artist of any stature would come? You saw the talent pool at the inauguration. Pretty pathetic.
22
Ted Nugent is to art what Dominos Pizza is to Italian cuisine.
42
As Trump's puppetmaster would say of Trump, he is nevospittanny. Uncultured.
5
I think Trumps eshewing of the arts is an opening. The arts must aggressively come together as a force to combat the thuggishness and braying belligerence of the WH. The closest they get to poetry is sloganeering, the closest they get to music is the banging drum, while 'delicacy' is not a word that can be spelled or understood. Art can be a mighty sword, invigorating and inspiring people in ways that DT cannot comprehend. Grab that brush, hit the downbeat, dust off those taps, uncap that pen.
6
From the classic film, "The Third Man", the character, Harry Lime, reminds his friend, "Don't be so gloomy. After all, it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
If Trump is our Borgiatic, best that ALL artists rally our talents to the max and produce, produce, produce. After all, like the fella says, Art is about offsetting Hate.
38
When the official White House portraits of the Trumps are unvieled (if at all), it'll be paint by numbers of Donald as Gainsborough's Blue Boy and Melania as Lawrence's Pinkie.
28
Vote, but first you will need to get two proper ID cards with photos, especially in red states, so do it now. Then register to vote by mail because some Republican polling places will create huge delays and lines or shut down polls to discourage Democrats from voting. And if you vote by mail there will be a paper record, unlike with computerized voting which can be easily hacked. Spread the word.
23
My state has just adopted voter ID voting requirements to stop the nonexistent voter fraud. In the 2016 Presidential election, there was only one case, a Trump voter who absentee voted twice because she falsely believed that the Democrats were committing voter fraud.
6
Art is my solace and nourishment in these darkening days of corruption, authoritarianism and systemic cruelty. Reader, I hope it's yours too.
15
OMG. While I appreciate the reminder (and love your books), please don't give him any ideas about co-opting art in service of his frightening agenda. It's better that he ignore it.
10
No mention of Ike or LBJ. Nixon had a photo with Elvis.
But Trump is the only president who has little or no interest in the arts? Seems like the author was very selective with the presidents he chose to profile.
5
When George W. Bush is counted as a patron of the arts, it just tells you how badly things have presently deteriorated...
12
So many artists and celebrities already rejecting overtures from Trump (remember inauguration when he couldn't get artists to perform). He and his policies are abhorrent to them. That hasn't changed, but only intensified. The arts represent everything elite to Trump and his base. Their loss.
49
"Culture" has always suggested "classy." Therein lies the conflict with Trump and his administration. Nature abhors a vacuum and I abhor Trump. That doesn't make me classy, just normal.
12
“The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus"
William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
20
Why would the President invite hostile artists to his home? I can't think of any that he could invite that would not ridicule him and his family. The artists are the problem because they can't be civil. They just want to get this administration. The made this situation.
6
Whatever happened to the short-lived NYT feature that invited readers to say something positive about the president...anything that might spotlight some shred of decency, honesty, intelligence or class. Anything at all.
I treasure a memory of being approached on the streets of Cairo several years ago by a group of youths who just wanted to tell us: "We like your President Obama!" How deeply I miss the sense of pride I felt that day...and the feeling that we were connected in a positive way with the rest of the world.
55
I feel it's my job as a citizen to preserve the flame of culture, humility, and empathy during these trying times. They will flower and flourish once again after regime has completed.
4
No pets either. What kind of person is this?
74
Don't even raise the issue. Can you imagine the abuse that a non-human animal would suffer if it were his responsibility to take care of it?
3
Maybe Melania will host an annual high end fashion show at the White House, and call that " art".
2
I think there is some art in the WH but we're not looking in the right places. Wearing just the right jacket up the gangway to an awaiting plane can be just as powerful as a Banksy if you know who the work is communicating its message to. Drop the idea that that the FLOTUS was heartless or clueless and instead see her husband as the recipient of her artistry. When I first saw what she wore my first thought was she was cold slapping him in the face and telling him that she could REALLY mess him up. Or she could just be that clueless.
6
I so enjoy the daily cartoons in newspapers across the country that show Trump in a distorted, funny but quite true way. This is art about TRUMP and it is quite appropriate for this President. Trump does not enjoy ANYTHING unless it is about him.
4
in guatemala a village without music is called triste.. meaning sad
6
Chocolate cake is a form of art?
OK, would you believe beauty pageants?
OK, would you believe egregiously idiotic tweets elevated to the level of an artform?
16
There is no art with this man. He celebrates himself. He is a reflection of his base: coarse, cruel, insecure and of ignorant, lacking inspiration and compassion. Everything that is the antithesis for art and culture.
59
The art of the con is enough.
40
Each president is entitled to invite whomever he wants to the whites house, this article is nonsense. Many bigger things to worry about than a guest list.
7
I believe you have misinterpreted the article. It is not about a guest list, but about the diminishing of the spirit of America as seen in the arts by Trump and his administration.
64
Read the last four sentences again.
You are known by the company you keep.
2
Thank you for expressing this aching reaction to... indifference.... "You can't give what you don't have"
2
Donald Trump is as arid as the driest desert. He is trying to spread that desert across the entire nation, and he is succeeding. He must be stopped. Vote!
6
Oh, stop the whine. The notion that, in the US, art and artists need the king and the court is such arrant nonsense. Davis and Coltrane didn’t. Dixon and Wolf didn’t. Rodgers and Hammerstein didn’t. Wyatt didn’t. Bernstein didn’t. Bob Dylan didn’t. Stephen King didn’t. I could go on.
The only ones seeking these sorts of handouts and governmental validation are the mediocre artists.
7
Whining about "handouts" misses the point.
America has a rich and varied artistic and musical and literary traditions. Acknowledging people at the top of their game for their accomplishments is normal.
9
What we get when we elect a sick individual obsessed with money and power.
10
Who should Trump invite? Johnny Depp, who mused about assassinating him? Madonna, who contemplated "blowing up the white house"? Maybe Robert de niro, fresh off his profanity laced insults...
7
Does this mean that what we have been watching the last 17 months aren’t Beevis and Buthead reruns?
7
The Dark Ages are back. The Know Nothings are in charge. The Culturaless Revolution is upon us and Roseanne the mother of it all.
45
It's fitting though, isn't it? You need a soul to appreciate art. There is nobody in this White House with a soul.
7
Understanding, appreciating, and enjoying arts of any kind requires having a heart and a soul -- and being in touch with both of them. Basically, being human and not a psychopath. Trump seems uninterested? Huh, whaddya know.
32
Trump is exactly like my brother-inlaw. It's all about greed. The guy could eat cat litter as long as it filled his vacuum and scoff at a beautiful sunset. A sociopath who believe every cent was meant for him.
49
He isnt interested in anything but himself. Oh, I forgot, loves dictators, loves money..I think that's it.
6
If Eggers is already going to cite Kruschev wrt propaganda, he may as well cite Stalin: "Writers are the engineers of human souls."
1
We have a boor occupying the White House. It is that simple.
42
Well said. Thank you.
2
It would be easy to call him a vulgarian. Ok I did.
Trump sees the world as transactional. Art for arts sake does not fit into his conception of living in a civilized society.
5
When “artists” use their “art” and personal notoriety as a political platform? Not even Trump is dumb enough to invite them to the White House.
3
“But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced
Such as she was, such as she would become.”
Robert Frost, The Gift Outright
7
You could make the argument that he is both color blind (only red ties and blue black suits?) and tone deaf... and has no embarrassment or insecurity about it. He just doesn't give a twaddle.
10
Is "color-blind and tone-deaf" a diagnosis or an insult. I remember reading that the first premier of Italy, Cavour, was literally tone deaf; it didn't impair his work.
Your critic of the current occupant of the Oval Office is just and equitable. Having a brutus ignoramus in the office, arrogant to the highest degree, would be an insult to any artist that dares show up and honor such a dishonorable thug. All evil won't endure, and this violence will pass as well...so the White House may, once again, be a patron of the arts and share it's beauty with the world. Just not now, as treacherous times are upon us, not conducive to civility of any kind.
2
@daveeggers prepare for the ….
I know artists only the best artists they love me like Kanye great art only the best. #makeamericaartyagain #MAAA #iknowart #itsagoodinvestment #thebestart #usaart
4
In defense of Trump "the great pretender" how many artists beyond those mentioned would accept an invitation to the white house from him? I guess Mike Huckabee might come over and play a few tunes maybe Sarah might even sing. Oh wait a minute there is always Kanye West who could come over and rap with Melania. I can hear them now--I really don't care do u!
3
Is anyone one bit surprised that this “president” has zero appreciation for the arts? Wait, I take that back. He did commission a six foot tall, $20,000 self portrait, paid for from the Donald J Trump “foundation”.
8
More like a moral vacuum.
6
Myopic, unlearned and cruel. That pretty much sums up this administration, eh ?
5
Please look up the lyrics and listen to the song Behind Blue Eyes by Pete Townsend of The Who. A piece of art/music/poetry that completely defines Donald Trump. It should accompany his smug, Mussolini image daily as the perfect artistic encapsulation of this pitiful empty person.
3
I am surprised to read that Shrub was an avid reader, assuming it wasn't "My Pet Goat" over and over again.
6
That's because Trump is culturally illiterate - Then again so is 3/4 of this country.
6
Despite pools of money, this White House lives at the very bottom of Maslow's hierarchy. It's the basest and saddest thing to befall a human being.
6
What if all paintings, murals statues were of trump? He would totally get that and have monumental unveilings.
10
Arts and Sciences. The WH doesn't have a science advisor either. You can read it here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-rsquo-s-science-advisor...
24
He is a small, uncurious and venal man. He was born rich and literally knows nothing. Our national cipher. A real "Nowhere Man."
14
Are we surprised?
6
These are all good points, except the idea that with art comes empathy. It's true that Trump hasn't an ounce of it, but the policies of Reagan and the Bushes - including the lifetime appointment of Clarence Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall and the disastrous, duplicitious invasion of Iraq - do not indicate an abundance of empathy. Yes, these presidents look good compared to the mobster who is now running the country - running it into the ground - but please, let's not glorify men who have celebrated the arts with one hand and destroyed so much civilization and so many lives with the other.
13
Trump, his family, and everyone he surrounds himself with are empty shells. I am beginning to wonder if at some point in evolution, the less evolved got pulled along with the more evolved. It feels like there are still neanderthals living among us. Previously they would have died out but as science, etc. progressed, they survived too. I feel like I don't even share the human race with these "people." I am a musician and my friends and I have talked about this complete lack of the arts at the White House or of reports of Trump taking in any artistic event. I truly believe he and his base are incapable of seeing beauty in a piece of music, a poem, a well written novel. They cannot enjoy the simple things in life either. You can dress them up, teach them to speak (sort of) but they could easily be in caves, with animal skins for clothes and clubs, grunting at each other.
21
The point is well taken. However how many prominent artists do you think would accept an invitation to this White House? Artists have already precluded invitations anyway by vocally protesting Trump and his policies. It's unlikely, but possible, that invitations were extended early in the administration and declined. As they would be now.
17
Don't forget Jimmy Carter in this mix! He loved classical guitar music and often had it playing in his office. When the prime minister of Tunisia and his wife visited the White House during Carter's turn, I was invited to come and play the lute for a working lunch with the PM (an all-male gathering by the way), and then for Mrs Carter and the wife of the PM. Carter interrupted the meeting to ask me some very informed questions about the lute and early music. Mrs Carter was equally charming, and I treasure a photo taken with her and the PM's wife (sorry, can't remember the names). The wife was holding my lute while I told her the string names--she herself played the oud, the ancestor of the lute. A memorable time for me, and indicative of a First Family that appreciated and promoted the arts in our country.
35
Someone earlier mentioned that they have turned to their art as a way of dealing with Donald Trump and I would like to say that I totally understand that.
I am an amateur Cellist, and I am finding a great comfort in having a musical instrument to play these days. When I can't sleep because of some new horror in the news, I go to our garage and play Bach. I need, hunger, for beauty these days.
And I realize that I may not have much direct ability to stop my government from mistreating families and little children, but I do have some ability to increase my odds of hitting the high notes on the second page of the Shostakovich Cello Sonata by practicing more.
Perhaps I should thank Donald Trump for that. He is motivating me to make myself a better musician.
11
I am a pianist and I too, am thankful for the outlet of playing a musical instrument. I think part of the satisfaction is in creating while so many are destroying. It's so much easier and quicker to destroy than to create. The young man who helps me with my garden and yard improvements told me that he is busier than ever since Trump's election. I think people are desperate to create oases of beauty and peace in their lives to get away from the onslaught of disturbing news and the destruction of our democracy. I will not be surprised if someone soon officially announces a new condition: Ongoing Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I think I have it.
7
The relentless hostility of America's "Art Community" toward President Trump removes any confusion for his disinterest in reaching out to them. Any act of reaching out by Trump has simply given artists a platform for attacking Trump. The Koch Brothers have had similar experiences. Their generous gifts to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lincoln Center are ignored by cultural elitists who attack them for political opinions. Why can't the left say, thank you for your support for cultural institutions even though we disagree with you on political agendas. Why has the left taken the policy of zero compromise and take no prisoners. In fact the "Art Community" has made war on itself as they throw longstanding leaders and supporters under the bus.
12
That's a pretty broad generalization about the "arts community" and the "left." I think Trump could find some artists that would go, even supporters possibly, if he tried. But that's the point of this article, he hasn't even tried, he doesn't even read! The man is not engaged with the arts in anyway and that is what's wrong. It's not about "left" or "right" it's about humanity and he appear to have very little. Sad.
8
Really, is it only “the left?” At this point Trump’s actions and policies have veered way beyond decency. There’s really no reason to be lying to the American people on a daily basis, left or right. And no excuse for accepting it, left or right.
9
Yes, the arts community should show a little love for the people that are dismantling our democracy, separating children and even infants from their parents at the border when they are most vulnerable and, just a minor point, actively seeking to make climate change much worse by removing every conceivable regulation. Yes, artists should be grateful for the largesse of their economic masters. You obviously fail to understand that when the Koch Brothers put their names on the Metropolitan Fountains it's not because they love art, it all about public relations. It's literally and figuratively a facade to hide all the terrible things they are doing in this nation and the world.
3
Mr. Eggers opens an excellent dialogue about our country and its relationship to the arts as modeled by the current occupants of the White House; however, I take strong exception to near-lionization of the Reagan administration for a couple of reasons. Mrs. Reagan was extremely imperious in her role as First Lady and obviously mimicked the fashion of Jackie Onassis's style of self-appearance and entertainment, a salon-type atmosphere which Michelle Obama seemed to truly and authentically revive. Mr. Reagan led an administration which began the gutting of federal arts funding: the NEH, founded in 1965, was cut by 33% soon after Reagan took office and I believe this destruction easily became a Republican-led congressional habit which took the NEA from 1992's $176 million budget down below $100 million a few years later and up to a current $153 million for FY2018, which is a below-inflation rate.
13
Excellent opinion piece, and another sad commentary on the state of American politics.
5
An interest in the arts implies an interest in ideas. donnie has no such interest, and doesn't even recognize he doesn't. It is also simply impossible for donnie to provide an opportunity for applause for anyone but himself. And we knew all this before the election, because he told us.
12
I am pleased you wrote about this void in our nation’s cultural education and, frankly, enjoyment. Mr. Trump is only focused on money and self-aggrandizement. Other people’s accomplishments bore him. What a pity for him and for a country longing for ways to express through art, the human potential for good and the glorious. Thank you.
20
Great observation. But honestly, what artist would want to be honored by this President? I suppose a few country music artists might benefit from the association, though I suspect neither Trump nor his wife have ever listened to country music. Artists should consider themselves lucky to avoid this White House altogether. Frankly, oppressive administrations usually inspire better art than progressive ones, so I don't think we have anything to fear by Trump's cultural void.
4
Trumps vanity and narcissism on full display. If it’s not about him, he is not interested. that is why there is no art because it would require yielding the floor to celebrate others.
4
Wonderful column Mr. Eggers. Enjoying and /or celebrating the arts require a mind that goes beyond cheeseburgers and tweets. Trump is best described by you last three words: "Myopic, unlearned and cruel."
Thee is no time for arts there.
4
Trump reportedly told people early in his presidency that he was going to abolish the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and PBS because they're "a waste of money."
Never underestimate what Trump will stoop to.
15
President Trump may not be a voracious reader of books.....but he has written many books. He may not surround himself with artists....he is the subject of Art. We are living in truly historic and interesting times....I say embrace the times and be mindful. If you are moved to create Art remember to be truthful not hateful....the beauty of Art lies in it's truthfulness.
3
Trump has not written any books. They are written for him by ghost writers or “co” authors. When it was revealed Trump had neither the interest in nor the patience for the President’s Daily Briefing (PDB), it was clear that his lack of intelligence and curiosity would be a hallmark of his presidency.
His books are about himself and are written by ghost writers. "The subject of art"? You mean the portrait of himself he bought with charity foundation funds?
1
He has written nothing without the help of ghost writers. Do you really believe he is the least bit capable of producing anything more interesting than an agreement to hang his name on a hotel owned by others?
1
Eggers misses the most basic point:
It's not so much that Trump has rejected artists; it's that he knows that they would publicly reject any invitation from HIM.
Remember the farcical group of performers dredged up for the inauguration after the A, B and C list declined?
4
I beg to differ here. Trump does like art-gold leaf gilded thrones (perhaps his burning desire).
On the serious side, I find the piece down to earth when providing us the picture of past administrations, good and bad, and the contributions to arts and humanity by these predecessors of Trump.
Then comes the grifter from Queens who believes art is his name in gold on the front of a building.
1
I see one fault, and a really huge one, with this "analysis". This is the first President who has never been a politician. At least in the last 150 year or more.
Don't mistake me. I'm all for the arts also. But a lot of business leaders don't spend much their time glad handing and hobnobbing with self indulged artists and other glitterati.
4
I’ll bet they do listen to music, though, if only in their cars.
"Le beau est aussi utile que l'utile" ("The beautiful is also as useful as the useful") --Victor Hugo
And after a brief pause, he added, "Perhaps more so." The context was Mr. Hugo being asked whether he should plant flowers or comestibles in his garden, and this was his explanation for why he planted flowers.
Combine that with another famous quotation, this one from the economist John Maynard Keynes, "In the long run we are all dead." This is sometimes misconstrued as meaning nothing we do today matters, but that misses the point entirely.
In 50 years, both Trump and I will be dead. What we do today, thus, matters greatly: How do you want to spend your precious life, day by day? None of us gets a second chance.
I choose to spend it with the people I love, listening to deeply moving music (Joan Baez' "Whistling Down the Wind" last night with good friends passing through who spent the night), BBQ salmon with good wine and conversation, wandering in the forest enjoying the columbine flowers in full bloom...
Or, alternatively, one can spend his or her life amassing as many 24 kt solid-gold toilets as possible, metaphorically speaking.
In the long run, we're both dead.
I pity this man. Too bad he has to make so many lives miserable in the execution of his toilet accumulation obsession.
22
Perfect comments until the attribution of motives in the last sentence. It is plausible speculation but ending at ‘making people sad’ would have been more beautiful. The first allusion to his gold toilets was reminder enough of how garish his aesthetics can be. In any case I’m nit picking and apologize as i heartily agree with you.
Anyone who has seen pictures of The Base at a Trump rally can understand the lack of art or culture in this administration. Trump has harnessed our worst energy and put it to work for the Kochs and the Heritage Foundation. Everything anyone has ever said about Trump applies equally well to any of these people.
7
One might point out that Laura Bush’s Texas Book Project really didn’t seem to lift the quality of governance as practiced by George W. Bush’s admistration, give George W. Bush any empathy with hurricane victims, gay people who wanted to marry, or concern for the future of the planet. I wonder if any of the Bushes (or Karl Rove) has ever read Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel “American Wife.” They should, and so should all readers of this column.
