Trump's Going After Museums

I am outraged.

National Endowment for the Arts grants have been canceled. Many cultural and art institutions across the country have received letters informing them of their grant cancelations. This is will affect so many museums, historical sites and community programs. They were told the government would be “repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the president’s agenda.” The NY Times reports: “The legal basis for the cancellations remains unclear. Observers have noted that the creation and funding of state humanities councils was specifically mandated in the legislation passed by Congress.” This is an attack on history, on arts, on community.

Trump’s tariffs are wreaking global havoc, causing confusion and fear. The stock market plunged again today, the worst since 2020. I think Trump’s gamble is crazy and will result in an economic mess. Surrounded by yes men, no one would tell him how bad this would be. But he is enjoying the power, making the world squirm and bow at his feet.

Someone please stop him.

Good news? The Pentagon’s acting inspector general will review Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal recenlty to share classified war plans to a group of Trump’s cabinet…and Atlantic editor Jeff Goldberg. The inspector general is doing this in response to a bipartisan request from Congress to look into what happened.

Trump fired six national security staffers today after meeting with far right activist Laura Loomer. She identified indivduals whom she considered potentially disloyal. The Guardian reported, “The firings included three staffers who had been brought on by national security adviser Mike Waltz – an extraordinary situation where Loomer appeared to have more sway over NSC personnel than the official in charge of running the agency. It also undercut Waltz’s position to have his allies axed from under him.” Laura Loomer is the nutjob who came into Trump’s orbit during the campaign, a racist who said that the White House will “smell like curry if Kamala Harris is elected.”

I feel like we are living in a nightmare. We are. Do we have enough judges to stop all this?

Much commentary right now in the media suggests that as Trump continues to do what he is doing, along the lines of the things mentioned above, he will become so unpolular that it will be his undoing. A dictator is successful only when he is popular.

There is a lot more bad news today, but I will stop here. I look forward to all the protests around the country on Saturday. Maybe there will be demonstrations around the world.

On another note:

I was walking in Manhattan yesterday and noticed a whole street blocked off to traffic by police. Curious, I walked down the street to see what could be the reason. A parade? Nope. Trump tower. That thing in that says “STOP” on it is one of those barriers that emerge from the concrete street.

Thanks for being here, see you tomorow. Sorry this post was such a bummer. After Booker’s speech, it’s hard to take. But at least we have Americans like him doing what they can.