How do Sly Stallone and Gloria Gaynor describe Donald Trump and his government?
US: Cultural elites would love to sniff at the Kennedy Center awardees, according to President Donald Trump.
After motorcycling to the site Wednesday via streets now monitored by federal agents and army reservists on his instructions, he enjoyed revealing the stars he will honor at the renowned arts center’s annual banquet later this year.
Much about him, his authority, and the reasons why his presidency are explained by the lineup.
More popular than “high” culture are “Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone, Broadway great Michael Crawford, disco icon Gloria Gaynor, country artist George Strait, and glam rock group KISS.
This is not to imply that they lack merit. Who could deny that Stallone’s influence on his art form was “indelible”? That is among the requirements used to choose candidates. Additionally, under presidents of both parties, the popular arts have been a trend among Kennedy Center recipients for decades.
Trump was laying a trap for his political opponents as usual
His followers will adore him as the ultimate outsider, and any criticism of his picks as being too lowbrow or unworthy would simply serve to reinforce his claims of being a scourge of the establishment.
In the first year of his chairmanship, US President Donald Trump said he would host the Kennedy Center Honors, which would be given to singer Gloria Gaynor, rock band Kiss, and actor Sylvester Stallone, among others.
Trump’s appropriation of the Kennedy Center and his attempts to undermine progressive ideals in academia, the arts, and other institutions are seen by his detractors as cultural warfare.
Declaring that he had scouted his list for “wokesters,” he essentially concurs. He acknowledged that he had even thought about honoring himself by leveraging his recently acquired control over the citadel of American cultural life.
Given the progressive slant of the capital area, it is understandable that critics—including, undoubtedly, many liberal Kennedy Center subscribers—perceive a potential tyrant who seeks to control and govern every facet of American society.
Honorees are seldom chosen by presidents. You would think that the most powerful guy in the world would have more important things to do. The majority of chief executive officers just host a White House event and attend.
Trump, however, consumes pop culture insatiably and is exceptionally adept at using it to further his political agenda. His life and political career are executive produced by him. He thus had no intention of turning down the opportunity to stage-manage this performance, and he even had plans to emcee the broadcast event himself. He said that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had pressured him into it. She most likely didn’t need to persuade him for very long.
Artistic politics
More significantly, Trump’s aggressive takeover of Washington institutions and his “Make America Great Again” campaign will win another significant triumph with the Kennedy Center Honors.
Regarding the selection process, Trump said, “I would say I was about 98 percent involved.” “No, I went through them all. I declined a lot. They were too forward. I had a few wokesters, so I turned them.
This has a significant political component
Many conservatives, including Trump’s base backers, think that liberal elites have been pushing Americans to the left for decades by establishing an ideological takeover of a variety of spheres of American society, including the media, the arts, academia, and even sports.
Near President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 17, a Trump fan dons a Trump mask.
Millions of Americans were furious about this, and it was evident at Trump rallies throughout his three successive campaigns. Voters favored a politician who was derided by affluent Manhattanites for his ostentatious behavior. For this reason, Hillary Clinton’s misguided 2016 remark that Trump voters were “deplorables” became a source of prestige and authority for the president.
Trump’s supporters believe he is reclaiming important political and cultural institutions, while his detractors lament what they perceive to be a takeover. On conservative media, broadcasters criticize socially aware NFL or NBA players for “ruining sports” or movie stars for disparaging Hollywood with their progressive viewpoints.
In the past, a supposedly nonpartisan group of prominent figures from the entertainment and arts sectors selected Kennedy Center honorees. Try persuading a conservative, however, that these justices were impartial because they came from the liberal arts culture that Trump is attempting to dismantle by seizing control of the Kennedy Center.
In yet another display of his unbridled power, Trump acknowledged that he was politicizing it as he hailed his control of yet another leftist stronghold. He stated, “I shouldn’t make this political because they went down the tubes after making the Academy Awards political.”
“They’ll say, ‘Trump made it political,’ but I think if we make it our kind of political, we’ll go up, okay?” the president said.
Trump sought to be humorous, but his actions are dangerous.
His seizure of the Kennedy Center would be odd, if not outright strange, on its own. It’s more concerning when seen in the context of everything else he is doing. He has used the Justice Department as a weapon against his political rivals, including Obama administration officials. Authoritarian dictators’ strategies are mirrored in Trump’s federalization of the DC police, the National Guard’s presence on the streets of the capital, and his ceaseless attacks on judges.
On June 9, 2014, visitors examine an elephant next to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum’s main entrance.
In preparation for America’s 250th birthday next year, the government intends to remove Smithsonian displays that don’t align with Trump’s conservative views. It seems as if he is attempting to regulate what Americans see, study, and even do in their free time via his assaults on the media, his efforts to control the curriculum of prestigious colleges, and his influence over the Kennedy Center.
How Trump is reflected in his honorees
Since all of the awardees represent facets of Trump’s own personality and background, it is simple to assume that he personally selected them.
Political correctness was crushed underfoot by the gruff people Stallone portrays, such as Rocky Balboa and John J. Rambo. The fact that Trump recognizes himself in them is obvious. “I will tell you that he is a little bit unusual and a little bit harsh. Trump said, “He’s a little tough guy,” adding that Stallone too had his star in Hollywood cement. “They claim that a man by the name of Donald Trump is the only one with a larger name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
A giant of rural America and a huge recording success known as the “King of Country,” Strait’s traditional sound recalls the type of down-home charm that Trump aims to imitate.
The president’s love of musicals is shown by Crawford, who appeared in the original Broadway and London versions of “Phantom of the Opera.” The program was popular in New York in the 1980s, much like Trump. Additionally, while the Andrew Lloyd Webber music was very popular with the general public, stylish elites saw it as mass market.
Michael Crawford, actor, in the May 22, 1981, musical success “Barnum”
Crawford is also well-known for playing PT Barnum, a 19th-century ringmaster, showman, entrepreneur, and tycoon whose carnival-barker persona predicted Trump’s. “There’s a sucker born every minute,” which is “Barnum’s” most well-known line, encapsulates the business philosophies of a hero known for PR stunts and frauds that confused reality with fiction. Does it sound familiar?
Known for their extravagant stagecraft, KISS is a band with a platinum record collection.
And Gaynor’s greatest song, “I Will Survive,” is the best hymn for Trump’s life of commercial, political, and personal problems that almost but never quite kill him.