2
Dave, I could not agree more. Actually, at the Kennedy inauguration, there were about a dozen visual artists invited--so much so that they all thought it was a joke. Artists do do that sometimes. deKooning was worried because he was a stowaway and not a citizen (how's that for DJT's immigration policies). The artists knew not what to do so one of them called the great novelist, Bernard Malamud, who convinced them that the invite was real. The artists then went into a panic as none of them had had proper suits. indeed they attended.
1
"Myopic, unlearned and cruel." What a perfect description of Trump's supporters. I know why Trump has not celebrated art and artists since becoming President: He considers himself the best artist in the country.
3
But Donald does love a big painted portrait of himself. From him I expect nothing, the man can't even read a book. Maybe the First Lady would fill the gap? Apparently not as it seems she is interested in doing as little as she possibly can in the 'role' of First Lady. So there we have it.
Besides, 'art' is just a dirty elitist word for the Trumps. It represents the world of New York Society that they never were able to join. Philanthropy and support for the arts is something that many wealthy people consider as part of their charitable giving portfolio.
The Trumps keep their money to themselves.
9
If there were an entire group of people who did nothing but deride me publicly and in print, I'd not invite them to my house either.
5
The White House is not his house. It is the people's house.
7
Well written, Mr. Eggers. You speak of empathy and to see others' struggles through an artist's eyes. These are attributes our current "leader" is sadly, totally devoid of.
The narcissist shuns sharing the spotlight, preferring all of the attention on him or herself.
3
We got exactly what we deserved; after spending decades eroding the arts, eviscerating school programs, and teaching to the test, we are ruled by bland, heartless, soulless people.
12
Trump is a product of NYC and the Ivy League. Proof that neither are guarantors of 'culture'.
2
That the president is an uncultured lout is hardly news, but bravo to Mr. Eggers for pointing it out. Trump's complete lack of interest in literature, the performing arts, and for that matter charity, bespeaks a man with a pathetically narrow world view and a shriveled soul. But we knew that...
19
Trump is and always has been a philistine (unless it's his own portrait paid for by his "charitable" foundation); his antipathy towards the arts should surprise no-one.
9
"When we are without art, we are a diminished people — myopic, unlearned and cruel."
Them's my words too
10
Seriously, what artist outside of kid rock and invent would want to show up at the White House? Maybe Kanye. I’m kidding -his base would never stand for that.
Not only is there a culture vacuum, but there's also a brain vacuum. Sad.
9
No artist with any integrity would choose to be seen with a fraud like Trump. For a man who brags about his method, The Art of the Deal, it is clear that his idea of art is manipulation, trickery, and narcissistic deceit. Yes, it is a shame that there is no cultural leadership from the White House, but nobody expects it, given how Trump leads our government.
2
Trump aesthetics are non existent. He is gauche. What type of person hangs covers from Time magazine, including fake ones, of themselves in their place of business and golf courses? The most evil is billing his charity for $10,000 for a portrait of himself.
The only art he is interested in is the art of deception.
17
where do you think the $10,000 went. hint: it was billed to his charity.
I would imagine that many of the people who voted for POTUS have little or no appreciation for the arts. Birds of a feather flock together.
2
You cannot expect someone who is a clout and a clod to understand the value of the arts and humanities. A cultured society values all of the arts and great literature. A dumbed down stupid society likes fake "reality"TV shows and thinks Kardashians are worthy of attention.
Johnny Carson had opera singers on all the time. He had a wide variety of guests who were serious authors and actors. Mostly what shows up on evening talk shows now is pop/rock music, a good deal of it deadly bad and the latest trendy celebrity. That's what people want.
If you cut arts education in schools, as has been the case for two generations now, you end up with citizens who cannot comprehend or relate to anything that requires discussion, analysis, and sophistication.
As an artist who has been self-employed for 47 years, I can say that it is infinitely harder now for a young artist to be successful on her own merits. No money for music and art but billions for a ridiculous wall. No money for culture and literature but millions on his own businesses. Money for the Pentagon but no money for Puerto Rico. If they eliminate NPR, PBS and the NEA, we will have killed off the last remnants of what remains of civil civilization. Trump is horrifying, the people who like him are more horrifying. What a Fourth of July!! : (
7
“ Mostly what shows up on evening talk shows now is pop/rock music, a good deal of it deadly bad and the latest trendy celebrity. That's what people want.”
I don’t know if it’s what we want, but it’s what we get. Not even a token jazz singer or band. And there are plenty out there. Celebrities show up when they have a new movies or a book.
I’d love to know the demographic of the people who actually watch “late night TV”.
1
We live in a smoldering garbage pit, led by a junkyard dog. No light or joy, only cruelty and suppression. This monster doesn't even have a dog( unless you count Jeff Sessions).
16
I need to repost this somewhere!
1
I'm glad you mentioned empathy at the end of your article, because it is the most important item that art fosters in people. And exactly what #45 gapingly lacks in his psyche. Any reputable performance of Shakespeare's play, MACBETH shows unequivocably the nature of evil in the human heart, and the lengths we will go to acquire power and status. It is a lesson most applicable to this president, this White House, this GOP.
7
It's a real stretch to call Ted Nugent an "artist." If not for "Cat Scratch Fever," he never would have gotten out of Detroit, and that "tune" had all the melody of cat fight. I guess that is music to Trump's ears, though.
5
Myopic, unlearned and cruel. Think about those three words and how they relate to trump and our current situation here in America. Thesaurus has a list of synonyms for the word sad that does a pretty good job of relaying the feelings associated. However, I think we need new adjectives to describe the level of disgust millions of us feel when we contemplate the damage he is doing to our country.
2
You say Trump is devoid of art. I say he's created a living portrayal of a Hieronymus Bosch painting.
3
With all his wealth, the philistine Trump demonstrates to the world that you cannot buy class.
6
"We have art in order not to die of the truth," Nietzsche wrote. There is no truth in the White House we must be shielded from.
3
Perhaps we will some day come to view Trump's tweets as a form of Art. The stream of consciousness utterances of a man whose studio is the White House, his art gallery the media who promote/expose him (along with those who subscribe to his Tweets.) A one man Exhibit exposing a totalitarian artist without heart, soul, empathy or creativity.
9
And don't forget that Trump is the first sitting President to not attend the annual Kennedy Center Honors, which was specifically designed to honor the best in American Arts (though it's now little more than a TV show of pop culture "legends"). And, with his viciously anti-human policies and self-centered policies, it's unlikely there'd be many artists from most genres who'd agree to accept and attend an award where he presided.
3
On a day when thousands will be marching to stop the horrible dictates of our not my president, it is refreshing to read his wonderful article and to remind us of another joy we felt and admired about our former presidents.
10
Yes, I had been thinking about this more subtle change in the White House since Trump took over. Love and respect for the arts is incompatible with narcissism and hollowness at one's moral core. It is not only elections that matter; character matters greatly as well. Every one of the Presidents mentioned in this excellent piece showed a sometimes surprising depth of character, no matter whether or not one agreed with their policies. It was often their love for the arts that tempered my disdain for their politics. Trump's antipathy towards works of the imagination only increases my disdain for him, not just as a politician, but as a person.
8
Like many things Trump, it doesn’t begin and end with Donald Trump. Support for the arts and humanities — or the lack of it — is something we have been seeing for years in the Republican Party. Every budget cycle, arts and humanities groups are alarmed by Republican calls to trim or eliminate funding for the NEA and NEH. For decades, when Republicans saw art or read literature that did not comport with their conservative sensibilities, they wanted to ban it or cut off funding for all art and literature. On a wider scale, how many books do Americans read — beyond low-brow kiss and tell memoirs — each year? When I spend any time in Europe, I find working-class people who are conversant with literature and philosophy and history to an extent that cannot be found here. Yes, Trump is a philistine, but he is also a mirror of much of American culture.
21
Art does not appeal to Trump because it is not about him. Artists offer us alternative ways of understanding our world; their work touches the soul. Trump, the hollow man, can identify only with a version of reality that compensates for his own lack of substance. No artist could imagine such a world.
21
President Trump’s mind is under lock and key. He has no interest in expanding his horizons, listening to fine music or viewing magnificent art (unless it is his own portrait). Trump does not know what an open mind is. Cultural riches are not within his purview. He is a man devoid of character, compassion and culture. It still stuns me he is our “president “.
13
Define 'fine music' and 'magnificent art' please. I have a feeling your's and mine might be different.
1
It probably is.
1
Artists are often outspoken and opinionated, attuned to the world around them, and prone to use their work to comment -- subtly or not -- upon said world.
Trump is an uncultured boor, and no doubt has been one all his life. But it wouldn't surprise me if lately he's also afraid of artists and their influence on the popular culture. He may have a couple in his corner, but the more artists who speak out boldly, the worse I have to believe it'll be for him and his regressive, hateful agenda.
11
The only artistic influence in the White House seems to be graffiti on Melania’s heartless coat and her layers of makeup and of course, Trump’s sculpted hair.
8
“The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted.”
William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
13
Please,
The country is slipping towaed Fascism and you're worried if Artisits are held in esteem or not. (Note I AM an artist and think you are jousting at windmills),
As I've written once already today - these opinion peices are literally trees falling in a liberal forest.
Hint - they don't know and don't care what you are trying to suggest they might otherwise do. This will not certainly change any minds. This is so low on the Totem Pole of grievances in the world right now and wrongs being committed by this administration, that even I who live at the bottom of the barrel as a creative person, think this article seems like yelling into the wind for it to stop being the wind.
4
It’s OK to remember “normal”
3
There are elections in 2018 and 2020. No fascism. The Founding Fathers assured it, even when they had never heard the word fascism. Smart men.
I disagree. If we are too tired or frustrated or depressed to yell at the wind over the absence of art and creativity in this administration, then we really have lost our collective soul or more accurately allowed a large minority of Americans to depress us into not standing up for our deepest beliefs.
4
I wouldn’t be surprised if our great artists turned down invitations to the White House during this disgraceful administration.
13
A genuine interest in the arts (as opposed to entertainment) requires a sense of curiosity, an appreciation of beauty, and on some level, a measure of humility in the company of people with extraordinary talent. Above all, arts invite thinking beyond oneself, empathy with others. Shockingly, we have a president who has none of these qualities. Because of this and because many great artists would embarrass the administration by refusing to perform at the White House, Trump defines his presidency only within the narrow parameters of political power and personal gain. I should add (as I'm sure Dave Eggers knows) that Ted Nugent does not qualify as an "artist" and that "Fire and Fury" is, most assuredly, not a work of "literature."
3
It is pathetic. I doubt he nor Melania could name one classical composer nor one contemporary classical musician. (I would hope to be wrong.
Does he know who Charles Dickens was? Does he know who Enrico Fermi was? You get the point. Everybody does not have to be totally culturally literate (I have many gaps in my own education). But you would think, you would think that a president of the US would have a bit more culture than this man has. Another thing I wonder. Except for the grass on a golf course does he have any appreciation for nature. Has he ever known what a walk in the woods is like? Does he know what it is to look up at an inky night sky and see the Milky Way? I feel this man is not only a nasty guy, he is impoverished without recognizing it, in spite of all he has that glitters. If one can find it within oneself, he/she can only be sorry for him.
6
Classical composers are irrelevant in today’s world. Knowing of them means absolutely nothing.
The only "art" this poorly educated narcissist finds interesting involves life-size portraits of himself, paid for with funds skimmed from his so-called foundation. The only books he likes were written by his ghost-writers. He doesn't like animals, either. A dog might somehow upstage him. Or bite him.
7
Donald Trump is all about trying to please his daddy. His daddy was all about making money. To Donald, the way to please his daddy was to make as much money as he could so maybe his daddy would give him a pat on the head and tell him he did a good job.
This is what we are dealing with.
3
Yes...a further, telling exposure of who we have sitting in the oval office...insightful...
7
Trump is artless in many, many ways.
3
You must possess the capacity to experience love and joy and beauty to appreciate and enjoy the arts. Psycopaths do not have that capacity. Also, I believe Melania and Donald Trump may be the first Presidential couple in history to not have a dog. Unconditional love serves no purpose to those whose currency is hatred. Sad.
5
I doubt if any self-respecting artist would accept an invitation from this administration to appear at the White House.
22
Twitter is about as much of the debased literary "arts" that Trump can handle. As for rhetoric, his so-called speeches are the ramblings of a deranged, analphabetic megalomaniac.
1
No decent artist will have anything to do with Trump.
1
Not every president has to like art or Hollywood. Get over it.
3
Trump likes beauty pageants, especially when he can enter the dressing room while the young women are undressed.
A class act.
17
Oh, yes. The high art of beauty pageants. *eye roll*
Thanks for the reminder.
2
why should we be surprised that our lame brain leader has not an ounce of cultural longings? obviously his wife has none either...nor any of his countless advisors. I still have trouble believing what is happening to our country under this president's so-called leadership.
5
Donald Trump is the true "empty suit." There is nothing there, there...nothing behind those empty watery blue eyes other than unspeakable anger, hatred and true evil. He is a monster, a monster who sits in the Oval Office, devoid of any compassion, love, altruism or empathy for any other living being. And the thought that 60 million people voted for him, is absolutely terrifying.
28
If this keeps up soon the entire country will be as ignorant as he is. Has he ever listened to any type of music, good bad or otherwise.......has he ever read a book, good bad or otherwise. I don't believe he has. In due time we'll be rid of him and his reality show and get our country back to normal.
Outstanding piece and very relevant to our times. One would expect our leader to be an avid reader as he is "smarter" than most people.
The arts are extremely important part of our society. It will be refreshing when the occupant of the Oval Office is once again intelligent, and one is who appreciates the value of artists.
In a democracy, it is not the job of talented artists to be cheerleaders for the president. It is a joke to call Nugent and Rock talented. They are losers who are enjoying making fools of themselves.
2
It comes as no surprise that the one book Donald Trump has read (sort of) is about him. This man is such an extreme narcissist, he can’t appreciate any form of expression that doesn’t feature him as the protagonist.
3
"Myopic, unlearned and cruel." An apt description of this president and his cronies.
25
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
2
Not a surprise. Trump has no talent and is so filled with hatred and bile that there is no room in his thuggish world for anything beautiful, entertaining, creative etc. He was on a "reality show" -- junk television that fills time with twaddle -- nothing created by an intelligent mind. He is not interested in anything or anyone other than himself. Plus he could never admire the work of anyone else since everything begins and ends with him and whatever it is it's the "biggest, greatest, blah blah."
He also doesn't own a pet -- that too says something about his ability to only relate to himself. I'd actually pity a dog that got stuck with him.
43
To care selflessly for a dog, a young child, an aging parent, ... souls dependent on one's kindness, intelligence, patience: these require a generosity of spirit Trump has never displayed. I think he sees these virtues as ... weak. Strengths of character of which he is simply incapable.
Just Trump being narcissistic Trump. Admiration and enjoyment of the arts is at least partially admiration and appreciation of the excellence of others, the artists.
To Trump the ultimate art is a flattering portrait of himself. If Trump himself is not the centerpiece, then people are admiring the talent and art of someone else which is definitely an effrontery to Trump and a waste of time for the viewer.
3
"When we are without art, we are a diminished people-myopic, unlearned and cruel." Pretty much sums up Trump, his sycophants and his policies.
23
Give him time. He probably has 6 more years.
3
You have this exactly backwards The Trump White House has not abandoned the arts; rather, the arts abandoned the president. Presented as a caricature by East and West Coast elites from the moment he announced his campaign, "artists" made a collective decision to view Mr. Trump as a clown. And when he defeated their favored candidate, their reaction was immediate and vile: not only was Trump elected by America's "deplorables," he was also a fascist, racist and misogynist. So the absence of "the arts" at the White House today is due only to the artists themselves -- a situation that could change at any moment with one brave artist saying "enough!"
2
Yes, this would be the expected view of a supporter. Trump did not suddenly ignore the arts - he never appreciated them previously. It would seem to me that the man who sits in the Oval Office should be well rounded, open minded, fair, able to feel empathy, and possess the ability to focus on something other than himself. This opinion piece is simply an observation of the nature of the man we have elected.
3
Have you ever seen pictures of his apartment in Trump Tower? Fake, gilded Louis XIV. He has no taste, like he has no morals.
4
The cultural vacuum extends to all who still believe there is genius lying somewhere beneath the inscrutable madness of Trump.
9
No celebration of the arts
And who gave us the Holocaust? A people with no appreciation for the arts? I love art, but let's be real: it does not prevent acts of inhumanity.
Yes, yes, Trump is a classless vulgarian and ignoramus, but we Americans are hardly "without art" because the current president chooses not to host poets, painters and musicians. Trump is the president, not the king and sole patron of the nation's artists. This article exists solely as another means of bashing an ideological enemy while giving the Times' "progressive" chatters a venue for venting their frustrations.
2
Artists are often outspoken and opinionated, attuned to the world around them, and prone to use their work to comment -- subtly or not -- upon said world.
Trump is an uncultured boor, and no doubt has been one all his life. But it wouldn't surprise me if lately he's also afraid of artists and their influence on the popular culture. He may have a couple in his corner, but the more artists who speak out boldly, the worse I have to believe it'll be for him and his regressive, hateful agenda.
4
Mr Eggers, I wholeheartedly agree with you.
In the present American Administration there are few hearts and less souls ... these are so much a part of an artist whoever he/she is !
Art in the present WH ? That would be casting pearls before swine ...
2
I had been waiting for some time to read such an article... it is sad beyond words that your leader not only seems to have no interest in or knowledge of the arts, but is hostile to them (and truth, in general) and promotes instead bigotry, hatred and ugliness... I am a frequent and enthusiastic visitor to the US; what makes America great for me are the magnificent galleries and museums, the orchestras and operas, and the schools such as the Juilliard... Which if any of these great arts bodies would want the current president to preside at its season's launch? Time will tell come September, I guess...
1
Maybe this is not completely Donald's doing: I bet great artists want nothing to do with this President. They probably don't even want to touch him with a ten-foot pole.
1
Psychopaths like Trump only know the words and not the music of life. The arts are that music, the emotional depths and range of our existence. Trump has no comprehension of any of that.
He does not miss something he cannot understand.
18
Trumps personality represents the complete antithesis of absolutely everything the Arts stand for....besides what self respecting artist or musician would set foot in the Trump White House when even pro athletes & entire teams have rejected the place?
9
I am reluctant to conclude he President is both boorish and culturally illiterate, but that seems the only explanation
4
Trump is the Wallmart of class.
16
The culmination of Debord's Society of the Spectacle: a TV cartoon character as president.
3
Thank you for that.
1
Trump does not have a capacity for empathy. Art cannot give that to you. A conscience and good parenting give you that.
Artists can enlarge the world for all of us. There is a reason dictators hate poets and artists and musicians- they tell the truth about the culture.
Trump is making hay with hate. It may be powerful short-term but if you have not capacity for laughing at yourself, for supporting others, for love, you are a stunted human being. No great culture is built on hatred.
4
I am not surprised by what Mr. Eggers has written, but on a deeper level I feel puzzled and confused. History is full of dictators who looted art galleries. The works they collected may not have been avant garde, or much concerned with advancing social justice, but they were fine examples of artistic skill and universally valued.
Donald Trump is like someone who breaks into your house to steal the fleecy floormat that you put around the toilet in your spare bathroom.
1
The Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
5
Why isn't ivanka advising him on this? Isn't this her wheelhouse? She's a special advisor. Why the absence? Can't handle controversy?
ivanka's been a ghost in the white house and trying so hard to to step in it. jared's been a ghost too but we know he has 14 million projects plus world peace that he's been given command over.
ivanka...hellooooo?
7
He and his party are anti-science, anti-woman, anti-environment, and anti-truth.
Being anti-arts barely gets on their list of abominable behaviors.
6
Culture is a privilege of the thinking mind. It's the one thing that the Trumps could never ever even aspire to buy. It will always be out of their reach. Who in their right mind would go perform for them anyway?
