Action 175. Dictator Chic
Background: In the wake of his ballroom fiasco, Trump has fired the entire Commission of Fine Arts (1). Their website is still up, but we can expect that it will be substantially revised to reflect the “Trump aesthetic and priorities”, which have been described as “dictator chic” (2). This aesthetic is repugnant to many of us, particularly those of us raised in New England, with our “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” values (3) and the restraint shown by our “old money” residents and institutions against flamboyant display (4). From destroying the Rose Garden, to the gilding of the oval office, to the Big Ugly Ballroom, to Trump’s notional “Arc de Trump” (5), “dictator chic” style has infested Washington at breakneck speed. It’s a direct, parvenue, “nouveau riche” affront to our citizens who are increasingly struggling just to get by. Trump claims that his excesses are being paid for by his private sector cronies. News: all of those cronies expect something in return, something that will benefit them personally or the companies that have made them obscenely rich. And it’s something we citizens are most likely paying for with our tax dollars, should we care to “follow the money”. This is not American government under our Constitution and the rule of law. This is the government of a banana republic, satisfying the childish and venal whims of an arrested-development tyrant. How much longer are we going to put up with it?
Action: Other than throwing your body in front of a wrecking ball or a bulldozer (definitely not recommended!) ridicule and satire may be the best remedy here. We know it gets under the thin skin of the megalomaniac (6). The technical term for this type of protest is “tactical frivolity” (7), but serious art also has always been a means of protest expression (8). One could envision a traveling “Maine rebels” art exhibit – maybe something like that is already developing “under the radar”. Let us know. If your art is musical, join Jesse Welles in creating memorable contemporary protest songs (9). Or, write a protest poem. Whatever your art form, you are sure to come up with something, either as a creator or a promoter.
Urgency: Ongoing until the nightmare is over, and then for years afterward. We need to keep factual history from going down the “memory hole” (10).
Extra Credit/References:
(1) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/29/trump-fires-arts-board-arc-ballroom
Perhaps the ballroom is a fantasy relating to his father’s hopes for the grand “pavilion of fun” at Steeplechase/Coney Island? https://www.cardcow.com/35266/coney-island-new-york-interior-pavilion-fun-steeplechase
(2) https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/trump-style-dictator-autocrats-design-214877 Worth reading!
(3) This saying is the title of a page on the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum website, which we predict will go dark soon, along with much of the rest of the publicly-accessible National Archives. Better do any planned research now, and archive as much as you can, before the Trump censors go to work.
(4) “New money, Bobby, is old money that got away” – cartoon by William Hamilton, New Yorker, 1988. Pride in restrained style used to include Republicans – see Nixon’s comment about his wife’s “cloth coat” https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/richardnixoncheckers.html
(5) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-new-arch-resembling-arc-de-triomphe
(6) https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5550506-trump-ludicrous-satire-efforts/
(7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_frivolity
(8) https://www.myartbroker.com/collecting/articles/art-as-activism
(9) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Welles https://www.wellesmusic.com
(10) https://www.enotes.com/topics/1984/questions/the-concept-of-the-memory-hole-in-1984-3128763
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
ACTION 175 ADDENDUM
This morning around 6:30 I read Emanuel Pariser’s invaluable newsletter. If you want more important and relevant things to do, I suggest getting on his mailing list. Contact him at emanuel.pariser@gmail.com. Here’s the part that’s relevant to Action 175: please send it along.
Arts and Politics!
Fall of Freedom "is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. Our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising. Dissent is being criminalized. Institutions and media have been recast as mouthpieces of propaganda.
This Fall, we are activating a nationwide wave of creative resistance. Beginning November 21–22, 2025, galleries, museums, libraries, comedy clubs, theaters, and concert halls across the country will host exhibitions, performances, and public events that channel the urgency of this moment.” (from their website) They have a toolkit to help with creating graphics, posters, events to join the Art Resistance.