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Editorial | All rise for our fearless leader

President Donald Trump became the chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts following a unanimous vote from its board of trustees — a board that notably did not include the 18 trustees appointed by Democratic presidents, who had been purged by Trump the week prior.

Chairman Trump envisions a Kennedy Center that moves away from “woke culture,” or in other words, a cultural center that only exhibits artistic performances approved by the president and his regime. Like many things that Trump has done, this is the behavior of a fascist.

A free country cannot thrive without a counterculture, without criticism of the people in charge. Trump’s henchman Elon Musk complains endlessly on Twitter about censorship and free speech, and yet he and the people he has aligned himself with are dictating what art is allowed to be expressed based on a political agenda.

It is time to recognize that Trumpism is the infancy, or perhaps now the adolescence, of fascism. Asserting political power over artistic expression, fetishizing deportations and nationalism, and claiming that the leader of our country is explicitly above the law are all undeniable and obvious tenets of a state headed toward totalitarianism.

There are many roads to take from here, some better than others, but the only way to shift from the current path is to recognize Trump for what he is. No more claiming liberal panic or downplaying the truly heinous decisions Trump has made during his first month in office — this is the work of a man who cares about power and ego and nothing beyond that.

Every time you see a tweet from the White House or read a headline in the news or watch a speech from our president and think to yourself that something isn’t quite right, don’t write it off as paranoia. If something walks like a fascist and talks like a fascist, it’s not overdramatic to call it a fascist.

Fascism was not defeated in 1945. Though many of us have learned from the mistakes of our global history, not everyone has, and not everyone learned the same lessons. The Nazi party was not a unique or unrepeatable evil, and the only real tool we have today that the Germans didn’t in the 1930s is a greater ability to recognize a fascist when we see one.

There are laws and there are people who can hinder a tyrant and undo the hate Trump has already caused in his first month in office. But it requires treating the threat like it really is — not a mean tweeter or a greedy businessman or an orange moron, but a man who desires power and knows what it takes to maintain it.

The Kennedy Center is only one indicator of the future Trump desires. Trump had a unanimous appointment from the board for his position of chairman — an appointment that on the surface may sound democratic. But only when he ousted his political opposition and filled their seats with his own party loyalists did all rise for our fearless leader.

The Pitt News editorial is a weekly article written by the opinions editors in collaboration with all other desk editors. It reflects the collective opinion of the current Pitt News editorial staff.

TPN Editor-in-Chief

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