13
I completely agree. However, the importance of art, music, dance, theater, literature, poetry and science has been diminishing for quite some time in the United States prior to the abomination seated in the White House currently. It has been in a slow decline for years. It is no longer an aspect of normal grade school and high school programs. It can be found only in wealthy communities that parents pay for through fundraising or in private schools. When I was in grade school in the 1970s, music, art, and science classes were a normal part of of the school curriculum. There were art, music and science teachers who were full-time regular employees instead of special once a month visits from outside organizations trying to keep art, science and music alive. There were art classrooms, music classrooms, science classrooms. I learned to play the xylophone with all my classmates, each with our own beautiful standing wood xylophone, soprano, alto and bass and we learned songs together. It in indisputable that an education in art, music, science, literature and philosophy for children through the formative years creates children who are critical thinkers, creative thinkers, are connected to the world, and are empathetic. It has value in society. Where once we celebrated great artists, poets, literary figures, we now celebrate people with no talent, who didn't practice their craft to become the best. It is about appearance and no substance. In this vacuum, we now have the result.
10
Add to physical education to the list. By the time the recession of 2008 came about, phys ed had already been cut from most public education. Perhaps that has something to do with how 40.8% of American women are obese.
Trump attitude towards the arts reminds me of Goering's comment (or was it Goebbels?) "When I hear the word culture I reach for a gun."
5
The Dems have won. It's not just that Trump has a cultural vacuum, he has a spiritual and moral vacuum. Nothing motivates him but money and power. What's sadly fascinating is watching him take the Republican party and the conservative movement down with him. We know he has no compassion and no ability to admit fault, but we'll sacrifice our religious values for conservative judges. We believe in free trade and balanced budgets, but we'll adapt for money now. We should know climate change is real, but we'll deny it because it admits we were wrong. We'll just adapt to climate change when it happens. We believe in fair play, but we'll deny judicial hearings when it's to our advantage and then allow them in reverse. Its just Trump; real Rs are different. The Dems have won. The liberals have won. .Just a matter of time before it becomes official.
10
I beg to differ. Trump's obsession with buildings have afforded millions the aesthetic value, appeal and pleasure of architecture. While he himself may not have designed these beautiful structures, he hired very talented artists to. For every building erected, requires local codes to conform to green public spaces, landscaping, lighting, water features, etc, that does 'lift' a community. And to give his prodigy a shoutout, is deserving too. Although irritating and repetitive, his superlatives regarding his art and trade is agreeable. I have not seen an ugly major Trump property, some of which are on foreign lands, to his credit.
Have you actually visited the wonderful spaces you describe? Trump obsession with buildings leads him to make every attempt to game the local codes to block out the public from enjoying those spaces.
Moreover, I don't know your credentials, and it doesn't matter what mine are since we both have eyes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Most of the "great" Trump buildings would not fit into my visual definition of great architecture. They do fit into the visual representation of wealth preferred by oligarchs. That is why we have endless domineering buildings covered in opaque glass skins. There are some beautiful glass buildings, just not his.
I believe you sincerely believe what you are saying. As an art and architecture historian, I can imagine why you think his structures are beautiful, just as I am sure you regard the dollar bill as beautiful.
Speaking of Trump and real estate properties, were you aware that Justice Kennedy's son Justin was the former global head of Deutsche Bank's real-estate capital markets division. In that position for 10 years, he worked very closely with Trump in the latter's real estate development, in the process loaning over $1billion to Trump. This would have been during the time when Trump was such a high risk that major western banks refused to loan him money. Deutsche Bank had no such scruples.
3
We all know Trump appreciates beauty in as much as it elevates himself: arm candy wives and girlfriends, superficially pretty buildings full of luxuries that appeal to the nouveau riche’s pocketbook. But true art appreciation requires a soul. Art is not luxury. Luxury is not art. Music is beyond money.
1
Ironic that his book, the one he didn't even write, is entitled "The Art of the Deal". And even his self-promoted deal making has been shown to be completely phony. From his gold plated toilets to his gold tinged coif, his every facet is a fraud. And, in every way, he as brought this country low. For real.
16
I've been wondering when someone would write about this subject: the disappearance of a concert-going, theatre-going political class. Perhaps the president himself can't attend many public events at the Kennedy Center, were he so inclined, but how about the rest of the bunch? Dems or Reps, doesn't matter. If they show up at the opera, or the ballet or the symphony it makes a big statement to the country.
The dig at the Soviet Union was not only unnecessary, it denigrates a country that still provides more support to the arts than any on the planet. A few years ago, the legendary Mariinsky Theatre needed to plan for needed renovations to their main, historic building. Closing it down for several years would put them out of business, and they also needed to expand their activities into another space. Long story short, Putin's government gave them $450 million dollars to build this facility--no fund-raising required, thank you very much. In contrast, the entire US budget for the NEA is only about $140 million dollars a year. Every struggling arts organization in the US would welcome a fraction of the support from the government that is provided by Russia to its citizens. The reason is simple: the arts are considered on the same plane as education and libraries, something all civilizations require.
4
I am appalled by Trump in every way, and I understand and appreciate the general point of Mr. Eggers's piece, but at the same time, many of the examples that Mr. Eggers gives of "art at the White House" are questionable. It is one thing to invite Pablo Casals and Baryshnikov--or even Stan Getz--but are mere capitalist entertainers like Michael Jackson, Elton John, Meryl Streep, and Destiny's Child really art? They would hardly satisfy my need for artistic nourishment. I think there was a lot of hypocrisy and propaganda at work in choosing who was invited to the White House. And let us not forget that the CIA supported abstract art in America as a propaganda tool during the Cold War, not out of any true appreciation for that art. It was a way of undermining the Soviet Union, which had its own artistic values. And before we dismiss Soviet art, let's remember that a professional artist in the Soviet Union was supported monetarily, with work space and supplies, so long as their art did not question Soviet policies. They did not depend on a ruthless market. Also--there are masterpieces of Socialist Realism; it cannot be dismissed wholesale. As for Trump--I do not know of any true artist who would accept his invitation!
2
Trent- You make some good points, but allow me to say that Meryl Streep, Michael Jackson, Elton John, and Destiny's Child are true artists. Maybe not to your taste, but let's not casually dismiss these, or any other artists.
2
I completely respect that, Tom, and I know that what I am positing sounds extreme and elitist. Honestly, I don't mean it that way. I'll take a risk though and say this: to me, these very talented entertainers fill a need in the entertainment market, and there is no shame in that, and they have plenty of skill. They are rewarded monetarily to an absurd degree. But an artist creates anxiety rather than entertain, and goes to the roots of being and makes a community think deeply and critically. Our American reliance on entertainment--the way we have allowed entertainment to replace art--has actually helped make us, as a nation, vulnerable to an empty, dangerous man like Donald Trump. We have allowed whole swaths of our nation to fall into ignorance and lazy thinking and be satisfied with easy answers. Sentimentality and blind rage have replaced true feeling and critical thinking. A mediocre nation calls forth a mediocre leader--we created Donald Trump. (Mediocre is too generous a term!) Not surprisingly, this gross reality tv star, who lacks all empathy and substance, comes precisely out of the world of entertainment, not out of the arts. But again, Tom, I want to stress: I respect and am grateful for your reply.
1
Elvis's White House visits WERE partisan. Elvis liked Nixon - even brought him a pistol as a gift (which Nixon had to decline). The Reagans? They were film people, so of course they celebrated the arts. Ivanka supports the arts - so why isn't she pushing her father to do so? And by the way, President Trump, the Marine Corps band is OUR band, AMERICA'S band - not yours alone.
3
When he campaigned, Trump went on record saying that “supporting and advocating for appreciation of the arts is important to an informed and aware society,” and that “as president, I would take on that role.” I am grateful that along with all his other lies, Trump lied about this. Keep in mind his visual taste is truly grotesque--large gold doors, bathroom fixtures and toilets, outsized chandeliers, and Louis XIV furniture. And remember the man doesn’t ever read books. To him, art and culture are words that, inside his head, he sees as meaning the Miss Universe contest, The Apprentice, and maybe a Broadway musical or two. We must remember the adage, “Be careful what you wish for, for it just might come true.” Under the guise of supporting the arts, Trump could start bringing beauty contests to the White House. So yes, a president without any interest in culture is a scary thing to think about, but it’s truly the least of our problems.
2
Excellent article that points to the soullessness not just of Donald Trump, but of all rich people with no interest in anything other than money, sex, power, and attention. This is the group of people that now dominates the United States: Individuals who majored in economics or finance as an undergraduate at an Ivy League university and then moved straight into banking, real estate, consulting, private equity, hedge fund management, etc.
Donald grew up rich in New York City. Has he ever set foot in the Met, the MOMA, the Frick Collection, or the Brooklyn Museum of Art? I doubt it.
4
Melania Trump's public awareness campaign is "Be Best." Donald Trump's might as well be "Be Worst." His psyche is dominated by the base instincts of greed and selfishness. His lack of appreciation for music, art and literature reflects on his shallowness. Our entire country is suffering as he foments chaos and avoids inspiring all Americans to visualize and strive for a better tomorrow.
3
Trump is simply incurious about anything that doesn't make money for him. He doesn't care about culture or the arts because he's more interested in the attention he can get simply by showing up in a news photo or video with artists, writers and performers. It's all about him. And his small mind.
4
Art may indeed be the only thing which definitively separates humans from all other species. Ants and termites build cities, fight wars, have different castes, and even keep slaves. Birds and primates trade, and some even use useless shiny objects as "money" to pay for usable goods, like food. Dogs and dolphins have "dialects" which differ between clans from different regions. Elephants are among the many species that can count. They and several others show the ability to experiment and to learn from trial and error.
Only humans appear to invest resources and emotions in art. If humans have a purpose in the universe, it may well be art. Everything else we do is primarily for the purpose of surviving and multiplying. To what end? Take away the arts, and we are hardly more than big, somewhat more intelligent termites.
1
Even pre-historic cave dwellers displayed the importance of their stories and each other, taking the time to illustrate, in the midst of lives lived in constant fear and danger. This President lives in the most protected environment of any human on earth, and will not read, write, or draw. However, he can sing hatred. His morning songs reveal the madness and cruelty of a nation on the precipice of freedom for none.
4
it is simple why the president doesnt invite artist to the Whitehouse for cultural events. None of them want to perform for him. To Trump this is just another reason for the press to viciously jump on him and they would when these artists whined and declined playing for the potus. If entertainers did perform for the president the press and entertainment community would probably shun them. in this administration there is nothing to gain by celebrating the arts in the Whitehouse. It is what it is.
3
On the long list of people with whom I wish POTUS would engage, scientists, doctors, public servants, farmers, assembly line workers are all well ahead of artists and entertainers. This is the sort of self-interested nonsense, like the clamor over FLOTUS's coat, that got us into this mess in the first place.
1
Who would want to go? It's an implicit endorsement of hate. T has no use for the arts unless they glorify him in some way - Kid Rock and Ted Nugent - just being tools of optics. I applaud every artist who refused the calls for an inauguration celebration.
17
Not really surprising. After all, in Trump's world, *he* must be the center of attention.
5
So here's a guy (trump) who could, with a presidential snap of his fingers have a front row seat and conversations with some of world's cultural icons and leaders - and chooses not to - how depressing.
2
So sad. But part of the problem may be that there's no staff to handle it. Arranging events takes ... well, staff. No one wants to work in this White House, and the ones they do hire seem to usually prove incompetent. Then also, probably most of the artists he might consider inviting hate his guts and wouldn't come anyway.
2
This Trump period in the White House is a complete return to the Dark Age culturally.It is beyond disparaging to have a president who does not read or appreciate the arts.The good news is that arts and theater and literature will thrive because the vast majority of Americans find these pursuits important to their lives.We will enjoy great music and celebrate by visiting art museums despite the culturally illiterate occupant of the White House.
1
None of our ancestors realized that they were the last of a great empire or civilization. Who was the last Mayan, or Incan. Who will be the last American?
4
I indeed noticed that the Arts are not a particular favorite in the current administration. So is Science, transparency, truthfulness, empathy, integrity, competence, responsibility, awareness, fairness... Well, technically those essential qualities which most of us believe should be "visible" in the daily activities of the WH have been replaced by ignorance, obscurantism, lies, misleading, cruelty, corruption, incompetence, bigotry, racism... Trump want us to believe that the new WH is better and good for the US.
No wonder that there is a Cultural vacuum in the WH. It has become a cosmetic PR enveloppe with a hollow interior.
1
Thank you for this. This is one more indicator that we are in a dark period of American politics. Trump has the soul of a thin-skinned, narrow-minded business man with an eye toward the short term and his personal bottom line. His taste is in his mouth.
If art tells us anything, it is that they norm is incorrect. And there is so much that is incorrect about the new norm we are in that artists and writers will have enough material for decades to come. In the short term, expect artists to be ignored or stifled by this hateful administration.
There is that famous quote, which I won't repeat here...apparently, wrongly attributed to Hermann Goring. Its "sentiment" would certainly apply to the psychology, indifferent to or hostile to the arts, described in the article above.
For someone like djt, the arts probably don't seem to do anything (except in the cases of lucky paintings--accumulating wealth over time); so what could possibly be the point? Now, if it has a gold leaf frame, then it might be interesting; toss in a shiny mirror opposite, doubling the image of wealth...and Shazam!.
1
I'm finding it difficult to name a single artist who would willingly appear as a guest of Donald Trump or seek his endorsement.
13
Trump believes in the mantra of cultural ignorance is bliss.
To be fair, he did have a portrait painted of himself that he paid for with someone else's money from his own foundation and he did autcion off some drawing he did and probably pocketed the money from it.
1
Sadly, it is hard to imagine Trump losing himself in the sounds of soft beautiful, a sad love song, or grooving to rock or jazz. It is difficult to imagine him being moved by a beautiful painting or find reflection & thought in getting lost in a good book. One of so many things that are beautiful about the arts - is finding something that moves - you takes you outside yourself - to wonder so many life questions... including "there but for the grace of God - go I"..
Trump? sadly - apparently never such a thought
4
Ignorance and lack of interest in the arts is yet another example of the narcissist in chief's incompetence as a leader. What is chilling is his choice not to read. Sadly I believe he is not able to read and more than likely he has lifelong learning challenges that have gone unaddressed. His intellectual deficits account for his insecurities and need to lash out at all those more accomplished. What a missed opportunity to engage with the world by being immersed in a novel, a poem, play - literature connects us and offers insight into the human condition. I guess he really does not care- but do you?? I do and will get through our national disgrace by seeing more plays, reading more and visiting museums.
30
My guess is Trump may be fearful of the bad publicity associated with an artist turning down his invitation to the Whitehouse.
2
What are the qualities of mind, the habits of being, that enable a person to appreciate the arts? Among the many, I would submit: curiosity, empathy, patience, humility, intellectual and emotional adventurousness, love. Is there any evidence in the public record to indicate that Donald Trump possesses any of these traits? To borrow a term, Donald Trump is a philistine and his administration is their revenge.
11
I've never seen pictures of Trump spending quality time with his son Barron, not even a hug or a kiss. I never saw pictures of Trump being affectionate to his many grand children.
Barack and Michele used to have date nights in Manhattan going to a show and dining at the many fine restaurants we have I haven't seen Trump and Melania being affectionate to each other at all.
The arts, who needs the arts when you have bund rallies around the country surrounded by the people who really love you, your cult of supporters.
12
So because you didn't "see" it it didn't happen? Perhaps, Trump, like many famous folks, do not want their kids to be seen at all.
And the idea that you need to see Trump having a quiet "date night" in NY is comical. Can you imagine the hate folks would toss at him. Besides weren't they out and about when they lived in NYC?
Take a step back, consider your expectations and ask yourself: Is this reasonable? Must I see public displays of public affection to satisfy my own belief of someone else's relationship?
Bare facts won't change minds. If we want to move this country away from what Trump represents-greed, racism, and cruelty, we need more art to open people's eyes. Art translates and interprets human experience and creates something new out of it. We need art now more than ever.
1
He is studying reality TV, so his children might have the liberty to study demographics, marketing, and oruction, so that their child might have the right to study... wait what was the question again?
1
Uh, Dave? What about the Medicis? Ruthless authoritarians who sponsored and supported some of the greatest art (Michelangelo’s David, anyone?) and wide ranging science (Galileo) in human history.
At the same time, I’ll go along with the assertion that these exceptions prove the rule.
Trump is a shockingly, relentlessly uncultured and angry man, whereas the Medicis sought out artists and scientists, and encouraged their endeavors, without concern for where those endeavors led.
1
"When we are without art, we are a diminished people — myopic, unlearned and cruel."
Myopic, unlearned and cruel ...
a perfect description of the President.
2
Would have loved to have seen Sarah Palin perform. What does she play?
2
Fake news is becoming more diverse and sensational. It often parades as opinion.
3
One second here .... isn't the military parade that Trump wants "art"?
2
These artists visited and were celebrated at the Obama White House: Prince, Bob Dylan, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Common, Zadie Smith, Michael Beschloss, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Philip Roth, Toni Morrison, Aretha Franklin, Colson Whitehead, Douglas Brinkley, Meryl Streep, the cast of "Hamilton," B.B. King, Rhianna, Maya Angelou, Jasper Johns, Junot Diaz, Queen Latifah, Ithzak Perlman, Barbra Streisand, Cecily Tyson, Robert Redford, Idris Elba, Yo-Yo Ma, Frank Gehry, Gloria Estefan, Loretta Lynn, Stephen Sondheim, Isabell Allende, Bruce Springsteen, Maya Lin, Robert DeNiro, Diana Ross, Lyle Lovett, Robert Caro, Herbie Hancock, James Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Sidney Poitier, Chita Rivera, Robert Dallek, Dave Eggers, Glen Ligon, Mary J. Blige, Smokey Robinson, Jhump Lahiri, Gary Wills, Trombone Shorty, Barbara Kingsolver, Stevie Wonder (this is a partial list....)
Obama had a gorgeous painting by Susan Rothenberg hanging in his White House study.
I hated Karl Rove's politics but his taste in literature was apparently sublime. Once when visiting Larry McMurtry's Georgetown bookstore, McMurtry and I discussed autographed books and I told him the Argentine master Jorge Luis Borges once signed a book for me at the Folger Library. McMurtry told me Rove collected books signed by Borges. Amazing to learn those we think we have nothing in common with actually share our greatest enthusiasms!
Many stupid people find art threatening. Trump would be no exception.
6
Premier Obama's version of welcoming the arts was having rap artists whose work is full of hatred toward women and filthy language to come up for a visit.
With that as the pattern to be broken, at least President Trump is busting up the patina of coolness from ''artistic'' behaviour that insults most Americans. We go to actual orchestras and galleries and such to immerse ourselves in the arts.
Over 99% of all Americans have had zero contact with White House arts events.
2
Classical, country, blues, Broadway, gospel, jazz, Motown and Latin music were ALL invited to and celebrated at the WH by the Obama’s.
“Busting up the patina of coolness...”
WOW you really had to turn yourself inside out to prop up trump - the guy who is less curious than GWB.
1
The vacuous marionette that the president keeps revealing he is, is incessantly staggering is scope and breadth.
What does it take to make someone like that?
When does this horror show end?
His boundless secret misery of his own existence is the only consolation for anyone pondering these questions.
1
If it's not gaudy, garish and gold plated, with his name on it, then it's not art to trump
8
This is not surprising to me. We have a Narcissist in Chief who values nothing but himself. Why would he want to celebrate anyone or anything but himself? His base ardently supports him. It is a true cult of personality that surrounds Trump. His supporters could care less about the arts and sciences but ironically (for Trump acolytes), it is a strong, open democracy that allows the arts and sciences to flourish. That’s what “makes America great.” He has totally perverted the Executive branch and if he could get away with Putin’s style of governing, he would do it. The electorate has sold the American soul to the Devil. By the way, this link should give everyone pause.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/huffpost-hate-mail_us_5b366d29e4b00...
6
Wow to the link. Incidentally, this was the same type of 'information' out there during the the 2016 election, the only difference being Sec. Clinton was the target.
2
You can't appreciate art unless you have a soul.
14
Trump's animosity to the Arts reflects the utter emptiness and vapidity of the man and his lack of culture and knowledge. It is why his Presidency seems so constricted, joyless, desolate, mean and predictable.
