The Degeneration of Culture: Trump, the Smithsonian, and the Legacy of Nazi Artistic Suppression
The Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum, education, and research complex, stands as a symbol of the importance of preserving cultural heritage, fostering intellectual growth, and providing public education. Founded by Congress with a bequest from British scientist James Smithson, the Smithsonian’s mission is “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” a purpose that is more vital than ever in a world where the control and suppression of knowledge, particularly in the arts, are on the rise. With 21 museums and a significant educational outreach, the Smithsonian holds a prominent position within both American and global cultural landscapes.
Under the Trump administration, however, the Smithsonian, like many other cultural institutions, faces political influence aimed at reshaping the portrayal of American history and art. This modern attempt to manipulate cultural and historical narratives echoes the actions of totalitarian regimes, particularly Nazi Germany. Under Adolf Hitler, the Nazi regime sought to eliminate “degenerate” art, reshaping Germany’s cultural landscape according to its authoritarian, nationalist ideologies. The efforts to control and distort art, history, and culture in both Nazi Germany and the United States under Trump raise disturbing questions about the power of art in shaping political realities and the dangers of its manipulation.
Nazi cultural policy, based on Hitler’s vision of a homogeneous society, sought to eliminate art deemed “degenerate” and control all cultural expression. The arts became tools for propaganda, used to promote Nazi ideology. Artists whose work deviated from the regime’s prescribed aesthetic, focused on realism and nationalist themes, were either censored or silenced. The 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich epitomized the Nazi regime’s war on modern art, portraying it as a perversion of the "true" German spirit. The exhibition, which showcased works by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Marc Chagall, many of whom were Jewish or left-wing, mocked modernist art and portrayed the artists as mentally unstable, immoral, or anti-German (Bauer 134). This public humiliation extended not only to the art itself but to the artists, many of whom were marginalized or forced into exile.
The Degenerate Art Exhibition was part of a broader Nazi effort to impose state-sanctioned control over cultural expression. The Nazis also held the Great German Art Exhibition to display art that conformed to their ideals: heroic Aryans, idealized landscapes, and state glorification. This use of art to shape political narratives was central to Nazi efforts to control public consciousness (Gellately 79).
Although the Trump administration is not destroying artworks as the Nazis did (yet), its approach to reshaping the national cultural narrative bears alarming similarities. Trump’s policies toward the Smithsonian and other cultural institutions reflect a growing effort to suppress, distort, or eliminate narratives that did not align with his populist, nationalist agenda. From the outset of his administration, Trump and his allies critiqued and pressured museums and educational institutions for presenting political perspectives on issues like race, inequality, and social justice.
One prominent example of this ideological control was the attack on the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. These museums were criticized for presenting frank discussions of America’s darkest aspects: slavery, racism, genocide and systemic inequality. Trump and his supporters often accuse these institutions of promoting a “liberal agenda” that “divided” the country.
Trump took the unprecedented step of auditing museums under the Smithsonian umbrella to assess whether their exhibits were sufficiently “patriotic.” This audit followed a controversial report criticizing these institutions for failing to reflect Trump’s vision of American exceptionalism, which downplays the country’s history of slavery and the genocide of Indigenous peoples (Gormley 33). Additionally, the Trump administration’s rhetoric against the arts coincided with significant budget cuts to federal programs funding cultural institutions, such as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). These agencies, which support museum exhibitions, scholarly research, and public art programs, faced grave threats under the Trump administration.
In January, the administration took decisive actions to reshape the nation’s cultural institutions. On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order mandating a sweeping review of federal funding for the NEA and NEH. The order required these agencies to align their grant programs with “patriotic values,” effectively suspending or canceling funding for projects addressing themes such as social justice, inequality, or other “divisive” issues. Internal memos revealed that proposals critiquing traditional American narratives were flagged for further review or outright rejection.
In February 2025, the administration extended its efforts to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Trump issued a directive overhauling the Center’s programming and board structure. Conservative individuals were placed in key positions, ensuring that future events would reflect a nationalist, “unbiased” perspective, as defined by the administration. Trump publicly lambasted the Center’s previous programming, calling some productions “un-American” and “politically biased.” These actions illustrate a broader strategy: by consolidating control over cultural institutions, the administration sought to suppress dissenting artistic voices and promote an ideologically narrow view of American history and identity.
