Sorry, Mr. Godwin, It Looks Like We're Going to be Wearing You Out

Here is a particularly horrible specimen of what to expect from the coming Trump era, from a piece by Frank Lewis, at Renew America, motivated by the refusal of most real musicians to have anything to do with the Trump Coronation Inaugural.  I will quote from it at some length, as it is so malignant:

"Why would elitist, high-brow opinions of what is good or bad art matter to you, Ivanka? There are many, many artists, musicians, actors, etc out there who are ignored and discarded by the elite. You have a chance to get rid of this elite anti American structure and "drain this swamp" and recognize a totally new cadre of Americans in the arts who emulate the America your father's supporters are, for the most part, demanding.

Remove their artwork from your walls, as they demand. Ivanka, burn it all! Throw it all out. Replace it all with artwork that is equally great but is not sanctioned by the Leftist Liberal Elite who have set themselves up as the experts since right after VJ Day. Think of it as reversing executive orders. Easy! Hire patriots to head these institutions. Patriots can have sophisticated tastes.

Don't hire these "A-list" musicians. Their music, for a large part, is in poor taste anyway. Much of it promotes an America I do not want to live in nor leave for my grandchildren. Their lifestyles are trash as well. Get some great musicians who endorse and live out the same beliefs that you tell us you do." 

Remind you of anything from any particular time in history?  If not, you might find this interesting:

"Degenerate art (German: Entartete Kunst) was a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe Modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German, Jewish, or Communist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were subjected to sanctions. These included being dismissed from teaching positions, being forbidden to exhibit or to sell their art, and in some cases being forbidden to produce art.

Degenerate Art also was the title of an exhibition, held by the Nazis in Munich in 1937, consisting of modernist artworks chaotically hung and accompanied by text labels deriding the art. Designed to inflame public opinion against modernism, the exhibition subsequently traveled to several other cities in Germany and Austria.

While modern styles of art were prohibited, the Nazis promoted paintings and sculptures that were traditional in manner and that exalted the "blood and soil" values of racial purity, militarism, and obedience. Similar restrictions were placed upon music, which was expected to be tonal and free of any jazz influences; disapproved music was termed degenerate music. Films and plays were also censored.

Hitler's rise to power on January 31, 1933, was quickly followed by actions intended to cleanse the culture of degeneracy: book burnings were organized, artists and musicians were dismissed from teaching positions, and curators who had shown a partiality to modern art were replaced by Party members. In September 1933 the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Culture Chamber) was established, with Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Reichminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda) in charge. Sub-chambers within the Culture Chamber, representing the individual arts (music, film, literature, architecture, and the visual arts) were created; these were membership groups consisting of "racially pure" artists supportive of the Party, or willing to be compliant. Goebbels made it clear: "In future only those who are members of a chamber are allowed to be productive in our cultural life. 

Is there anyone that would not find this comparison chilling, or who would argue at this point that it is unfair to see a similarity here?  The stupid and hateful among us have really let a genie out of the bottle, and I do not have a clue how to get it back in, without the result being horrible violence and disruption, and the end of the United States as we know it.  At least out here in California, we will be able to take care of ourselves economically and culturally.  I shudder to think what is going to happen in the South when they are deprived of the pipeline sending our money to them.  Luckily, the will at least, courtesy of Mexico and their own industriousness, not suffer a shortfall of methamphetamine or Oxycontin.