He is a demagogue whose appeal is based on rage and tweets and attacks. He never reads a novel or a history book or ponders any ideas. I believe he has never visited a museum or gone to the theatre or seen an opera or ballet. He has never heard a jazz concert or played a musical instrument. His sole activity is going to his resorts and playing golf. His Renoir is a copy of the original hanging in the Art Institute of Chicago and that he shows off to demonstrate how sophisticated he is without realizing the irony involved. It is all truly pathetic,
but revealing of the banality of this deeply disturbed man. I believe it forebodes poorly on his capacity to lead this nation to a better place. It is just so depressing!
3
One can easily imagine the White House gallery as consisting of antique gold frames set at eye-level each with the painting removed in favor of a mirror. Such is the narcissism of this President.
2
It is painful but obvious that Mr. Trump has limited reading skills .
To watch and listen to him struggling through simple declarative sentences while reading a speech on paper or teleprompter is embarrassing and sad.
Clearly he riffs away from prepared text and does his almost maniacal rambling "off message" tirades simply because it frees him from having to read words out loud.
His speech patterns and limited vocabulary are also indicative of someone who cannot and so does not read much. His store of words is slim ("great," a classic one syllable slang term, used over and over).
Sad.
19
There is nothing artistic about this presidency.
2
You've got to be kidding.
We all know that liberals would be shrieking with indignance if Trump was spending his time as President being entertained by an endless hit parade of pop culture. Don't pretend that's actually what you want him to be doing.
Is he a Philistine? Absolutely. Do Presidents have better things to do than be entertained? Um, yes.
1
You're missing much of the point, rumple. A President who is involved in the arts is not just entertaining himself - he is promoting and supporting one of the greatest exports of our nation: American culture.
Trump tried twice to kill the NEA. Now a political operator runs it. Mary Carter, self-described “dance mom” who never worked in the arts.
Trump is devoid of compassion, humor and true sentiment. The Arts has no place in his White House.
1
This is so sad but true. When I directed the Austin Museum of Art, George Bush was governor. Mrs. Bush was a frequent visitor to our exhibitions and an avid supporter. When I was once out to dinner with an artist from out of town, the Bushes were at another table. Mr. Bush called us over, was delighted to meet a practicing artist, and curiously asked questions. Can't imagine that happening these days.
3
I agree with Mr Eggers, to a point. I do think President Trump is fairly incurious (and doesn’t find himself humorous, which, except for Jimmy Carter, all the other Presidents referenced here did). But, there’s also the issue of the artists themselves. Who would accept an invitation? Look at the inaugural. Artists were generally shamed out of of participating (or chose not to due to significant differences with the incoming administration). Can an artist appear in the East Room without “taking the opportunity” to chastise the President for his policies? The treatment of Mike Pence at a performance of “Hamilton” probably suggests the answer. Trump is well aware of the views of “Hollywood” or “New York” towards him. It gets him noting with his “base”. Others of Trump’s supporters, if they are arts patrons, are in a category of the financially well off who have been supporting local or national arts organizations for years and don’t care if an opera singer performs (or doesn’t) at the White House.
Instead of bemoaning who isn’t performing for the Trumps, I’d think there are a number of politicians who would be more than happy to rent a hall in their states or their districts and invite well known (or soon to be well known) artists to a stage for a free concert. Laura Bush started the Texas Book Festival from scratch. Why can’t be a model for other political leaders, or their spouses, to encourage a national arts movement?
3
Art touches a person at their very core: their soul. Creation of and appreciation of art sets humans apart from other mammals. Art inspires and elicits a response from the viewer/listener. Unfortunately our president seems to have lost that connection to his soul; in fact, one could even question whether he has a soul.
4
Trump has the best soul, just like he has the best everything else. Just ask him and he'll tell you that.
I don't think it's a matter for questioning. From the 'top' down, this administration and its enablers are soulless.
Here in Texas droughts are multi-year events, four years running not being unheard of. But that was only a dearth of water. I don't know where we would be if we had to go that long without a song from Willie.
But then, Trump wouldn't know Mr. Nelson from the Cookie Monster.
2
This is a VERY important piece; thank you. Everyone should read Isabel Wilkerson's thoughts on radical empathy.
5
I am sure, if someone were to suggest it to him, President Trump would be happy to host a television special highlighting the cultural aspects of his various properties.
2
Dear Mr. Eggers: Thank you for a useful essay. You're right. The void in the Trump White House, where the arts should be, means and matters much more than the lack of specific performances does. That said, I took heart from your list of all the talented people who have, in previous administrations, performed at the White House and been honored by previous presidents, even those with whom I always disagreed. Creative people like them have not stopped dancing, singing, making films, painting or writing poems, plays, novels, and music of all kinds. In fact, eras like this one, as dark as it is, often serve as great inspiration for artists. Their work will survive and inspire us long after Trump has vacated the White House because it is immortal; he is not. May the time not be distant when when artists and what they create can resume their rightful place in our national life.
27
Mr. Trump must always be the center of attention, which means he cannot stand to sit by while someone else performs. He likes paintings as long as they are of him; he'd probably sit still for a song if it sung his praises. The man has no finesse; he seems to have had a culture devoid up-bringing in which business, money, and the Trumps were all that mattered.
Maybe he'd have time to read a book if he watched less TV - just like other children.
44
Things have changed and I don't think many artists would accept an invitation to the White House these days.
26
So another thing Ted Cruz was wrong about in the primaries, he said Trump had "New York values." Completely wrong, Trump rejects not only New York's interest in the arts (and remember his proposal to end National Public Radio/PBS that covers the arts) but New York's appreciation of diversity, worldwide cosmopolitan influences, and even New York;s railroad infrastructure as he has in effect called for shutting down Amtrak and reneging on Federal assistance to construct the vitally needed railroad tunnels under the Hudson.
Does New York want to be part of Trump's America that applauds his hostility to all thee New York values, or would New Yorkers feel more at home of it were part of Ontario, Quebec etc as part of the Canadian Federation?
35
I vote to join Canada -- would you take New Jersey along?
I think you've hit on something here.
One must have empathy to appreciate the arts. One must understand the shared human condition to appreciate the arts. One must have a soul to appreciate the arts.
Trump admittedly does not read. We never see him laugh. His only comments on art of any kind are obviously scripted. He appears devoid of any sort of emotion or passion. Through his 71 years, he has shown himself to be interested in only two things - personal power and personal wealth. In those 71 years, never any service, never any charity, never any volunteerism, never any concern for anyone that could not directly help him
Inexplicably Donald Trump hit the jackpot and is now President. He is now the most powerful man in the world - you would think he would enjoy his good fortune, embrace others, attempt to unify. Yet from day one of his presidency - still no happiness, still no smile, still no appreciation of a shared humanity, never mind simple art - still seething with anger, still lashing out. This suggests he is missing something substantial in his psychological make-up, something uniquely human.
135
The arts are a mirror of who we are as a people. They, as our libraries, also serve as repositories of knowledge. Sadly, critical thinking and self-reflection are anathema to him and his “base.”
2
Sure, I completely agree, he's humorless and vapid as are most serious narcissists. But he's also unhappy because he's well aware his crimes are being investigated. If he'd gotten where he is due to talent and hard work, we might see him smiling and laughing - but we know he got where he is because he owes huge sums of money to vicious Russian oligarchs. I wouldn't be laughing much either.
1
There is a deep void in Trump's soul that will never be filled which is the reason he never smiles or can enjoy what he has -- he is a shell of a human being -- Daddy didn't love him and possibly Mommy didn't either -- and he's never gotten beyond that fact.
2
You have to have a soul to enjoy music, appreciate poetry, artwork, movies. Trump has no soul. And in his heart is evil.
I always enjoyed the story about when James Watt, Reagan's interior secretary ( I believe ) after the Beach Boys were hired to play on July 4th ( again I think ), came out and said we, this administration don't want the Beach Boys who promote a drug culture, etc to perform. Reagan & his wife Nancy promptly came out with a counter statement, saying Watt misspoke and they love the Beach Boys, how a generation esp. in California grew up with their music and they would honored to have them.
65
A wonderful article. Gets to I think the core of Donald Trump. He is interested in only himself and nothing else ,so only interested in art and artists that celebrate him ie portraits of himself,books about himself.....
44
Here's something that could get Trump interested in supporting the arts: it's a multibillion dollar American industry and one of our most visible and durable exports.
Music, films, theatre. Jazz and Hollywood. Elvis and Marilyn. Disney, Hamilton, Beyonce! For nearly a century American culture has been admired, imitated and PURCHASED!
There's money to be made in the arts, Donald. You don't even have to like them to see the value.
19
If it involves women taking their clothes off, maybe. Otherwise ....
It is also likely than many artists of all disciplines would decline Trump's invitation - as they did to his inauguration celebrations.
46
Trump and the arts. Now there's a sentence impossible to fathom. If Trump could he would ban the arts, and sentence all artists to a gulag. Utopia!
16
Congratulations for raising - certainely to no avail - another tragic destruction of one of your great tradition of your country. Keep fighting.
27
It's telling, the way he has decorated his rooms in Trump Tower in New York. No art work but plenty of gold filigree.
20
The kid from Queens doesn't recognize the difference between real and imitation.
And the man of many bankruptcies is too cheap to pay for genuine.
2
Trump has a fake Renoir in his Trump Tower apartment which he has repeatedly told people is real.
1
Trump hates everyone with talents that he lacks. It's a pretty long list. If insecurity was a virtue, he'd make a great king.
27
In Trump’s world there is room for only one star. Trump does not share the stage with anyone. Just ask poor loyal Mike Pence. His smiling devotion and loyalty to Trump is evocative of First Lady Nancy smiling lovingly at husband Ronald. Lovely to see in a married couple.
11
To remember how it used to be, check out the many wonderful, inspiring, joyful, poignant, comic and plain old fun evenings of celebration of the Arts at the Kennedy Center Honors on YouTube.
If you're needing a belly laugh really good place to start is right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m14msOC5srU
3
Laughs and tears.....reminder of a different America, what the Nov. 2016 election cost us. Thanks for posting
1
Thank you for posting Bruce. I'd rather wake up every day of the week in a world with the likes of a moral, thoughtful human being like Bruce. He warms my soul. I respect him and his principles. Thoughts never used to describe the destroyer in charge. Sad!
1
The Trump family is turning fashion into an art, with special attention to jackets with ideas on them.
13
I don't get the column. He has commented on Jimmy Fallon, Steve Colbert , Alec Baldwin, SNL. He even hired lawyers to deal and pay a film director Stormy Davis. Yet you say he has no CONTACT with the arts. I beg to differ.
9
Trump never laughs. He is afraid to laugh. He believes it would make him human which he fears. He needs to feel above everyone.
7
Trump is himself a new art form - where the performer's utterances and actions compose an ongoing self-portrait in a caricatural style that would even push the boundaries of fiction. Although his existence in reality is confirmed, no fiction writer would ever try to render believable neither such a character nor the plot he is engaged in. Even satirical depictions of Trump have to struggle with the fact that their subject seems like it is constantly popping out of a comic-strip.
12
Fifteen minutes of fame in an ever-repeating loop.
1
Salman Rushdie gave it a try in "The Golden House," set during the Obama administration and ending with the election of Trump. He calls Trump "The Joker" and gives him green hair instead of orange. It's amusing, but not IMO particularly successful artistically. But perhaps it's the only way he could really be portrayed - Rushdie's portrayal is not exactly satirical, it's just straightforward - Trump IS a joker, he doesn't need to be satirized as such. We're all just trying to deal with a reality that still seems unreal ...
I'm confused. I thought that whole North Korea thing was a supposed to be a controversial performance art piece funded by the National Endowment for the Arts
8
No appreciation of art, no sense of humor.
14
He's a philistine for sure, but I'm surprised he hasn't latched onto Jeff Koons who for me is the Donald Trump of the 'art' world.
10
Philistinism, a word that needs reviving. All too American.
All true, but president punchline not hosting concerts at the WH is the least of my anxieties about this corrupt and dangerous administration.
10
Capitalists only value art by the dead, as it is an investment vehicle and nothing more.
1
The base doesn’t care for the likes of Rothko, Gillespie, and Casals. Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, the NRA cartoon? They’re high culture in the trump bubble.
The next White House nod to culture will be playing a soundtrack of tractor pull noises.
7
No one's star is permitted to shine more brightly than Mr. Trump's.
Haven't you learned that is one of his Ten Commandments?
7
I have always believed that if you teach a child that he has the power in his own hands to create something of immense beauty, it is a gift beyond measure, a foil for the ugliness and depravity of the world. So, to have a president who is absolutely blind to that power is a societal disaster.
Of course, it is understandable. The Donald is only interested in art or artists that glorify him. Hence, the loathsome Ted Nugent. Perhaps the Donald will invite the artists who painted portraits of DJT which he purchased with money given to the Trump Foundation. It may be the only way to get an artist into this White House.
2
Maybe for art in the Trump White House, he could display the 3 by 5 cards he gets his security briefings on each morning. Since he does not read the many pages actual briefings, they could be stored in the Archives for future historians to discover what he missed. Oh yes, how about a lock of his hair.
7
He doesn't read. He doesn't support art or science. His moral compass is missing. He deliberately degrades, diminishes, and besieges our institutions, international strength, and internal values. What of the probability he is a Russian agent? If we are not active and purposeful, there is a chance America ends up like that photo of the vandalized portrait under your headline.
1
I’m trying to imagine this President listening to some Miles.
7
Agreed...’Kind of Blue’ cures just about anything.
I'm trying to imagine this President listening to some Captain Beefheart.
To be fair, I did see Trump at Brian Dennehy's performance of Death of a Salesman, maybe about ten years ago.
1
“The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus." - THE MERCANT OF VENICE V:1.
18
I'm really tired of all the columns and chatter about how awful Trump is. I'm hoping someone can start a positive movement where people opposed to Trump design a good world and go for it.
5
We had pretty good momentum just a couple of years ago. This article just reminds us of all the things we are currently missing out on. Arts wasn't top of mind for me at all, but now that I think about it - not being able to celebrate art from our top leadership is a tragic loss for us all. Do we have any "shared humanity" left?
4
Agree. The ad hominem arguments are getting pretty tiresome.
The evolution of the Republican Party has come to full fruition with Trump. The years of railing against and cutting funding for the NEA, public radio and other government assisted programs for the arts now is in full flower.
Trump is not the cause. He is the champion of the republican trend. Empathy can not be expected for this Republican Party. If you can take food from hungry poor children and make taking health care for millions the central focus of your agenda the arts have no place in that kind of government.
7
I have found that men in the money game look at us artists with a combination of disinterest, disrespect, and disbelief. They can’t believe a man could throw himself into the arduous task of creating a work of art without any likely payoff in dollars and cents. They can’t respect a man who defines himself outside his net worth. And they simply can’t take an interest in looking at the world—people, things, and landscapes—in the disinterested manner of an artist, as an end in itself. When I think of Trump as one of these men, I pity him. What a thin, soulless, sad way to go through life.
6
The impoverished inner world of Trump, and in sad fact many Republicans, is but a reflection of the shallow emotional lives they live. These are people who are not actually whole, people incapable of deep empathy utterly lacking the inner life required to appreciate and understand art, much less produce it.
They deserve neither our respect or the offices they hold.
3
So Trump isn’t interested in music or poetry. So what? No big deal. There are other more important and substantive things on which to judge him.
By the way, you neglected to mention that Nixon threw a 70th Birthday Party for Duke Ellington at the White House. Noted musicians from all genres attended the event. Nixon even played “Happy Birthday” on the piano for the guest of honor.
No one can deny that there is a strong sentiment against art among middle-low social class. Some in them condemn art as useless and pretentious. Trump’s current occupation is actually appealing his base, which exposes a even more troublesome gap among Americans.
Bashing his personal taste and referring that to his performance in office is counterproductive, which will only draw him closer to his base and deepen their distrust to establishment, which is one of the fundamental reason why democrat lost.
4
I agree, and would like to add: True, from-the-heart, art making and art appreciation do not belong to one class or the other. Creativity of all kinds can be found in abundance from poor to rich, from uneducated to overly intellectual. If we open our eyes we can see delightful and profound works of art in surprising places. We can see beyond just "vetted" art. The assumption that the upper classes know and make art and the lower and middle classes do not is exactly what got us in the mess we're in now. In large part Trump was elected by millions of people who feel scorned and ignored by the "elites." We so-called elites better take note or Trump and his destruction of our country will be with us for a long time.
Art is immortal. Presidents are not. Mr. Trump isn't particularly interested in anything that may outlast him.
Unlike the rest of us.
7
Amazing how one letter changes the entire phrase.
“Art is immortal.” Trump is immoral.
Fits to a “t.”
It is not only Art that the president does not appreciate. It is also Nature, from which we draw much artistic inspiration. The shrinking of Monuments in Utah was a political attack on Obama's thoughtful designations --so as to protect Natural beauty and showcase Native American archeological sites. Our public legacy.
Trump will go down in history as the most artificial, shallow, vile, president that has ever been---totally void of aesthetics and ethics. SAD.
3
Among the many reasons that Trump is not inviting artists to the White House is that he refuses to give up the lime light even for a evening. That's how sociopath's operate. If the event is not about "them" it is a waste of their time when they could be pursuing events (rallies) that is about "them." Remember when he attended a G7 meeting last year and pushed his way to the front of the group to monopolize the photo ops? Perfect example of how he thinks and operates.
14
I grew up in a family of artistic types, one was even a professor of drama married to a painter. I was the black wrench in the family with mechanical and scientific ability. They couldn't change a tire or start a campfire, but they sure could talk. We NEVER really got along and I am almost 80. Viva Trump!
White House policy is one thing, but since art distills human experience, as an individual Trump is not totally without artistic potential. His next ghost written memoir could be "The Art of the Sneer."
" [culture] allows us to look through someone else’s eyes and know their strivings and struggles."Credit surely needs to be given to policymakers, local to national.At whatever levels of influence.Who foster culture. In its broadest sense.Unknown artists to those with global reputations.To the broadest range of our diverse populations.Each with their own cultural backgrounds. Cultural enablers and fosterers whatever their political-ideological beliefs and identities are to be remembered. Acknowledged. Thanked. Cultural activities have many faces and functions.One of them is seeding, harvesting and sustaining well being. Physical. Psychological. Social. Spiritual.And many others that each of us can note.Of individuals. Families. Communities.Other systems.It behooves US to also remember that “culture” can be, has been and is being misused. In any constructed and anchored toxic, WE-THEY culture.Which enables the daily violation of targeted, selected "the other."A performance at the Kennedy Center does not neutralize the constraints on the availability and accessibility of cultural opportunities for existing excluded, discriminated, marginalized, dehumanized, stigmatized fellow beings! Not too long ago enslaved musicians played music,in concentration camps,as enslaved others were driven to a Final Solution.Not too long ago democratic countries forbade indigenous “others” to partake of their language.A cultural creation! The well being of OTHERS,US, is not Trump’s interest!
1
His indifference to the arts is part and parcel of his stunted being. He as no interest in almost anything that contributes to a full life - not good food or wine, not learning or connection, not love or charity or friendship. He doesn't even like dogs.
He's interested only in adulation, self- and otherwise, and crushing opponents, real and imagined. And golf.
5
This administration is, not for just its total dismissal of culture, a Staggering Work of Enormous Ignorance and Malevolence.
Thank you Mr. Eggers for reminding us through this column and your brilliant work of how America used to be.
4
My endorsement of your thoughts is a heart felt Thank You.
3
Maybe Trump only watches movies (between hours-long diatribes to captive audiences). That would be another way in which he resembles Great Leaders of the 20th century....
I've never even heard mention of him watching movies. It seems that he mainly watches Fox News and maybe CNN, and even that is only to see what they are saying about him. It's hard to imagine him watching, say, a nature documentary, or even a sitcom.
1
Finding every stick possible to beat up Trump with, is simply not how this should be done. So what if no arts and culture are being celebrated in the WH?