Both the Nazis and the Trump administration sought to manipulate history through the control of cultural narratives. The Nazis understood that shaping public understanding of history was essential to maintaining power. The Degenerate Art Exhibition was just one example of how they used art to dictate cultural discourse. By labeling modernism as degenerate, they attacked not just art but a worldview that rejected their totalitarian ideals. They constructed a sanitized, nationalistic version of history that erased the suffering and complexities of the past, promoting a vision of Germany that was racially pure and free of "degeneracy" (Assmann 47).
Similarly, the Trump administration seeks to rewrite history, particularly regarding the treatment of Black Americans and Indigenous peoples. Exhibits focusing on systemic racism or slavery are often attacked as divisive. Trump’s rhetoric about America’s “greatness” and his minimization of its violent history against marginalized groups reflect a desire to control the national narrative. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is especially targeted, with conservative critics accusing it of pushing “divisive” views. Its exhibits, which focus on slavery, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement, disrupt the narrative of American exceptionalism.
Trump’s attempts to control the cultural and historical narrative are also evident in his attacks on education. The 1619 Project, initiated by The New York Times, seeks to reframe American history through the lens of slavery and its long-lasting impact. Trump and his allies are pushing back against the project’s historical accuracy, attempting to suppress its inclusion in school curricula. Trump’s speech accusing the project of attempting to “brainwash” students echoed the Nazi regime’s efforts to control the interpretation of history in order to shape public consciousness (Taylor 97).
Both the Nazi regime and the Trump administration centralized cultural power in the hands of the state, enforcing ideological conformity through art and cultural institutions. The Nazis used art to reinforce their ideological narrative, promoting state-approved values and rejecting alternative viewpoints. Similarly, Trump’s attacks on museums, public art programs, and historical narratives reveal his desire to control the American cultural landscape. By pressuring museums and artists to reflect his vision of America, Trump seeks to manipulate how the public understands the nation’s history and identity.
The systematic attacks on the arts under both the Nazi regime and the Trump administration serve as chilling reminders of the power art and culture hold in shaping political realities. While the Nazis sought to control public understanding of history, identity, and society through the manipulation of cultural institutions, the Trump administration similarly seeks to reshape these narratives in the present day. In both cases, the destruction or suppression of art was not merely an act of censorship; it was, and continues to be, an effort to erase diverse voices from the national conversation.
The Smithsonian and other cultural institutions stand as guardians of the diversity of thought and expression that define democratic societies. However, history shows that these institutions are vulnerable to political forces seeking to suppress uncomfortable truths and promote a singular narrative. The ongoing battle to preserve the integrity of the arts and the freedom of expression is a critical struggle in the face of authoritarianism and political manipulation.
References:
Assmann, Jan. The Holocaust: A New History. University of Chicago Press, 2015.
Bauer, Susan. The Nazi War on Art: Cultural Purge in the Third Reich. University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Gellately, Robert. The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933–1945. Oxford University Press, 1990.
Gormley, David. Museums Under Siege: Cultural Institutions in the Trump Era. Journal of Cultural Policy, vol. 23, no. 2, 2018, pp. 30-55.
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Haymarket Books, 2016.
Thank you for illuminating the eery parallels. Since learning of the Trump administration’s dissolution of the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities (on this Substack), and the subsequent takeover of the Kennedy Center, the scrubbing of certain words from government websites, the designation as English as the official language, the mandating of “classical” architectural standards, the silencing of the Voice of America, and now, the Smithsonian takeover, I fear we are in the midst of the greatest culture war, a systematic cultural cleansing, if you will, that may be a more insidious attack on the American ethos than anyone can imagine. For further context to your excellent post, I would recommend to your readers the film, The Rape of Europa. Yes, it can happen here.
I was shocked to hear about it this morning, and yet, not hugely surprised. Book banning has been going on for the last few years in the US, it was only a matter of time it would become obvious. They're following the Fascism playbook.