Pretty certain that 99% of Americans may never have seen a Broadway show or can ever afford one. Focus on Trump's other numerous misdeeds and consider ourselves lucky that we are saving this money by not calling performing artists to the WH.
My grandfather and lying next to him great Yiddish poet wrote poems in severe Russian camp beyond Artctic Circle, Chagall's student (Gershov) was drawing alas just with charcoal, portraits, there was even a theatre in Vorkuta, set by the way by imprisoned former director of the Bolshoi Theatre, and still exist today... There is a place for art even in the darkest of times. Perhaps it is even more needed then.
2
This is what happens when The Establishment (of hyper oligarchy) is „running“ a country and not politicians.
1
After reading this piece and many of the thoughtful comments here, it occurs to me that perhaps trump's indifference to the Arts is a blessing in disguise.
3
Were Andy Warhol alive, he might get an invite, with Trump hoping later to find himself, like those 50 Marilyns, in one painting. Then he’d do Trump math and claim his had at least 51.
Trump had a number of encounters with Andy Warhol. He once "commissioned" Warhol to make a portrait of Trump Tower. Warhol arrived with 8 silkscreens for Trump and Ivanka to choose from but they didn't like them and never paid Warhol for his work - which he remembered and recounted in his "Diaries." Warhol described Trump as "butch" and "cheap."
Architecture critic Herbert Muschamp once arranged a meeting between Trump and Philip Johnson at MoMA. Muschamp said Trump mistook a bronze floor sculpture by Donald Judd for a coffee table and threw his coat on it.
1
A prescient sense of historical infamy has already settled on this administration like an indelible stain. My guess is there are a great many artists who would feel uncomfortable being associated with the incumbent of this White House, much less performing in it. It gives the appearance, to future generations, of endorsement.
6
Recognition and love of the beauty created by human beings requires a soul. Fin.
5
It's anxiety about competition. Trump is all about winning, and doesn't want to admit competing voices for _The Art of the Deal_. . . .
The last part of this essay says it all--thank you, Dave Eggers. Trump has no empathy for any other human being. Has there been documentation of any occasion, ever, on which he has wept?
2
Do those people that flock to the Trump rallies look like the kind of people that flock to art museums or concerts? All one needs to do is look at the demographics of the Trump voters to see there is little culture in Trumpland outside of Nashville.
3
There's no art because there's no culture in Trump's presidency.
3
Eggers rightly points out the incompatibility of art and dictatorship. Remember "When I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver" (attributed to Göring, though it may have been one of his henchmen)?
The cultural vacuum in the White House is not happenstance, but a direct consequence of its occupant's ideology.
1
Great article by Mr Eggers.
Is style an excuse for art or just bad taste?
Is I must admire Mr Trump for focusing the mind on art and culture.
Mr Trump is no Banksy concerning politics able to touch the best part of humanity.
666 Fifth Avenue is not exactly edifice of artistic merit.
Mar-a-Lago , roughly translated is where the sea meets the lagoon.
I think of alligators and mosquitoes.
Kitsch is the new cool.
The vulgarity of bad taste is a rampant assault on the senses.
The barber used a number two blade with two finishes comprising Wahl scissors lubricated by Singer oil all made in the USA.
Perhaps Mr Trump should enjoy a barber visit in Australia using American tech.
His hairstyle is a bit fake.
I've always felt that a president should use the office to promote art and culture from across the country.
And you imagine the impact of being able to say you performed at the White House or your work was being shown there?
Donald Trump's total avoidance of the arts is one of his noblest and most humanitarian acts, indeed perhaps his only redeeming grace. Why would anyone want Trump messing with the arts?
"But with art comes empathy."
Exactly. And exactly why Trump does not understand or appreciate the arts.
Most of us welcome the respite from the constant drumbeat of self that our inner voice demands throughout most of our waking hours. We love the loss of self that art - in all it's forms - provides, requires.
When lost listening to a soaring piece of music, watching a mesmerizing dance, staring deeply into a painting or photograph, or immersed in a great book - there is no room for self. You are one with the work of art.
Trump cannot - and does not want to - rid himself of self, not for a minute. I'm sure the thought of it makes him shiver and sweat. Because self is all Trump has, really.
Family is a distraction and necessary evil. His wife and children are viewed as extensions of his self, not as people in their own right, to be loved and cherished. He never even mentions one of his children.
He doesn't enjoy reading - his vocabulary is too limited, his imagination nonexistent, and his attention span too short to enjoy a good book - unless the book is all about Trump.
As to music and art and dance - I'm sure he doesn't get the point. He cannot find any way that those endeavors benefit himself, so they are of no value to him.
Heartless, soulless, "myopic, unlearned, and cruel" the kind of man who would jail babies and toddlers to get his Wall - don't expect Trump to be a patron of the arts anytime soon. Good riddance.
Oh, Obama, we miss you.
2
It's unthinkable to consider a world without jazz or hip hop or house music. And it is a special distinction that America can own to have had your past presidents (and first ladies) cheer on so much of the unique cultural production that you have exported over the 20th and 21st centuries. Trump's sense of style is little more than expressions of excessive wealth. A gold and marble bathroom in one of his golf clubs is about Trump's equivalent of a Herbie Hancock or Kendrick Lamar. Sad!
1
Interesting, I would surmise that the vast majority of artists of all types are liberals. The conservative view is rigid and does not like to explore new expression, openness, change, and does not want to delve deeply as to why things are the way they are. They tend to be black and white in their thinking. Oh yes I know this sounds elitist. But can you imagine a Trump Republican writing a poem? I cannot. The complete lack of appreciation of the arts in this White House may be the saddest part of this whole nightmare. Because it frames so much more of who you are.
5
Ambiguity is the bane of modern Republicans. Nothing elitist about that observation. It's the natural state of things that they refuse to accept. To impose order on things is to convince yourself that you know, control or even understand them. In that sense, they are the arrogant elitists.
2
Trump doesn't attend concerts because the attention would not be on him.
3
The president is something special. He would be jealous of a painting which is more important than he.
It's not funny at all.
To enjoy art, you have to value and respect life. Nature, or a flower. Sound, color, and movement. Creativity is life. So are mystery, animals and people. Some phenomenon of existence must humble you, to enjoy art.
The president's character lacks this. He serves nothing, and feels nothing is naturally in his service. He must always be feeding. There's no poetry to his ceaseless resentment. Every moment of his life is suffering. That's why he causes it with such abandon.
Don't tell me its wrong to say he has a serious mental illness. The cause doesn't matter, but I suspect he also abuses some kind of medication, because his reasoning resembles delusions which come with substance addiction, particularly stimulants, which also cause erratic behavior. And he has a criminal disposition.
He takes no solace in art because he's very sick.
I doubt he'll be cured. That's true for some mental illness. His power, and being the most famous man in history does not well serve him in this respect. He should be restrained and subdued, not running a country.
It is only obvious that we're in a very dangerous situation. He should not be making decisions of import.
The only factors about him that are important anymore are that he is criminally compromised and mentally unbalanced.
The other important thing is what we do about it.
5
A friend of US is now a Enemy, An enemy is a friend. Institutions are broken such as NAFTA, WTO (being latest target), Climate Accord, EU relations .UN HR
In four years time, USA under current administration may render all institutions irrelevant . Global relations between nations will be impacted. The chances of war increase.
Hope USA will make a better choice in the next Presidential Elections in 2020. And will not let the world down.
1
Manfred Mann is tentatively scheduled to perform his classic tune "Blinded By the Light" in the Oval at 5 A.M. on November 7, and, if it goes over well, again every 15 minutes for the following two years.
"But with art comes empathy."
Exactly. And exactly why Trump does not understand or appreciate the arts.
Most of us welcome the respite from the constant drumbeat of self that our inner voice demands throughout our waking hours. We love the loss of self - that art - in all it's forms - provides and requires.
When lost listening to a soaring piece of music, watching a mesmerizing dance, staring deeply into a painting or photograph, or immersed in a great book - there is no room for self. You are one with the work of art.
Trump cannot - and does not want to - rid himself of self, not for a minute. I'm sure the thought of it makes him shiver and sweat. Because self is all Trump has, really.
Family is a distraction and necessary evil. His wife and children are viewed as extensions of his self, not as people in their own right, to be loved and cherished. He never even mentions one of his children.
He doesn't enjoy reading - his vocabulary is too limited, his imagination nonexistent, and his attention span too short to enjoy a good book - unless the book is all about Trump.
As to music and art and dance - I'm sure he doesn't get the point. He cannot find any way that those endeavors benefit himself, so they are of no value to him.
Heartless, soulless, "myopic, unlearned, and cruel" the kind of man who would jail babies and toddlers to get his Wall - don't expect Trump to be a patron of the arts anytime soon. Good riddance.
Oh, Obama, we miss you.
13
This article brought back memories of my dear, wealthy, republican parents. We grew up with RD condensed books on the bookshelves, no music, motel room art on the walls.
Fox news was turned on at dawn and ran all day.
When you would try to have a meaningful conversation they couldn’t understand what you were talking about.
I loved them, but had difficulty finding ways to connect with them.
They had money, but no real wealth.
2
To build Trump Tower, and despite an agreement with a museum, Trump destroyed the art deco friezes of the Bonwit Teller building. He is a man without any sense of preservation and history. Nor does he care about how his actions impact others. No empathy. None.
3
Besides clearly having zero interest in the arts, Trump’s severely limited attention span means he is unable to direct his visual or aural attention to anything outside of his own reflection for more than a nanosecond. The idea that he could stand in silent contemplation before a great painting or sculpture or listen raptly to any piece of music longer or more thought provoking than an advertising jingle is ludicrous.
And as for poetry, if only he could be tied to a chair and forced to listen as a great actor ( Ian McKellen ?) recited Shelley’s “Ozymandias” over and over until he finally “got it.” Sigh.
3
I'm surprised he hasn't already called for all federal funding for the arts, arts of all kinds, to be immediately stopped.
A good record of past glories. The biggest thing about Trump is his nasty bitterness. Old words: dog in the manger. If he can't have it, no one may. And he can't have it because he never had the grace to stop and admire something more than he admires his daughter. To admire is to admit that someone has done a worthwhile thing that he did not do or could not do.
5
The whole Trump clan doesn't even smile. They all have perfected what I presume they believe is the requisite taunt; disaffected countenance of the uber-riche. Completely joyless.
I can only imagine music would be a noisome nuisance; books would give eyestrain (the font-size too small) and paintings- just blotches of color invading a sterile space.
Their exterior reflects their interior; a space filled to the brim with heartlessness and cruelty for which "art" cannot coexist.
3
The only piece of art I've heard connected with Trump was the large portrait of himself that was bought at a charity fundraiser by his own charity.
1
Many seem surprised by this revelation. They shouldn’t be. Trump is a world unto himself. He does not care to celebrate snyone but himself.
Soon he will be stranding alone in the White House. All others banished as he knows best.
What does this have to do with the arts? Everything. Art feeds our souls. It makes us human. To express empathy is human.
This man is an empty vessel. He shreds everything in his sight line. Those who create are a foreign concept to a person like Trump. Art brings joy to people young and old. As a nation we are being diminished in thousands of ways.
Another observation would be, this man has no sense of humor, which is also an attribute of a balanced and caring person.
9
Trump likes the "Art of a Deal" and his wife displayed art on her back, which really explained the whole White House by saying "I really don't care. Do you?" Trump has not matured out of his 13 year old boy mentality. He like burgers and women with big chests. He likes shiny things, instead of playing computer games, he plays Twitter. He like wrestling and beauty pageants, and watching TV. Like any 13 year old, he spends and inordinate time worried about his looks, thus covering himself in an orange spray tan and arranging and gluing his helmet of dye and teased hair to his head. He has a short attention span, so his staff give him comic books instead of policy briefs. He still has the odd tantrum and breaks things. It's all about what's on the outside, because there is nothing on the inside.
6
Mr. Trump is not a reader, and may have little interest in the arts. But I think that Mr. Eggers is exhibiting the same visceral hatred of Mr. Trump that seems to (mis)inform just about every type of social debate today. That hatred once upon a time tale sees in Trump a singularly cruel and philistine man.
This self-reinforcing drive to find evidence that Trump is Satan deifyies everyone we compare him to. Here, Eggers parades former presidents to throw into relief how culturally bankrupt Trump is. A balanced understanding of the relationship of the presidency to "culture", however, requires a nuanced approach that places presidents in their historical context.
Kennedy and Reagan, for example, were creatures of the Cold War. They expressed their Cold War objectives through a rabid militarism that, in the case of Kennedy, helped bring the world to the brink of nuclear war. Kennedy and Reagan did not wage their Cold War campaigns only through the military. An important complement to that was the battle for cultural supremacy. The US government understood early on in the Cold War that promoting Western culture, particularly avant garde and ostensibly rebellious culture such as Abstract Expressionism, was part of the effort to contrast the artistic freedom of the US compared to the Soviet Union.
Today, the "culture war" is is a civil war pitting post-traditionaol cultural elites against populists such as Trump. Trump cannot use artists they way Cold War presidents did.
This is so speculative and contrived. It is mind-blowing reading the puffery, snootiness and condescension of the Trump-hating self-professed intellectuals. Based solely on the flow of artists invited to the White House by the First Couple, the most impressive would be the stellar performers and artists invited by Jacqueline Kennedy, such as Pablo Casals. That does not in any way demean the taste of the other First Couples, but as they say: "To each their own." Who are we to pass judgement on someone else's taste or to delve into the "depth" of their love of arts or music?
This denigration of the Trumps is in staggering contrast to the rapturous praise in the press for the Obamas. When Trump can do nothing right and Obama can do nothing wrong--and article after editorial continues to repeat this same old song, it becomes so much easier to dismiss the whole darn thing as fake news.
3
Let's look at the endless, too many times racist denigration visited on Obama by the right and how he responded to it. Now let's look at how Trump reacts every little slight and the "denigration" he has brought on himself for decades with his bullying , bragging, mendacity and all the other traits that make him such an unappealing human being. The Obama family itself were excellent role models while Trump's many families were what conservatives disdained before 1/20/17. Maybe the real difference, aside from classiness, is that Obama did consider separating kids from parents but thought it through while the critically thinking free Trump did just that. I'm sure you're a "defender of Western Civilization". But how can you defend something by leaving out one of its glories, the arts?
1
Maybe the graffiti style “Art” on the back of Melania’s jacket, “I don’t care, do you?” was as close as we will see with the current pretender to the thrown. You have to admit, even though it was a very brief appearance it did make a big splash on The Twitter.
Back in college, a professor who, in his youth, had been in Germany in the 30's, described a horror often left unmentioned: He called it "watching a nation strip itself of its culture".
All one has to do is look at pictures of the interiors of any of Trump's residences, his hotels, or his casinos, to realize this is a many with no taste, no class, no concept of art or cohesion. There aren't enough "ugs" in "ugly" to describe them.
Is it any wonder he's a total boor when it comes to art, as he is to everything else?
7
not only does the king have no clothes, he has no class or taste. art is something beyond his small mind and hands.
1
When nations grow old
Art grows cold
And commerce settles
On every tree
-William Blake
9
Aside from the fact that Mr. Trump is setting a terrible example for children and just about everyone else, it is disturbing that he is unable to see the virtues of art, music, and literature. His policies are to some degree a result of a total lack of empathy, and an impossibility to step beyond his own self.
I am no different from many of my friends and acquaintances: we have some experience of art everyday, sometimes more intense than at other times. Without culture, there is no life, your inner being is dead.
6
You just noticed? He lived in the center of the art world and only aspired to reality tv. What a surprise.
3
You have to have a soul to appreciate the arts. If Donald J. Trump ever had one, he sold it at the first opportunity.
10
No disrespect Mr. Eggers, but have you been asleep since DT came on the scene about 3 years ago? There has never been a more deliberately cruel, offensive and deliberately divisive individual to ever run for the presidency, let alone attain the office. His rhetoric forced this nation into polarized ideological camps and made the solace many of us find in the higher mind into “elitism” to be mocked. I do not think a string quartet is coming anytime soon to the Whitehouse, when he can’t even attend the Kennedy Center Awards because he has offended so many people in the arts with his militant refusal to reach out to the whole of the nation with any empathy. It is on him to repair the divide, to show he embraces even those who criticize him, because in fact, that is his job to be tolerant, as steward of the first amendment. I wouldn’t wish for a Mike Pence President, but at least he behaved at Hamilton like a statesman.
No mention of Jimmy Carter inviting Willie Nelson over for a smoke?
And a touching one: when Czech President Vaclav Havel visited the White House, Lou Reed entertained -- because of the early death of Frank Zappa.
2
Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage,
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.
W.S. The Merchant of Venice.
I can't think of a single thing to add to this.
5
To trump life is all about making money and keeping it. I doubt he understands that once dead, all the nonessentials of life remain behind.
1
'Culture' and 'artistry' are words one would never think to use in connection with Donald Trump or any of the members of his entourage. 'Vulgar' and 'tacky' would be more like it.
Trump couldn't pay anyone enough perform at his inauguration, which came off like Friday night with a local cover band at the Ramada Inn bar in Sheboygan. Other than ludicrous folks like 'Kid Rock' and Ted Nugent, who would accept an invitation to the current White House? Thus far, any artist, musician, or athlete with a scintilla of intelligence and self-respect has made a conspicuous show of NOT showing up for the 'honor' of a 'Presidential' audience.
Trump declines to appear at any public event that has not been carefully scripted to draw only far right wing members of his cult of personality - and who could blame him? He would unquestionably draw humiliating rebukes from any crowd not meticulously stripped of those holding dissenting views. You won't be seeing The Donald at the Kennedy Center any time soon.
Yes indeed. The man in the Oval Office is a pariah and our very own Artless Dodger.
4
What is important to Trump and the Republican party is power. They are not remotely concerned with the fine arts or culture. It's up to Americans to vote Trump out in 2020. If they fail to do so we need to just grit our teeth and. endure the most vulgar and amoral "presidency" or U.S. History.
3
Myopic, unlearned and cruel - Donald Trump, in essence. I hope to God his followers soon see how diminished we are as a people as he pollutes our society. Barack Obama divided the country only because his election was strong brew, a shift so sudden and unexpected that the myopic, unlearned and cruel were galvanized to strike back. And here we are.
But believe in the Arts as never before, people. As Russians clung with love to their poets during the Stalin years. As the Jewish people have done selflessly throughout their existence. As First Americans revere with wonder their relationship with nature. As Americans, we can scarcely comprehend the horrors those people have experienced and yet they survived and found meaning in what remains beautiful always. Keep in mind WC Williams' words when contemplating the human wreck that is Donald Trump:
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
2
The original Philistines were more interested in art than these are.
1
On the bright side this allows the art people to be free. As Trump is the enemy of art and intelligence then the community can now go against him entirely if they want to.
1
It has always been jarring to me when artists I admire appear at government functions and in that way lend their genius to legitimizing a system that creates such large scale misery and oppression throughout the world. Having said that, I think one major reason Trump stays away from artists is that most of them not only would not want to be anywhere near him and his monstrous gang of sycophantic criminals, but would express their rejection and revulsion loud and clear.
2
Art celebrates life in all it's wondrous diversity. Trump celebrates only Trump.
4
Trump's is the White House of Joseph McCarthy demanding loyalty, obedience, obeisance. No room for artistic creativity in there. Creativity is dangerous to a regime like Trump's. Therefore, it is absent.
4
Part of Trump's method of dismantling democracy involves creating a sense of barrenness--a cultural aridity that restricts celebration to just himself--he is the God of his understanding. It's a way of getting even with the star system he wanted so much to be part of and now is shunned from. He fawned over Kim Kardashian and gave her what she asked for. Jealousy is a fatal disease, however. He lives on his anger and revenge strategies. Hindus have a proverb "all of your heartbeats have already been counted". In his case, it appears as if he is down for the count. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide!
1
White christian nationalists--dominionists--a minority of Americans who literally live on the margins of American society, mainly in exurbs and rural areas, have been at war with America for a generation or two. It's called the culture war, and an enraged minority has been routed socially by the emerging American majority. Dominionists are trying to get what they failed to win in the marketplace of ideas by using the police power of the state against the majority of Americans. Gun-toting, violence-threatening Ted Nugent is the logical extension of this hatred for America.
5
But what about Donnie's fake Renoir?
4
The celebration of art is the richest thread that binds civilizations, leaves legacies, and least not creates a humanity that humbles the most powerful.
Thank you Mr. Eggers.
1
The relationship between the arts and politics is considerably complex, and the fact is that artists living in unenlightened, tyrannical societies have produced some of humankind’s richest and noblest artistic expression, just as artists living in enlightened, progressive societies have produced the same.
I’m not entirely convinced that there’s a fundamental link between artistic and political expression, or even that empathy inexorably accompanies art—though unabashed emotionalism certainly does. Empathy itself has a dual character: it can either lead to a deeper investment in that which is already familiar to us, or it can lead to engagement with minds and perspectives that are very different from our own.
Perhaps one of the reasons that Trump’s White House is devoid of the arts is that both art and artists inherently embody the variousness, diversity, and infinite possibilities of human imagination and experience, all of which directly pose a grave intellectual and psychological threat to the most basic and readily comprehensible aspects of one’s own mind. In the unexamined life, art and artists are outliers who investigate and amplify aspects of humanity that can be intimidating, if not downright threatening.
1
Art requires a freedom of thought that our president can not achieve, nor understand.
Similarly, it takes practice and hard work, two criteria our president seems to be lacking.
11
Dear Dave Eggers,
Thank you for your exquisite column, "A Cultural Vacuum in Trump's White House". It is the go-to read for empathetic Americans -- readers, writers, artists, performers, people who care for and love other people -- all of us who are suffering now from the dearth of any presidential interest in the arts and culture of "Our Country, 'Tis of Thee".
In short, Dave, your column today -- as we celebrate America's used-to-be glorious Independence day with true patriotism and loathing of the vacuum in our White House -- is "a heartbreaking work of staggering genius". (h/t Eggers)
Kindly and lovingly yours, an Eggers fan.
14
Even if Donald had some latent capacity for art appreciation, I doubt that he would show it now. He's worked too hard to craft a certain persona, and he never reveals anything else.
I was astonished when Dubya took up painting after leaving the White House, and even Nixon could play the piano to some degree. Those things show a capacity for an inner life that might be quite terrifying for Donald. I don't think Dubya considers himself to be a good painter and Nixon joked about how bad his piano playing was. Donald is incapable of self-deprecating humor or anything that might make him appear vulnerable.
The author makes a great observation about art and empathy. It's often said that narcissists have no capacity for empathy, and that they compensate by learning to emulate what they think it looks like in others. Donald not only has to fake empathy, but even his idealized images of competence and confidence are simply caricatures of what he imagines those things would look like. To appreciate art is to reveal something about ourselves, and Donald can't do that because there is nothing authentic to reveal. He is what he thinks his base wants to see at a given moment, and that's it.
27
No humor, no intellect, no creativity, no empathy, no culture, but always ever present rage and self pity. Tillerson was right. The man is a complete moron.
372
We must start using the language correctly. Orwell told us in his essays what would happen if we stopped using political language that conveyed real meaning. Donald J. Trump is not a moron, he is a boor.
Trump is a boor and that is exactly what what this article attempts to convey.
2
Ultimately, the country elected a president; not an art lover. I love the arts but whether a leader who makes major decisions impacting my life also loves the arts could concern me less. I am sure we would swoon at the art world being invited to the White House if Mrs. Clinton were president but given the choice, I do not find swoon very desirable.
3
It is not a matter of "loving" the arts, it is a matter of respecting them and what they represent. A White House devoid of any of the cultural creativity that defines our people is just that, devoid. It is an empty place akin to a siege bunker. Aptly so.
3
Leaving out Donald Trump, this essay is an uplifting celebration of American arts and the Presidency, for which I am profoundly grateful.
One genre Trump does seem to like: portraits of himself.
49
Then you miss the whole point of what the article conveys and what support of and love for the arts brings to any presidency. Humanity. Nations are great no only because they are powerful militarily or wealthy financially. The is a third spark which turns a strong nation into a great nation.
18
I appreciate Mr Eggers' perspective. As others have said, he provides another way to see the aberration of this administration.
Since the election, I've upped my reading of fiction and nonfiction, paid more attention to my writing projects, delved into photography and other visual arts, found videos of music groups to watch, and frequented local museums, some of which are still free or available for modest entry fees. Trump may promote a cultural vacuum, but I am grateful that the arts have provided a refuge from the despair that emanates from the current White House.
77
This posting struck a nerve with me. This year I started writing an original screenplay. Strangely, the presence of The Orange One may spur artistic creativity all over the land.
9
An appreciation of art requires a person to step outside of themselves for a few moments and absorb some of the creative energy generated by another human being. This is a skill set totally outside of the (empty) box that is Trump.
100
The only culture this Admin has is E-coli
70
In reading this piece by Mr. Eggers, it reminds me of what a diminished human being Trump is and what a travesty of an Administration he has. This column reminds me how much the arts enrich our lives and in doing so, helps us become more complete human beings.
Music, sculpture, writing and paintings are our common language.
We can not allow these life enhancing gifts to be taken away from us. And it can happen if we are not vigilant.
87
To begin with, it's hard to put the words 'Culture' and 'Donald Trump' in the same sentence.
And anyone familiar with him and his tastes, like just about all of us here in New York City are, knows this to be true.
In fact, Trump is the very epitome of the garishness and glitz most commonly associated with those who will stop at nothing to climb the social ladder, only to find themselves continually cast out.
This is someone who doesn't appreciate other's opinions, so there's no way he could appreciate art, much less artists.
That is why his White House is so devoid of any sign of culture and diversity, and why his absence at the annual Kennedy Center Arts Awards is not surprising.
There's only one star in Donald Trump's sky -- and he is it.
85
A bit about DT's taste: I was reading a travel book from the late 1980's by Bill Byson. He visited the Trump Tower (it had just opened) when he was in NYC. He wrote that it was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. He said that it was like being the stomach of someone who just ate a pizza.
3
This is such an interesting perspective, and I appreciate that Eggers's focus is on something more subtle than what everyone else is talking about. People reveal themselves through their actions big and small, and we don't pay enough attention to the small ones. By not just yelling about Trump's policies or his character flaws, Eggers shone light on something new, and he made me think more deeply about the inner life of this administration. This is what good writers do: they notice what everyone else overlooks.
150
Hard to understand why the current White House would not be more attentive to the arts world, given that group's profound understanding of what is happening in the nation, and the world, and its full-fledged support for President Trump. Perhaps it started with things like the 17 anti-Trump cartoons in the New Yorker the week before the 2016 election? Could there possibly be other examples?
2
I guess you missed the point of the article (if you read it) that describes how politics should be separated from art itself and how previous Presidents were able to look past things like political cartoons, whereas Trump does not. If Trump were not so busy thrashing the press and insulting people via Twitter like the coward that he is, people might treat him with more respect.
2
Trump has never shown any interest in any art in his entire life. And most sport figures won't go to the White House either.
3
trump deserves disrespect everyday, everywhere. He shows his disrespect of everyone but his base everyday, everywhere. One way trump shows his ugly soul is through his lack of art appreciation.
1
Most students have more natural talent for arts than they do for science and math, so it is wise for us to encourage that.
If the Medicis and The Popes and The Kings and Queens of the World had Trumps’s view of art , we would lose what it is to be human.
Trump is more in the style of Savanarola and Oliver Cromwell.
Personally I think cutting out art funding is a really dead end. People line up to see exhibits in the Smithsonian and in the reddest of states. Even SC has yearly student art competitions and Mulvaney used to hang the pictures of the winners in his office. Figure that one out
14
Art Pope supports the arts, so supporting the arts is obviously not a left wing partisan or ideological thing.
Trump is just a classless, boorish narcissist.
Trump and his people don't seem to understand what actually makes America great, or why America has traditionally had so much power in the world. It isn't simply economic power or military might. I would argue that it's American "soft power" that has had the most impact. It's American art and culture -- or at least those elements of analog-age culture that once existed and are now apparently in decline. Jazz, rhythm and blues, country-western, the films of golden-age Hollywood, Native America, the West, landscapes -- the ability of American culture to be vibrant and innovative, while incorporating elements from elsewhere and translating them into something new. Along with the Constitution, the beauty of the American landscapes, and concepts of freedom -- these things have had a positive impact in the world and add up to why America is so great. So I really don't get why these things are ignored, played down or actively threatened in Washington DC.
96
Wonderful insights, I'd add to your list American painters. This morning I'm looking at the gorgeous work of Joan Mitchell, painters who helped bring a new way of seeing into the world
15
Your perspective was the perspetive of the US government during the Cold War. From the end of the McCarthy years on every US administration from the 50s onward provided ample financial assistance to avant garde artists as part of their "soft power" campaign to highlight the superiority of the "free" United States compared to the Soviet Union. The US government spend money helping edgy, avant garde artists hold prestigious shows outside the US. This was ideological messaging, not disinterested love of the arts for their own sake. Today the geopolitical struggle between the left and right does not exist. Instead we have the domestic "culture war" in the US, which pits anti-traditionalist values against traditional values. With the well-heeled post-traditional leaders of the media, digital tech, and entertainment industries lined up against him, Trump simply cannot annex "critical" art yo his presidential communications the way more ideologically powerful Cold War presidents could. Art, sports, space travel: all became Cold War fodder in the competition between the Us and the USSR to show who was best. The Cold War is over meaning that the shortcomings of American society cannot be papered over by "Well, at least our art is better than socialist realism."
6
Correct! They didn't call Louis Armstrong's album "Ambassador Satch" for nothing.
As to the dearth of artists connected to this administration, I always assumed that this was due to the artists themselves not wanting to participate in anything having to do with this White House, whose policies are in direct conflict with, and unsupported by, the artistic soul.
66
That’s a valid point.
If you cannot shed a tear at some extraordinary movie, at music that moves you, or find inspiration in a great book or poem that you will never forget, you will never get close to experience of being truly human.
This, friends, is the current leader of the free world. What more do we need to know about what is happening in America than this?
140
Although I agree with almost everything about Mr. Eggers' column and don't agree with Mr. Trump at all, Mr. Eggers' comment about the president's disparagement of the play "Hamilton" and Meryl Streep is very biased. The lead cast member of Hamilton had just called out Mike Pence in a performance the VP was attending and Ms. Streep had just blasted the president in an awards ceremony. Mr. Trump was merely responding as he normally does. I think that the arts an performance community should tone the rhetoric down a little to show a little class in contrast to Mr. Trump's crass behavior.
8
While Streep certainly blasted Trump, the same cannot be said about what happened at Hamilton. The message from the stage was measured and polite, expressing valid concerns of many of those in the room. Under normal circumstances, that would not have happened. But given Trump’s rhetoric and Pence’s well documented history, no one should have been surprised. The cast felt an obligation to speak to Pence directly; how often is Pence in a position to hear from such a diverse group of people? The cast member even asked the audience to quiet down and be respectful. By all accounts, Pence was not offended and listened from just outside. I do agree that most of these celebrity diatribes play right into Trump’s hands. It is exactly what he wants: to provoke a response so he can further divide people and rile up his base.
26
I saw nothing measured and polite about the Hamilton cast. People paid big bucks to see a stage performance and in return many were insulted. A stage designed to entertain is not a stage for insults. But then the entertainment industry will never learn that side of “class.”
Hamilton is not a play designed solely to entertain. It has a profound message. And big bucks cannot buy its silence. Thank God.
Thank you! Our souls are being battered. Appreciate your insightful observations.
38
The lack of appreciation and support for the arts is one of the saddest things of the nightmare that is the Trump presidency. The absence of artists performing at the White House reflects the hollowness of its main occupant, and shows more than anything else might, that Trump is a pathological narcissist without a modicum of ability to shine the spotlight on others, or to see the world through the eyes of others.
I didn’t always agree with President Obama, especially on matters of foreign affairs, but how I loved to watch him groove to the music of Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney or Burt Bacharach, to name a few. And when the poet Donald Hall died the other day, I reflected fondly and sadly on the photograph of President Obama awarding him the Presidential medal of arts. It was clear to me that Obama not only knew who Hall was, but most probably had read his poetry too.
This nightmare cannot end too soon.
109
If only, artists would be willing to perform on the 18th tee of one of his golf clubs or in the lobby of his DC Hotel.
1
Trumpness is shallowness of the crassest kind.
1
Trump disparaged the play “Hamilton” and a few weeks later attacked Meryl Streep', the fact that this was after both had indirectly attacked Trump is 'artfully' omitted. I would submit that Art is a solace that neuters our reality, or as Friedrich Nietzsche would have it, 'We have art so that we may not perish by the truth.' So instead of concerning ourselves with the micro picture of how many impressive books are on Trump's bookshelves with their holding us hostage in the violence of their narratives or how many Linda Ronstadt concerts he has not held, how about expanding the concept of art to the macro, beyond its cultural cordon sanitaire; for instance, to the aesthetics contained in the equine, the grace of a horse in movement, How about muscular aesthetics of say cultivating the land, if only Obama had advocated this along side the cliched hearing of young poets in the palatial setting of the White House. Ah well, you have to be really educated to champion the established arts.
7
The cast of Hamilton did not "indirectly attack" Trump, they made a direct, heartfelt plea to VP Pence on the grounds of humanitarianism. There was no malice intended or shown. Meryl Streep was merely exercising her 1st amendment rights. Here's hoping those rights still exist in the next few years.
140
You are incorrect. The cast of Hamilton did not attack Vice President Pence. On behalf of the cast, Brandon Victor Dixon delivered a short, respectful plea for understanding and inclusion after a divisive presidential election.
Here's exactly what Dixon said: "“Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you, and we truly thank you for joining us here at ‘Hamilton: An American Musical.’ We really do. We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us. All of us. Again, we truly thank you truly for seeing this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and orientations.”
When has Donald Trump ever been so measured & respectful?
28
Contrarian you use big words but I'm not seeing any useful message there. The last part of the comment sounds like you are praising Trump for appreciating certain things that he would likely not even be able to spell, let alone appreciate. What actions has he taken that would make you give him that credit. Yes Obama is way more educated and intelligent that Trump, but you do not have to be educated to appreciate the arts - not sure why you threw that in, because the article does not say that - trying to "Trump-splain", maybe?
3
-- Mr Eggers
An excellent essay, replete with examples of how ALL previous presidents honoured artists in a totally non-partisan way.
I share your misgivings about Trump. His singular disdain for art does nothing but exacerbate our image of him as a souless crass materialist totally incapable of imagination and transcendence.
In light of Trump's hostility, I urge foreign artists to boycott the United States during this dark period in America's history.
The United States is no more deserving of concerts and exhibitions than the bellicose Soviet Union was of a successful Olympic Games in 1980 after the invasion of Afghanistan.
44
I disagree. Trump is not the US and the US is not Trump. Artists have always been welcome here, to the benefit of the artists and the art lovers.
Once here, anybody who dislikes Trump and his gang can feel free (still) to criticize him.
I saw a photo of the presidential library in the White House now that Trump occupies it. This is the absolute truth. The shelves were completely bare except for a couple of copies of The Art of the Deal, on stands so they were facing out, and a couple of copies of Art of the Deal CDs. That was it. Not one other book nor any musical CDs.
282
The surefire sign of a childish narcissist. I am surprised that he does not display his own arts and crafts he was forced to produce as a young schoolboy..... with a triumphant 'I DID IT MYSELF !' echoing in his mind.
17
"Music has charms to soothe the savage breast" said William Congreve centuries ago. The last thing Trump craves is to soothe his rage. It's been his driving force his entire life. Taking a respite from raging might misdirect him, and he knows it, consciously or otherwise.
Also, art is a personal experience. It brings one in touch with one's emotions. Trumps is all about transactions. He needs to win, so he needs someone to lose. If he feels anything for art, it would always be about its price.
8
Why does this not surprise me? The man is obviously crude, uneducated, devoid of aesthetic sense ( his hotels and - gasp - casinos are gaudy nightmares) and he is easily the most ignorant president we have ever had, at least since Jackson. I know this makes me one of the so-called elites that that ignoramus hates, but so be it. I still believe that knowing something of history is essential, and that the arts can be the expression of what is finest in the human race, so to know or care nothing about any of these things makes a deficient human being.
2
A very moving article. Mr.Dave Eggers has explained the importance of Art & Culture in mounding human character in simple, easily-imbibed terms.
SALUTE !
53
A very fine article Dave Eggers, thank-you.
The listing of all of the artists nearly left me breathless! The amazing and diverse array of brilliant talent, from painters to poets to Ella Fitzgerald, Robert Lowell and Bono reflect the best side of our Presidents and their choices have brought much joy to Americans. And Russians as well--I didn't know
Reagan brought The Brubeck Quartet to Moscow!
The love of artists is part of the package we must bring back with the next administration. I'll bet our next President will be honored to invite Dave Eggers...an innovative, compassionate and thoughtful man as well as a favorite writer of mine.
58
I use both the English and American definition of middle-class.It is the class of people below the .1% aristocracy and the working class. It is your doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists and other educated professionals.
The Trump presidency is the culmination of the war against the middle class. For almost 200 years America had a growing and vibrant middle class that grew to dominate all aspects of American life. The society I now see still has the world's largest best educated middle class but it is now called the deep state and is reviled by much of society. It is no surprise the arts receive little affirmation by a President and his party who reject middle class values, ethics and culture. The GOP has been actively destroying what the rest of the world knows as middle class for 50 years.
For those that remember Leadbelly's Bourgeois town was Washington and Trump's battle cry is destroy Washington.
America conquered the world on the strength of its empowered and ever expanding middle class Reagan put an end to the expansion and Trump is out to put an end to the empowerment.
78
If it can bring joy to life, today's GOP seems intent on snuffing it out. Defunding art, music, and theatre programs in schools has been achieved through slashing education funding. Libraries are being shuttered and books are being censored. The film industry is being attacked. Joy killing seems to be their main priority. Political leaders who attempt to make a populace miserable do not deserve to remain in office. Register to vote. Help your friends register to vote. Vote as if our lives depended on it, because they do.
253
@ADubs...I’ve often been of the opinion that Republicans are miserable, unhappy people possessed of a Puritanical mindset that perceives joy and comfort as sinful. However, the best encapsulation of the Republican ethos was said by H. P. Lovecraft (circa 1930s):
“As for the Republicans -- how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical 'American heritage'...) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.”
2
I've been saying for many years that more and more the world is being run by Killjoys. People who don't experience joy and have disdain for those who do, instead substituting power and possession for life's joy. And now America is leading the charge.
1
It's not surprising that the Reagans hosted so many performers, since, as actors by trade, Ronald and Nancy were both part of the arts.
Donald Trump was previously a figure from reality TV - a genre which should never be confused with performing arts and which, hopefully, will never elevate someone within cultural circles (even if it did help him, gulp, land the presidency).
42
To NM
An excellent point. Trump's participation in a very degraded form of television 'entertainment'-- the reality show -- speaks volumes for his lack of respect for the creative arts. What is so creative about a free-form genre with no script, all based on two bit spontaneity and chance ?
1
Oh so true! I was just thinking ... reminiscing ... the other day, about all the amazing artistic cultural moments we enjoyed throughout the Obama years, usually seen a month or two later via the ever-reliable and relied-upon PBS.
These were more than entertainment venues. They were learning opportunities that crossed traditional boundaries.
Maybe this is why the country is so angry, divided and in a funk.
(Sigh.)
63
Can you imagine having the great advantage of getting world class artists to perform in your house and choosing not to?
457
I was just thinking the same thing. Wow!
What an astute question to reveal so much of the character of the occupant of the White House!
1
The fact is that no self respecting artist wants to have anything to do with Trump. Recall the pathetic performers list at the inaugural halls. The White House is now a cultural black hole.
1
Golly, I wonder why? Could it be culture is lacking in America? With companies like Value software having a hard time deciding if a video game where a player can be an active shooter inside a school should be pulled, to Netflix putting up a movie some are calling child pornography, to Peter Fonda dragging the child of the President into an obscene rant. Golly, I wonder why? My niece just spent a year in the jungles of Guatemala working with the poor and I'm pretty sure she didn't miss the warm, fuzzy blanket of American entertainment.
8
Don’t confuse entertainment with art! The two frequently overlap, but are very different things. There is plenty of art being made right now: art that inspires and elevates: artthat enlightens and educates. It is true that when people are dying and families being torn apart, having an artist sing a song or read a poem in the East Room might seem trivial, but our shared culture is what binds us and helps us see the humanity in each other when political divisions make it so hard.
87
If the only examples of “art” you can think of are the hilarious ones you provided, no wonder you’re so angry and confused. Your human soul needs art so you can develop some empathy and widen your perspective. I urge you to read the great novelists and playwrights of the last and this century; to listen to American jazz, country, blues, and rock; to study the films of great directors and screenwriters that made American films the envy of the world; to go to our great art museums or even visit your local arts and crafts market; to visit a school when it presents a choir performance or band concert or a school play. See how the arts unites those children and brings out the best in them and their parents. It’s great that your niece is in Guatemala helping the poor, but it’s wrong for you to assume her work is more important than the artists who work hard, especially those in schools and poverty-stricken communities. Art saves lives, not just through giving people tools and skills, but also in giving them compassion and inspiration to keep going and reach out to others.
21
Good for your niece. My son spent 2 1/2 years in Guatemala with the Peace Corps. But he still found time to play the guitar with his new friends & neighbors, learn Guatemalan songs, buy lots of beautiful Guatemalan "tipica" & visit museums with Mayan artifacts. Art & culture transcend nationalities & countries. They are what live on after we're gone. They are the soul of a nation.
These things would be of no importance to a man like Donald Trump.
4
His hair is the only important piece of art
54
Clearly “Trumpe D’Oeil.”
3
There is no art in Trump’s soul. No love or compassion. Only dollar signs.
139
I'm afraid this man has no soul!
1
This is what I have noticed as wel and it is having wide spread effect. Everyone in America seems sad and flat and stressed all at the same time get rid of this guy already. I don't know how you are putting up with him this long. It is mind-boggling. He had done so many unethical immoral illegal things and you can't charge him with anything? ? In the mean time in the blink of an eye someone who has done something like protesting gets put into jail???
283
It's not just trump. He's stacked his cabinet (people who are supposed to serve the American people) with cheap, tacky grifters who are more interested in using SS with sirens to get to a restaurant, used mattresses (what's up with that?) 007 super secret phone booths, $53k tables and so forth. There's no room for culture when you are out to destroy the US from the inside AND make as much money as possible.
And then there are his enablers both in Congress and soon controlling the highest court in the land. They don't bat an eye or stop for a moment for some self-reflection much less make time for cultural experiences. Barbarians at the gate? no, Barbarians are in the house. senate and the people's house.
3
Insane, isn't it? Where is the "rule of law" in the US? How can someone so foul be in charge of the US govt and it's face to the world? What will he do next to bring down the post World War II order to the detriment of the US and the benefit of Russia? Can anything aside from the election in 2018 in November stop this?
3
Trump has zero appreciation of art and culture. I know many 6th graders who have more interest in art and culture than this pre-adolescent man possesses.
54
America can bring back Art to the White House by giving it a new coat of paint after the present residents have left the premises.
26
Myopic, unlearned and cruel sounds like a pretty apt description of the 45th president. True, there's probably a limited universe of artists/entertainers who would want to be around Trump, but it's as likely his own insatiable need to be at the center of attention that keeps him from opening the White House to people accomplished for something other than the billions of dollars they've amassed.
60
nope. it's a description of us.
Gertrude Stein's observation that "there is no there there" would have been applied to Trump if she had lived to see him.
66
I suspect that most artists dislike Donald Trump and what he stands for. Other Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, have had the grace to set partisan differences aside and welcome artists in celebration of art. Trump, who seems strangely incapable of overlooking or forgiving the slightest dissent or criticism, does not. He only tolerates the company of his sycophants. Around others he seems deeply uncomfortable or resorts to making a scene (witness the recent G7 talks).
In addition, why would he extend such an olive branch? He acts only out of self-interest, and there is nothing in it for him. He is an uncultured, illiterate man who has shown no personal interest in the arts, and even has been actively hostile to them. In the last budget he sought to completely de-fund the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which was more than even for his usual allies in the House and Senate could stomach.
87
As a liberal I just cannot believe how much Trump makes me miss Reagan and Bush. I am dumbfounded by how much I miss their basic common decency and adult behavior. Of course I took those good attributes of theirs for granted back then -- because nobody ever even dreamed back then that a childish boor like Trump could ever make it into office.
2
Interesting, and surprising, about the Reagans. Does anyone know whose doing that was?
On Trump -- well, as is so common, there's just nothing to do but shake your head.
9
Art is an elevation of something beyond self. The man occupying the Oval Office can't do that.
155
A Trump presidency is the paragon of our gilded age.
17
Reviewing our history and looking back to find parallels to see direction is quite valuable. The Gilded Age comparison works - there is extreme poverty and wealth, we are in a period of economic growth that is leaving many behind and the rich are getting richer. Corruption is rampant. After the Gilded Age we entered The Progressive Era with leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryant. Let’s hope this Gilded Age is at its tail end, a president who doesn’t read books and poses in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson regularly scares me.
6
Art, whether it be literature, music, or art itself is a connection to our soul and perhaps a connection to God. Since Trump has no soul is it not surprising art in Trump's White House is non existent.
45
This is a surprise? Look at the aesthetics of anything and everything Trump has ever touched. It's crass, gaudy, tacky and lacking any cultural value. As one critic noted about a Trump restaurant: it's a poor person's idea of where a rich person dines. Confronted with real artists and real aesthetics the Trumps turn tail and run … like real philanthropy, that's a club they cannot get into.
95
The Titanic is sinking, and Eggers is complaining about the band's choice of hymn.
10
No, his observation is that the ship is going down and there is no band to play and underscore the tragedy.
3
The hymn is "This Is America".
3
The only art that interests Trump are portraits of himself...
39
The mark of the true autocrat. Like Gaddafi and Saddam, for example.
1
Trump may be troubled that, but for the briefest moment, an artist would have the sole spotlight. This would be intolerable for a person of such bottomless need.
641
Sad, but seems pretty much to be true, based on how he's behaved so far. SIGH
1
Jeffrey, how insightful your comment! Thank you.
1
Support for the arts is a reflection of the culture: this is a philistine culture that is hostile art, to education, to reason, to scientific fact, to critical thinking, to the quality of life. It is a culture of grab and hoard, of getting yours first or doing without, of seeing what you can get away with, of phony compassion and blind faith. It is a banal, materialistic culture of people glued to IPhones and cable TV paying Comcast to watch commercials for things they don't want and don't need. A trip to Walmart is the penultimate cultural experience now in our land of lost benighted consumers.
30
To Xavi
Trump may be the nation's most visible philistine in a nation which has always regarded artists with bemused disdain. America has always required guaranteed financial profits in a reduced time scope. And most Americans scoff artists as irrelevant layabouts, mere playthings for a handful of East Coast élitists with deep pockets and ample leisure time. Nothing new under the sun, really.
1
Many artists would be unlikely to attend any ceremony or event - unable as they are to separate the office from the temporary occupant. Does Mr Eggers have kind or harsh words for them?
2
Those artists would be completely in the right and yes they deserve kind words. Your comment is akin to saying just because a kid gets beaten up by the bully every day he should also attend the bully's birthday party. Do you not see the difference between what the president is doing and how artists (and many others) are reacting? What Trump is doing is not politics, it is straight out bullying.
2
Mr. Eggers is a great novelist and he's right we should make appreciation of the arts more of a priority in our society. And Trump isn't helping to do this.
But there are other points to make on this topic. Many popular artists have become very political -- which is great if done in a respectful way -- but many exhibit rigid and exclusionary thinking toward viewpoints they disagree with. Like the point on immigration Mr. Eggers includes is pretty benign, but we've heard for a couple of weeks from prominent liberals how border control detention = Nazi concentration camps.
I trust independent thinkers more than "toe the line" liberals or conservatives. So it's always refreshing when an artist will surprise you with independent thought.
4
"but many exhibit rigid and exclusionary thinking toward viewpoints they disagree with" Like, don't separate children from their mothers? Like don't grope women? I think the exclusionary thinking you speak of is borne of crystal clear moral imperative in the face of this dumpster fire currently in the White House.
2
Engagement with the arts takes us out of ourselves and opens our minds to everything that is Not Us. All indications are that Mr. Trump is incapable of anything other than the most infantile self-absorption. His relations with those who are Not Trump is limited to the impact they have on him.
It is a character impossible to even discuss in relation to literature and music and painting.
16
a large portion of arts appreciation, particpation and even patronage comes through one's parents and then teachers and contemporaries.
raised like a boor, always a boor. perhaps if trump looked at the arts as a business he'd have a view. not an appreciation, but a view.
12
I have seen pictures of the interiors of his NYC apt and Mar a lago eastate. Ouch, wall to wall fake gold ormalou 17th centuary furniture, mirrors, tables chairs, and heavy curtains all to impress. Not a man of great taste, knowledge of the arts, art history, visual arts. Not to mention music and painting or sculpture. More like a newly minted dictator.
162
Yes ! Take a look at photos of Saddam Hussein's palaces just after his downfall. Full of kitschy rococo curves and filigree, redolent of the nouveau riche trying too hard to impress with flash and trash.
1
The president cares for only one art form: a long-running television drama, creatively written and loosely based on fact, starring (of course) Donald Trump, airing daily on Fox.
26
It's not that he is indifferent to the arts. That implies a consideration and a decision to be indifferent.
It's more about the whole person. Trump is common.That's his cardinal characteristic on which all his other descriptives hang. He is a coarse and common man ...a huckster.
There's no reason to delve into reasons as to why there is no "culture" in the White House.
The answer is simple. Trump is common.
40
Nice to hear good words about President George W. Bush. Thank you!
I seem to remember lots of folk condemning him as a Philistine at the time.
1
Let’s face it, the only art Trump would have any interest in would a portrait of him. Everything else is of no interest to him because it isn’t about him. If he ever gets to North Korea, he’s going to be apoplectic with envy when he sees the ubiquitous portraits of Kim Jong Un rendered in the peerless Soviet Realism school of sycophancy.
22
The final sentences about empathy strike a deep chord.
7
There are many people in this country who do not read either fiction or non-fiction. There are many who don't listen to music, be it contemporary or classical. There are also many, perhaps more, who don't understand poetry -- nor care to try. But you would have to look under a rock to find someone who doesn't at least do one of the three and then disparages people who do. Yup, yet half the country was dumb enough to look under that rock.
What a little mind the man must have if the only thing that interests him is himself.
101
Putting aside the fact that I cannot think of one major artist who would give Trump the time of day; or any major sports champion for that matter; one would have to wonder what the point would be?! Imagine some brilliant artist performing in the White House; is applauded for a brilliant performance; and then is subjected to listening to Trump talk for an hour about how he is the Greatest connoisseur of the arts in history . The hole in Trump`s soul will never allow anyone to outshine HIS MAJESTY!
61
You are mistaken. In the last year and a half, the President has raised mendacity, viciousness and self-destructive diplomacy to high arts.
42
I loved The Monk of Mokha. Followed up by reading The Coffee Trader, historical fiction by David Liss, set in Amsterdam around 1650
5
Sadly, the ‘arts’ are viewed as elitist by many in this country. Our current president appears to lack any appreciation of the arts and probably lacks the necessary attention span. The dark ages creep back.
26
Sociopaths appreciate art only when there's money to be made. Otherwise, not so much. Too much trouble to fake appreciation, knowledge and empathy for the Artist. Seriously.
30
I agree with the sentiments of all these comments, but I also have to remember that Goebbels, Goering, and many of the nazi hierarchy were very avid devotees of music and arts. Not sure what this indicates, but it did cross my mind when reading these comments.
1
It doesn’t matter if it’s classical or avant garde, Beethoven or Bono, Rembrandt or Picasso—a man without art is a man without a soul. And that man is President of the United States.
93
Thank you for bringing to light the cultural events brought to the White House by earlier presidents. Just the other day, I was thinking about how President Obama would visit bookstores with his girls in November and during summer vacations. He continues to share his reading lists and playlists with the public. The Obamas brought Spoken word events to the White House. I will never forget when Lin-Manuel Miranda told an incredulous President and First Lady he was working on a musical about "the life of somebody who truly embodies hip-hop: Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton." We all know how that worked out.
74
This is all fairly easy to understand. Artists create beauty, joy, intelligence,
drama and uplift our spirits and challenge our moral imagination. Trump
makes chaos, negative energy, and hurts people whenever he can. He is the total opposite of art.
64
The artists community has been sticking it to Trump from the beginning and they are wondering why they get no support from him?? Really?
5
It's. Not. Supposed. To. Be. Personal.
That's what the arts were centuries ago in Europe. Hence, "Un ballo in maschera" set alternately in Stockholm, Stettin or Boston, anywhere but Italy in the 19th century, just as an example. For Pres. Trump, everything is personal. If you support him, you're welcome. If not, you are persona non grata. It doesn't occur to him what would have happened to him if everyone else had treated HIM the way he treats them. He certainly wouldn't be a billionaire, assuming he is. Sadly, that is the way he wants all of us to interact with those we meet. If I like you, you're talented. If not, you're not. It is not true, and if instituted in most of our companies, will make them less competitive with each other, much less with corporations around the world, whose leaders will seek talent, not toadies.
16
Oh, I see. Art should be “above politics,” is that right?
The artist’s first job is honesty, an authentic portrayal of expression. True artists cannot be sycophantic props for a person they consider immoral. That’s the long and the short of it. Artists are private individuals with highly developed gifts for expressing their world views. They’re acutely aware of the influence of their very public voices. What artist in his right mind would want to identify him or herself with this inhumane administration?
Ted Nugent, I guess.
8
Exactly how has the "artists community" been "sticking it" to Trump?
Do you mean that people like Streep exercised their first amendment right to criticize him?
This is not about Trump "supporting" the Arts.
This article is really saying that in addition to every other deficiency he has, Trump is also lacking in the kind of soul that appreciates Art, the aspect of the human spirit that actually makes life livable.
It's about the fact that this appreciation was an aspect of every other president so far.
Except the one who thinks his Trump Tower apartment (appareled all in gaudy gold) is somehow "tasteful", instead being what it is, a monstrosity.
2
Trump's appreciation for art makes Saddam Hussein look like Cosimo De Medici. Whenever encountering a masterwork, he considers that he could have done better - if he wanted to of course - and if art itself wasn't such a waste of time and money, so, why invite anyone to the White House when they're basically just second-string Donald Trumps? The same applies to sports, science, or any other human endeavor.
19
John Kennedy said "I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for our victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but our contribution to the human spirit."
I'm afraid that in this area, too, Trump will become part of the dust bin of history, leaving nothing of value behind -- only a faked photo of himself on the cover of Time magazine, and a portrait hanging in a golf club for which he fraudulently had his so-called charity pay.
34
I remember reading a story about Trump and a fake Renoir. A journalist was flying with Trump on his plane (before he ran for president) and Trump said “Do you want to see my Renoir?”.
The journalist recognized the painting as a copy because he was familiar with the original and the museum it which it hangs. He said so but Trump would not concede that it was a copy. Later, the journalist sent Trump proof that his painting was indeed a copy but Trump would not accept this and on an even later occasion asked that same journalist if he wanted to see his “Renoir”!
Shades of the Inauguration and other alternative facts.
69
His lack of interest in artists is predictable: they are not rich. And money is his measure of worth ("...we got more money ... ").
He has no culture, no "class" - but he is "super-elite."
12
Art changes culture, so naturally those whose ethos is to impose their own culture on others fear it. On the other hand, at least Trump, his culture and his presidency stands for something - empty calories.
6
No artist can remain silent when the government is actually kidnapping babies in their name and the name of every citizen, so Mr Eggers does well to make that point after his informative tour of previous administration's efforts to promote the arts and celebrate outstanding artists. But that Mr Eggers thinks at all of accomplished artists and their temporary deprivations at this particular time strikes a discordant note, as he even admits. Then why strike it? At times like these serious artists are inspired and at their very busiest. And if not, then who needs 'em?
2
Only a person of great empathy could write ‘Zeitoun’ and ‘What is the What?’ Mr. Eggers, I thank you for these gifts. If only they could magically appear on a bedside table in today’s White House.
I remember reading that you and a number of other novelists were invited to the Obama White House. The changes since then have been staggering and anything but genius.
Please keep shining the light on what is good in us.
18
Given the man's lack of intellectual curiosity on practically any subject, including world history and the art of diplomacy, this is hardly surprising, but it is disheartening. I do however agree with the commenters who observed that most artists probably don't want to go near him.
14
"Every great civilization has fostered great art, ..."
And patrons have paid for it, yet Eggers is silent on the economics of art.
Further, Eggers fails to recognize that Trump has a strong aesthetic sensibility:
"Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks." ("Art of the Deal" by Trump and Schwartz)
However, the fundamental problem with this OpEd is that it can't decide whether to be satirical or just hateful.
3
I read "Art of the Deal" about 12 or 13 years ago. What struck me about it was how blatantly and sincerely Trump lays out his lack of taste or class. It's clear that he's clueless about it, and it's also clear that most people criticizing him haven't read the book. It's all you need to do to not be surprised by anything he's doing/not doing culturally. He details great battles with local Manhattan communities and can't understand why they would oppose a "big, beautiful glass tower" in their preserved pre-war neighborhood. He just can't see it. He can't relate to the mentality of subtle beauty or understated elegance, it seems. The fact that he ran for president is not going to magically change him into a tasteful citizen, but at least he could hire someone to do it for him.
36
Trump didn't actually write that, his ghost writer did.
3
I'm afraid who would show up. Less is more in this case. We'll get the arts back on track with the next President.
10
I have one theory that may explain at least some of this: Many of the performers and artists considered contemporary greats, from Jay-Z to Coates are African-American. I'm not a personal fan of rap/hip-hop but I don't think it's a coincidence that Trump isn't meeting with today's primarily Black music stars, visual artists, and public intellectuals the way that Obama did. Oddly, this article doesn't mention Trump's closeness with Kanye West, which says everything- Trump only wants African-Americans surrounding him when they condone the retrograde policies of his administration which most people of color in the US reject overwhelmingly.
9
And Kanye West is not an artist ! He is an unabashed musical scavenger,the champion of cut and paste sampling from previous pop artists who really knew how to sing or play a musical instrument. West and Trump, perfect together.
1
Fundamentally, art brings us outside of ourselves. Trump is so self-absorbed, he doesn't want to see any part of the world through someone else's eyes.
20
We elected not just someone who is ignorant and barely literate, but someone who finds intelligence objectionable. It should not be a surprise that there is a cultural vacuum in the White House because the only thing Trump cares about is numbers, money and outward appearances. Culture to Trump is interior design that looks like a house of ill repute and gold plating everywhere. The man doesn't have a subtle bone in his body.
But he is perfect for his base. A recent survey of Republicans noted that a majority thought higher education was bad for America. What have we come to?
You might as well write an article that there's a vacuum of respect for women or for human rights in the White House. Nothing should be more obvious.
But in spite of Trump's lack of affinity for art, Trump is probably good for art. When did we have the best popular music? In the 1960's and 70's when the counter culture developed to react to the war in Vietnam and in favor of civil rights. I don't think Trump has yet triggered the same kind of response from artists, but I'm hoping it soon comes.
24
He would have as much appreciation of music and the arts as he did when they were trying to explain some the finer points of the Constitution to him - which by all accounts was an eye rolling exercise for him!
15
May this emptiness be only a hiatus before the White House again welcomes the arts. If so, it's a chance for us to reflect on the kind of welcoming we want the White House to do.
The author writes, "It's crucial to note that the White House's support of the arts has never been partisan." Reaffirming that nonpartisan stance will be the first task after a period of vicious partisanship in everything touched by the President of the United States. Even if he and his cohort are swept away, the incoming opposition may be filled with a corrective ardor that makes it hard to pass up any opportunity for a political statement.
There will also be the perennial questions to revisit: how much to showcase the avant-garde, the traditional, the commercial, the esoteric; how much to consider the character of the artist who is to be honored with an invitation; what is the chief purpose of bringing the arts into the White House.
I'd say the chief purpose is to set an example of interest in the arts, not so much for the encouragement of artists as for the encouragement of all awakening minds. Many kinds of art should be recognized, but with the accent on accomplishment and not popularity. As for character, no woman-beaters, drug-abusers, or pedophiles should be welcomed, not matter how famous they are.
Finally, the president should appear in the office of courteous host and not the role of pal to the artist-guest. Exploitation should be kept to a minimum on both sides.
2
This article has been written without context. It must be remembered that the art and creative community has been extremely hostile to Donald Trump. His inauguration committee had difficulty finding performers to participate and if an apolitical group did agree to perform, they found themselves under intense pressure to withdraw. Around the same time, a group of designers announced that they would refuse to dress Mrs. Trump if asked. High profile denunciations of the President by entertainers and artists have been common. Audience members at Hamilton booed the Vice President and then the cast came out to publically scold him. If artistic events were held at the White House, it would be seen as an opportunity to repudiate Donald Trump, which would then would be widely covered by the media. Under these circumstances, it's unlikely that there will be many cultural events at this White House.
3
Well, even the business saavy Rolling Stones refused to perform for Trump even though he claims to love their music. The Stones have never been known for their civic-minded side, yet at least they possess a sense of posterity which Trump obviously lacks in both deed and form.
2
For the second consecutive year, Trump has proposed budget cuts to eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He did however propose $21 billion to fund his border wall over two years. This president has absolutely no appreciation for the arts, unless we consider his wall as an example of 21st century architecture.
69
"This president has absolutely no appreciation for the arts, unless we consider his wall as an example of 21st century architecture."
Trump has called the wall "a thing of beauty". So the wall is an example of taxpayer-funded art. The fact that the wall helps keep America safe is just a nice side-benefit. See, also:
Is Donald Trump, Wall-Builder-in-Chief, a Conceptual Artist?
By Michael Walker
Jan. 3, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/arts/design/is-donald-trump-wall-buil...
1
Art is culture; art is civility. Through art we learn of the world, whether it be through paintings, music, dance, prose and poetry, or the theater. It helps us to transcend the struggles and trials of life. We become empathetic of and compassionate toward all peoples, because we learn we are, after all, one in our humanity.
How I enjoy the yearly Kennedy Honors. How I enjoyed the thrill of seeing a Broadway production during those several times I visited New York City and its marvelous museums. And during his time in office, I eagerly awaited President Obama's regular book recommendations as published in this very newspaper. (Mr. Eggers, you were often on his "list.")
We can not expect the same from Donald Trump. For you see, he lacks culture and civility. He can not break away from his own head, his own inflated and warped ego, in order to reach out to people yet alone to art. The beauty of both is something he is not capable of comprehending. He is not unlike Narcissus himself. And it truly is a shame. Just think how much better our present political paradigm would be if we had a caring and loving human being in sitting in the Oval Office.
45
He may not be interested but we the people are, & art will save us. Thank you for putting this out there. Everyone needs to read, go see a live show, music or dance concert, watch movies even; it’s summer get outside & to the museums. Find out when things are free, stop & listen on the street or train platforms. Read another book, read the poems on the subway posters. Keep the creative intelligence going—it’s lasting. And it matters.
34
The arts, any of them, has no value to Trump because art has spiritual, not transactional value. Works of art can be valuable possessions but their true value is how they touch, how they explain us. To Trump and his people, it’s all about winning, beating, controlling, dictating. Art for art’s sake is for the true hated elites, the ones who seek to find meaning in life instead of owning or licensing it.
43
Why in heavens name should he have anything to do with those who hate him so much and who have so politicized entertainment?
3
Jerry Hough, I'm disappointed to see you going down the road of absolute faithful loyalty.
15
Yes, that must be it. Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Sylvia Plath, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Judy Garland, etc. -- they all hate him and his politics, even from the grave. Which is why he kept a book of Hitler's speeches on its nightstand. Yes, you really nailed it.
1
He can't host artist because no one, with the possible exception of Jon Stewart, would go.
Even the business leaders in Trump's much ballyhooed Whitehouse Advisory Councils only met him once before coming to the same sad conclusion that Rex Tillerson did and cutting all ties with the man.
75
The country's founders were all acquainted with the arts. Plays, opera, classical music, sculptures, paintings, books were ll a part of what they used to lay the foundations of the country.
Lincoln was a fan of Shakespeare, the 49rs who cam west for gold were not the uneducated roughnecks portrayed in the movies. One of their Their primary entertainments was opera, there were opera houses in almost all the towns. Pipers Opera House in Virginia City Nevada where the Comstock mine was, was world famous.
San Francisco famous for its Barbary Coast, was the cultural center of the west coast. A carpenter from from Pennsylvania who became a piano maker in Argentina, and a land baron in SF left his fortune to build the 120" telescope at Mt.Hamilton.
We are surrounded by the arts and science. One of the defining characteristics of sociopaths is their inability to understand and appreciate the arts. Their mentality has no understanding of the emotions and sense of life needed to create art. We see nothing of that in Donald the 1st's childhood. not even simple kids drawings, he can create nothing, only destroy, even the Goths had arts, he is an American Tamerlane, destroyer of culture.
I wonder how Picasso would have portrayed him?
46
sarah
You didn't think Reagan was busy being President? Kennedy? Bush Jr.? How odd!
Mr. Trump is busier playing golf at his own golf clubs at our expense than being President. But when he is President, he's doing what philistines do.
5
@sarah
Are you serious?
2
To be an artist, or to appreciate art, one must be able to self-reflect, or analyze one's own thoughts. Trump doesn't self-reflect, in fact, he avoids it. In a 2014 interview he stated, “I don’t like to analyze myself because I might not like what I see.” We don't like what we see, either, Mr. Trump.
367
Not for nothing, but as a sixty five year old, there's something I've noticed the past dozen years or so, that might be a tie in to this! I've lived and visited multi dwelling residences often. I rarely hear music anymore, coming from people's dwellings! From the Beatles to Brahms, just don't hear it! One might say, that's because people are plugged into their headphones! But, I think it's something more! The Arts use to mean alot in people's homes, but no more! Therefore, I think many people don't care, that the Arts do not flow from the White House, anymore! I agree with the article. This is sad. Very sad for our nation!
25
The music by headphones- it keeps neighbors from complaining, but it then ceases being a shared experience. And the expectation is that in multifamily dwellings, people are supposed to live in silence, I guess.
4
Trump has really bad taste.
However, the artistic world shuns Trump too. An example is the Correspondents' dinner, where he clearly was not welcome.
You can't both declare him anathema, and then complain that he stays away.
9
Mark, correspondents are artists? Can't you do better than that?
The mutual hatred that undoubtedly exists is Trump's responsibility. He never had any affection or appreciation for the arts and he has no taste except for garishness. See several previous comments for supporting evidence.
14
Trump could have attended the Correspondents' Dinner but declined. Which makes sense, seeing as he has declared the press (except for the folks at Fox) to be the enemy of the people.
And they would have made jokes about him, like Obama once did. Trump could never stand for that.
6
Yes I can.
Until I read this piece and, especially, saw the accompanying pictures, I never fully appreciated the redeeming features of some previous presidents that I thought I disliked and some of whose actions were anathema to me. The present occupant of the WH does not belong in such company.
92
sarah:
1. Huh?
2. Obama's recovery from the Bush non-regulatory catastrophe continues.
3. Obama's recovery continues.
4. Obama's campaign against ISIS has been largely successful.
5. Yes, billionaires. Do you truly love your $1.50/week tax cut?
6. Unfortunately, YOU elected him to destroy the people of this country and you are very satisfied with his progress and his taking credit for the actions of his predecessor.
3
Tax cuts are accruing massive debt for people (except the rich).
21
I have a picture of President Nixon at the grand piano, accompanying Pearl Bailey. The man may have been rotten but he definitely had a soul.
On the other hand, I'm convinced that everyone, including Trump's own family, knows that he's essentially an empty vessel, a black hole.
I recall how his children were all straining at the Republican convention to come up with some sentimental remembrance of their childhood experiences with this vacuous dad, and came up empty.
Truly pathetic.
4
Trump doesn't laugh and he has no sense of humor.
He doesn't own a dog or a cat.
He doesn't drink.
He doesn't read.
And he has no use for art or artists...(aside from the six-foot portrait of himself that the fake Trump Foundation purchased).
There's a pattern there revealing a comprehensive lack of humanity.
Donald Trump is only technically human, but the only thing inside him is a giant black hole....a vast empty dark space he tries to fill with money, his last name in GIANT letters, his Twidiotic Tweets, trophy wives and corrupt dictator 'best friends', and world-sized mirror reflected his own image.
There's no 'there' there.
There's a just a black hole that sucks in and destroys everything around it.
The Art of The Presidential Black Hole.
1383
He doesn't drink is part of a pattern revealing a lack of humanity?
1
His idea of beautiful is coal, just like his tiny, tiny heart.
3
Trophy wives? His wives have nothing other than looks. That's so last-century. The trend in trophy wives now is the whole deal- brains, accomplishments, beauty. Look at George Clooney's wife- gorgeous and stylish, but also an internationally known lawyer even before they met.
Even Prince Harry married a graduate of Northwestern University and acclaimed actress.
2
The fact that this president shuns and is shunned by the greater arts community actually gives me hope in a perverse way. It points to the near certainty that whatever trumpism is will actually be short-lived. Artists (even ones producing agitprop) capture the imagination and build mental and spiritual structures far more lasting than gaudy towers. In this way, I am fairly confident that trumpism will crumble in tandem with its sub-literate standard bearer.
92
Music and the performing arts can bring different people together to enjoy a shared experience of humanity in real-time. The arts can bring us out of our everyday lives and inner-selves to embrace something timeless, beautiful, and deeply moving.
President Trump views the world as zero-sum game and does not seek a shared human experience. He might become a fan of music if it could be used to manipulate voters. But he already uses Twitter and Fox News to achieve this objective. So, the arts remain irrelevant to Trump at this time (but that conclusion might change if he viewed the arts as an effective propaganda vehicle).
46
Yes, thank you for that. I have found myself wondering what seems so odd about this man. It isn't even his policies which are so backward, and hostile to people, but that he rarely speaks of anything which isn't self-referential. Never does he mention a book he has read, a film he has seen, any kind of music he has heard. He is oddly like a large city completely absent of any human life, like in a science fiction film.
I have to agree with another comment here. It is true that few artists of any kind would wish to visit the current White House which I think should be dubbed the Dark House until he is voted out.
529
President Trump can barely read, but Barack Obama is not only a reader but a superb writer. Obama's beautiful and insightful autobiography, Dreams From My Father is a classic of American letters that will be discussed and studied in university classrooms a hundred years from now. That's if we still have universities, and a United States, after Trump's destructive policies toward both.
312
It isn't that art makes us nicer. It's that art makes us more fully human.
Art can be irrational or amoral. Approving of or justifying art only when it makes us more moral or empathic is to deprive art of its power, and it's the power of art that Trump envies, usurps, degrades.
There is liberation in the aesthetic act and its reception. I have never felt more free than in moments when I am in the presence of great or wonderful art or in those moments when I gesture in my own limited ways toward making art.
This part of me is not and cannot be subject to Trump, and that is why he hates it. I understand why you would want to be apologetic about pointing out Trump's active disregard of art when his corruption, petty cruelty, epic mendacity, vindictiveness, ignorance, and putrid narcissism are laying waste to everything the best of America has aspired to. But by showing how this disregard is unique among presidents, Dave Eggers, you get at why despite my vehement political rejection of Reagan and W, I would still in a heartbeat choose either them over the disgusting, soulless bully now soiling the Oval Office.
Trump wants nothing good. Trump values nothing that requires practice, devotion, attention to detail, self-discipline, introspection. Trump wants nothing that would rebuke his greed, tastelessness, and vapid id. Trump feeds off fear and hatefulness, which are starved by art. Trump needs us mean and dumb, but art demands the best of us.
474
"Trump wants nothing good."
Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to "Make America Great Again". Is that not "good"?
JGW: Re: "Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to 'Make America Great Again'. Is that not 'good'?"
No. In the sense that Trump and his supporters mean it's very, very, very bad.
JGW, America was pretty great before Trump got out his wrecking ball.
Also, everyone knows that "Make America Great Again" is code for "Make America White Again." And that is not good.
1
Trump's absent interest in the arts was on full display throughout his residence in NYC, perhaps the most culturally rich, diverse, and alive city in the world. One thinks back to the Gilded Age, where many of the men who amassed great wealth (often in unappetizing ways) and who had little educational background, still had the curiosity and desire to school themselves and amass great collections of books, manuscripts, art, furniture, etc. These collections form the foundation of many of our country's great museums and libraries today. Trump socialized in circles that honored and supported this tradition - yet it made no impact (even prior to his running for office).
80
No, Lexi, you are misinformed. I grew up In Manhattan and can tell you that Donald Trump never socialized with anyone associated with the arts. He was considered a clown and cheap and vulgar. Particularly upsetting to pretty much everyone was his promise to donate the historically important Art Deco facade from the Bonwit Teller building. He was tearing down the building to errct Trump Tiwer on the site. The Metropolitan Museum of art wanted the facade for its American collection. Mr. Trump promised it and then had it carted off to a dump where it was destroyed.
7
As I recall, he got a lot of rejections when artists were asked to perform at the inauguration. The feeling toward him is mutual.
120
He doesn’t want artists to rob him of the spotlight. And then, of course, he is the ultimate performance artist, tv star and myth spinner. Don’t worry. He’s got the art thing covered like everything else he keeps winning at.
34
It’s impossible to imagine Trump supporting, or, even understanding, any music but a military march, or any painting but a portrait of himself.
113
Are you slighting Sousa and the like?! Many of us consider marches great musical Art! And I doubt, our President ever went to a Goldman Band concert!!!
4
Probably some of this is because he knows how much he’s hated in New York, the arts center of the country. Can you imagine him walking into a Broadway theater that he hasn’t totally bought out?
41
Or Hollywood.
3
How can one be a New York socialite, move among the rich and powerful, clink glasses at parties without attending galleries, music events, and theater performances? That makes no sense to me.
In fact, if I were rich in New York, I’d consider the happy opportunity of doing those things a huge benefit of my wealth. It’s very expensive to see plays and concerts these days.
He’s a black hole. He is proof one can be very rich and utterly poor at the same time.
17
He did at least once enter a theater. He sat in the row behind me at Book of Mormon. The entire theater was in a jolly mood during intermission and laughed throughout the show. The Don never cracked a smile.
18
Trump's level of interest in the arts is a reflection of his predominantly rural, less educated base, except that Trump doesn't seem interested in performers you'd see on the Country Music Awards.
18
VERY strong generalizations....
The arts celebrate the essence of humanity. They explore and express what is is to be human. The arts pursue a higher truth, a truth that cannot be defined, but only experienced. The arts are what will always separate us from the robots.
Art is a reflection of culture. They celebrate culture as it changes and evolves through time. As culture changes, the arts question those changes and provide experiences of it.
Those of us who have an appreciation of the arts are greatly enriched by them. Our lives are made whole by them.
Music may have existed before language, or at the very least, evolved along with it. Dance (ritual movement) certainly existed at the beginning of human culture as we could move before we could talk. The arts have been a part of us since we were us.
Trump is devoid of culture. Art is not a component of his life. Performance art, visual art, musical art are nowhere to be found in his public life. Most likely private also. His soul is empty and void.
That would explain his actions. Everything in Trump's world is transactional. Art isn't a transaction. It's a experience.
The lack of art and culture in Trump's life reveals to us that he is an empty shell. This links to anti-social personality disorder. He may have some type of serious sociopathy. This explains his lack of empathy. What kind of a person doesn't enjoy music?
Trump truly must be a shell of a man. I would feel sorry for him if he wasn't wrecking the world.
858
Bruce, I love your commentaries! I look for your musings after most op/ed pieces. Keep up the great work!
6
Trump also has no sense of humor and, especially, is unable to laugh about his own weaknesses and foibles. (Of course, in his mind, he doesn't have any) Laughter is another thing that makes us human -- so this is another serious deficiency in Trump's warped character.
Plus, he has never had a pet.
9
Appreciating art, of any genre, requires thought, empathy, understanding, and inquisitiveness. Great art lives on in perpetuity. One need look no further than the lines at any of the great museums of the world to realize the importance of art and culture. People hunger to learn the lessons of history, to learn the struggles of mankind, and to seek connection. DJT is far too lazy and self-centered to appreciate anything of beauty or of culture.
132
Unless it's slathered in gold paint.
4
All too true. Yet he becomes stronger each week as his opposition grows louder but weaker.
29
I have a newspaper clipping/photo of my younger brother playing the violin in a school ensemble or rehearsal setting. June 11, 1972, Chicago Tribune. The caption reads, "Is it right for these students of the Chicago school system to be cuddled and coddled in ensembles..."
Forty-six years later, there are still folks out there that think music, the fine arts, crafts ands theater are unimportant parts of learning and development. Is our society to be reduced to classes in accounting and computer coding?
295
I have often thought that, as part of an economic stimulus program, every public school should have a full-time art teacher and a full-time music teacher.
6
All though college, my mother begged me to take something useful such as accounting, economics. I persisted in taking art history classes, music, history. I had a very happy and productive career as a museum curator, from which I am now retired. I didn't listen, I didn't look back and I was never sorry that I took the direction I did.
6
When I was a child, my exposure to symphonies and art came through regular music class and art class. In the fifties, in Texas, of all places. A yearly trip to hear the Dallas Symphony, an art teacher who showed us famous paintings and took us outside to draw and be inspired in the shade of the trees.
To enjoy the arts, you have to be open to the world and to others, to things that are new and outside yourself. The arts express other people's feelings and beliefs. To be open to receiving those things, to "catch the ball that is thrown", requires a modicum of empathy and an interest in things outside yourself. That's beyond someone who can only measure others in terms of their reflection of himself.
339
This is a much-needed and thoughtful essay. A country that pays no attention to the arts may be on the brink of decline. Yet another marker of these dark times.
691
I agree. What puzzles me is Melania Trump's absence in this respect. She was interested in design and, I think, architecture. She should have some background in the arts. Why doesn't she have the WH concerts, receptions, etc. that would signal some modicum of awareness of the importance of the arts. It would humanize her a bit to the country and might even teach the old dog something, too.
I suspect we can see funding for the NEA, NEH, IMLS to atrophy and disappear.
1
"On the brink"?
If only.
4
He certainly doesn’t look to the celebrity culture for affirmation like many others, even if he does love media attention. He also is definitely different than previous politicians. A lot I like, some I don’t like, hard to figure out this man.
6
No, not so hard really.
5
The vast majority of artists are left-wing or at least live and interact mostly with left-wingers. The left collectively has a hatred of Donald Trump that, on a scale of 1 to 10, ranks about 50. If Trump invited many artists to come, the result 95 percent of the time would be: the artist declining publicly, using this new forum to condemn Trump; the artist accepting, then changing his mind when the backlash on Twitter comes; the artist accepting then using the opportunity to bash Trump.
Of course, in that atmosphere, Trump's not inviting hardly anyone.
20
The writer plainly explained that previous Republican presidents, even highly partisan ones, put their politics aside to celebrate the American artist. It seems that the one variable here is Donald Trump.
162
“Culture” isn’t limited to the fine and performing arts. Culture includes sports as well. And increasingly few if any athletes are willing to visit this White House, just like their counterparts in the arts.
74
So, you're putting Reagan with the "left"??
He appears to have invited the most artists of all political beliefs (though that should have little to do with being invited) than any other president.
18