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Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Trump moves to lift visa restrictions for Argentina in a boost t his right-wing ally
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The United States and Argentina on Monday announced that they are working on a plan to allow Argentine tourists to again travel to the U.S. without a visa. It probably will take two to three years before visa-free travel becomes a reality for Argentine passport holders, but the Trump administration's move to kickstart the process marked a show of support for President Javier Milei, its staunchest ally in South America and a darling of conservatives around the world. The gesture coincided with a visit by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, for closed-door meetings with Milei and his officials. Noem signed the statement of intent alongside Security Minister Patricia Bullrich in Milei's office. Noem, on horseback at the country's sprawling Campo De Mayo army base and donning a cowboy hat and jeans, told reporters that the Trump administration would put Argentina on an 'expedited path' to enrollment in the Visa Waiver Program. Still, she cautioned that securing approval within the next year 'would be very difficult,' according to a White House pool report. The Department of Homeland Security praised Milei for reshaping Argentina's foreign policy in line with that of the U.S. 'Under President Javier Milei's leadership, Argentina is becoming an even stronger friend to the United States — more committed than ever to border security for both of our nations,' the statement said. This first step toward waiving visa requirements for Argentines, it added, 'highlights our strong partnership with Argentina and our mutual desire to promote lawful travel while deterring threats.' The department cited Argentina as having the lowest visa overstay rate in the U.S. of any Latin American country. The removal of rigorous U.S. visa requirements — particularly at a time when President Trump is tightening restrictions for foreign nationals — would offer a symbolic victory to Milei, a self-described 'anarcho-capitalist' who rose to power as a far-right outsider mimicking Trump's war-on-woke rhetoric and skillful use of social media. When he became the first world leader to visit Trump after the U.S. election, Milei pranced around Mar-a-Lago like an excited school boy. At the Conservative Political Action Committee convention in Washington in February, he gifted billionaire Elon Musk a bureaucracy-slashing chainsaw to support his DOGE campaign to eliminate government waste. When not riding the far-right, pro-Trump speaking circuit, Milei is focused on straightening out South America's second-largest economy after years of turmoil under left-wing populist rule. Through tough budget cuts and mass layoffs, Milei has succeeded in driving down Argentina's notorious double-digit inflation. The last time Argentines didn't require a visa to enter the U.S. was in the 1990s under another free-market devotee, the late former President Carlos Menem. Menem's neo-liberal reforms and pegging of the peso 1 to 1 to the U.S. dollar destroyed Argentina's industry, exacerbating poverty in what a century ago was one of the world's wealthiest countries. In the crisis that followed, the U.S. reimposed visa restrictions in 2002 as young Argentines seeking to flee misery lined up at European embassies and began to migrate illegally to the U.S. 'Argentina has had the advantage of the program before, and they're looking to get back on track and reenrolled,' Noem, who grew up on a farm in rural South Dakota, said while feeding sugar cubes to a dark brown horse named Abundance, according to the pool report. When pressed about her talks with Milei, she was short on specifics, saying they discussed security partnerships and 'the business we could be doing together.' She said she appreciated Milei's 'embrace' of Trump's policies. The Argentine presidency described Monday's preliminary agreement as 'a clear demonstration of the excellent relationship, based on trust' between Milei and Trump. After riding Abundance through the grassy fields of the army base, Noem rejoined U.S. and Argentine officials for asado — the traditional meat-centric barbecue and a national passion. She is the third member of Trump's Cabinet to meet Milei in Buenos Aires this year, after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. More than 40 mostly European and wealthy Asian countries belong to the exclusive club that allows their citizens to travel to the U.S. without a visa for up to three months. However, border officers have the power to turn anyone away. About 20 million tourists use the program each year. Currently, Chile is the only Latin American country in the program. Overseas travel to the U.S. plunged in the early days of Trump's return to the White House as tourists, especially from Latin America, feared being caught in the administration's border crackdown. Some canceled travel plans to protest his foreign policy and anti-immigrant rhetoric. But those numbers began to rebound in April, with more than 3 million international arrivals — 8% more than a year earlier — from countries other than Mexico or Canada, according to the International Trade Administration, an agency under the U.S. Department of Commerce. In addition to clamping down on the southern border, Trump has put up additional obstacles for students, tourists and others looking to travel to the U.S. His recently passed 'big, beautiful' bill of domestic priorities calls for the enactment of a new 'visa integrity fee' of $250 to be charged in addition to the cost of the visa itself. Travel industry executives have expressed concern that the charge could drive away tourists who contribute more than $2 trillion annually and 9 million jobs to the U.S. economy, according to the International Trade Administration. About a quarter of all travelers to the U.S. come from Latin America and the Caribbean, the agency says. Arrivals from Argentina have jumped 25% this year — a bigger increase than from any other country. Debre and Goodman write for the Associated Press. Goodman reported from Medellin, Colombia.
NBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Trump announces plan to lift Argentina visa restrictions in support of right-wing Milei
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The United States and Argentina on Monday announced that they are working on a plan to allow Argentine tourists to again travel to the U.S. without a visa. It will likely take two to three years before visa-free travel becomes a reality for Argentine passport holders, but the Trump administration's move to kickstart the process marked a show of support for President Javier Milei, its staunchest ally in South America and a darling of conservatives around the world. The gesture coincided with a visit by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to Buenos Aires for closed-door meetings with Milei and his officials. Noem signed the statement of intent alongside Security Minister Patricia Bullrich in Milei's office. The Department of Homeland Security praised Milei for reshaping Argentina's foreign policy in line with the U.S. "Under President Javier Milei's leadership, Argentina is becoming an even stronger friend to the United States — more committed than ever to border security for both of our nations," the statement quoted Noem as saying. This first step toward Argentina's entry into the Visa Waiver Program, it added, "highlights our strong partnership with Argentina and our mutual desire to promote lawful travel while deterring threats." The department cited Argentina as having the lowest visa overstay rate in the U.S. of any Latin American country. Trump's loyal ally in South America The removal of rigorous U.S. visa requirements — particularly at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is tightening restrictions for foreign nationals — would offer a symbolic victory to Milei, a self-described "anarcho-capitalist" who rose to power as a far-right outsider mimicking Trump's war-on-woke rhetoric and skillful use of social media. When he became the first world leader to visit Trump after the U.S. election, Milei pranced around Mar-a-Lago like an excited school boy. At the Conservative Political Action Committee convention in Washington last February, he gifted billionaire Elon Musk a bureaucracy-slashing chainsaw to support his DOGE campaign to eliminate government waste. When not riding the far-right, pro-Trump speaking circuit, Milei is focused on straightening out South America's second-largest economy after years of turmoil under left-wing populist rule. Through tough budget cuts and mass layoffs, Milei has succeeded in driving down Argentina's notorious double-digit inflation. The last time Argentines didn't require a visa to enter the U.S. was in the 1990s under another free-market devotee, the late former President Carlos Menem. Menem's neo-liberal reforms and pegging of the peso 1-to-1 to the U.S. dollar destroyed Argentina's industry, exacerbating poverty in what a century ago was one of the world's wealthiest countries. In the crisis that followed, the U.S. reimposed visa restrictions in 2002 as young Argentines seeking to flee misery lined up at European embassies and began to migrate illegally to the U.S. The Argentine presidency described Monday's preliminary agreement as "a clear demonstration of the excellent relationship" between Milei and Trump. "This bilateral link is not limited to the commercial or economic sphere, but constitutes a strategic and comprehensive relationship based on a shared vision," the presidency added. Noem, who grew up on a farm in rural South Dakota, later Monday toured a military base on horseback and enjoyed asado — Argentina's traditional meat-centric barbecue and national passion. She is the third member of Trump's Cabinet to meet Milei in Buenos Aires so far this year, after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tough limits on travel to the U.S. Over 40 mostly European and wealthy Asian countries belong to the exclusive club that allows their citizens to travel to the U.S. without a visa for up to three months. However, border officers have the power to turn anyone away. About 20 million tourists use the program each year. Currently, Chile is the only Latin American country in the program. Overseas travel to the U.S. plunged in the early days of Trump's return to the White House as tourists, especially from Latin America, feared being caught in the administration's border crackdown. Some canceled travel plans to protest his foreign policy and anti-immigrant rhetoric. But those numbers began to rebound in April, with more than 3 million international arrivals — 8% more than a year ago — from countries other than Mexico or Canada, according to the International Trade Administration, an agency under the U.S. Department of Commerce. In addition to clamping down on the southern border, Trump has put up additional obstacles for students, tourists and others looking to travel to the U.S. His recently passed "big, beautiful" bill of domestic priorities calls for the enactment of a new "visa integrity fee" of $250 to be charged in addition to the cost of the visa itself. Travel industry executives have expressed concern that the charge could drive away tourists who contribute more than $2 trillion annually and 9 million jobs to the U.S. economy, according to the International Trade Administration. About a quarter of all travelers to the U.S. come from Latin America and the Caribbean, the agency says.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The 2028 Republican Primary Will Be Over Economic Nationalism
The most dramatic of tariffs are paused for now, but a different trade war is already underway — the battle to use the tariff debate as a springboard to the GOP presidential nomination in 2028. Consider Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. 'I worry, there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever,' Cruz said recently on his podcast. He said the goal of President Donald Trump's shock maneuvers should be to 'dramatically lower tariffs abroad and result in dramatically lowering tariffs here.' With his comments, Cruz implicitly contrasted himself with trade hardliners in the new administration, such as Trumpist trade point man Peter Navarro and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. But the ambitious Texan also broke ranks with some key, would-be 2028 contenders: J.D. Vance and Steve Bannon, thetop two vote-getters in the recent Conservative Political Action Committee straw poll, for one. Bannon, the former Trump adviser, has long assumed the role of vanguard 'economic nationalist.' But the new vice president has also staked out his own distinctive turf, becoming the favorite of the 'new right' that rejects Reagan and Bush era economic dogma, and is anchored around institutions such as the protectionist-minded American Compass, Zoomer-filled American Moment, and the BuchananiteThe American Conservative magazine (which I edit). Both Vance and Bannon are likely to run in the next presidential cycle, all bluster about a third Trump term aside. With the trade nationalist market seemingly cornered, other aspirants have been buying real estate in the dilapidated ruins of free-market, movement conservatism. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, has been doing this for years. In a February 2024 op-ed, Donald Trump's then-opponent ripped his tariff plan as a joke: 'Imagine if a presidential candidate promised to raise taxes on every American. Imagine if he promised to make life even harder for the middle class and the least fortunate. That candidate … should be laughed off the stage and defeated at the ballot box.' Well, Donald Trump was not defeated at the ballot box. But that hasn't stopped Haley from being an eminence grise among that bastion of populism skeptics, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, possessed by the Trump frenemy Rupert Murdoch (who is also pushing war with Iran behind the scenes, one prominent Trump interlocutor told me recently). 'This is no time to go wobbly on capitalism,' Haley wrote in Murdoch's vertical as far back as February 2020. This contingent is no doubt licking its chops to capitalize if economic nationalism is discredited amidst a massive recession. It's a delicate balance, however: The free marketeers don't want GOP chances in 2028 to be sabotaged outright. The WSJ board this month is prattling on about the invincible relevance of the hundred-year-old Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act disappointment, and attacking its own, including Senate GOP leadership fixtures such as the ur-establishmentarian John Barrasso. The Wyomingian's crime? 'Barrasso … similarly pretends tariffs are a swell idea. Back in the day, he was one of many Hill Republicans to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership,' writes the Journal. 'Barrasso wore his free-trade credentials more lightly during Mr. Trump's first term, but he wore them. In his 2018 re-election campaign he distanced himself from Mr. Trump's tariffs — no easy thing in a state as red as Wyoming.' Barrasso may not be in the presidential mix, but every other Republican who is understands the message the WSJ board is sending with its broadside against him: The bastions of traditional conservatism are looking for a showdown in the next GOP primary. Without Trump's gravitational pull (presumably) on the stage in 2028, future contenders are desperate for the Journal and the old guard's favor, especially with Vance and Bannon monopolizing the new wing. And there is, of course, a new kid on the block more sympathetic to the golden age of global 'free' trade: Elon Musk, who recently assailed the White House's Navarro as an 'idiot.' Musk's unreconstructed libertarian economics — and his penchant to spend like a real capitalist — is the 'free' traders' potential ace-in-the-hole. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was, of course, Musk's first choice for president in 2024 before flaming out. DeSantis has mostly kept his powder dry on the tariff furor, but if anything, that he hasn't leaped to the White House's defense is telling enough. With no love lost with Trump, the doyen of Tallahassee is happy to see where the tide is going in 2028. That his political operation traditionally shared significant overlap with Cruz's — including the retention of political consultant Jeff Roe, who was the main consultant on arguably the three major "Trump alternative" projects of the last 10 years — should be evidence enough of where DeSantis' sympathies truly lie. The Florida governor is a 'normie' Republican on trade. Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin occupies similar space — not as hardline as Vance and Bannon, but not as throwback as Haley and Cruz. Given the chance to back the administration to the hilt, the most important man in Richmond (and ex-financier) told the New York Times this week that 'no one should be surprised' and 'there is a necessary rebalancing of our trade negotiations or trade relationships that needs to happen,' but declined to weigh in further — including on if the administration is taking the 'right' approach. Former Vice President Mike Pence is out of the mix with the new Trump administration, but that's unlikely to deter him from disparaging it — and keeping his options open for 2028. Pence has a new think tank, and sees himself as not only a critic of Trump on social conservatism and militarist foreign policy, but as keeper of the flame on Friedmanite economic policy. 'The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year,' Pence posted on X. In response, Trump's enforcer — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — replied: 'Mike Pence is just bitter. These tariffs are the definition of America First, which is a concept he doesn't understand.' Tariffs aren't the only area where the early cracks in the 2028 field are beginning to show. Retro Republicans like Haley and Pence also break sharply with the new wing's desire to achieve detente with Russia and Iran. The battle to define America First, after Trump, has probably just begun.
Politico
15-04-2025
- Business
- Politico
The 2028 Republican Primary Will Be Over Economic Nationalism
The most dramatic of tariffs are paused for now , but a different trade war is already underway — the battle to use the tariff debate as a springboard to the GOP presidential nomination in 2028. Consider Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. 'I worry, there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever,' Cruz said recently on his podcast . He said the goal of President Donald Trump's shock maneuvers should be to 'dramatically lower tariffs abroad and result in dramatically lowering tariffs here.' With his comments, Cruz implicitly contrasted himself with trade hardliners in the new administration, such as Trumpist trade point man Peter Navarro and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. But the ambitious Texan also broke ranks with some key, would-be 2028 contenders: J.D. Vance and Steve Bannon, the top two vote-getters in the recent Conservative Political Action Committee straw poll, for one. Bannon, the former Trump adviser, has long assumed the role of vanguard ' economic nationalist .' But the new vice president has also staked out his own distinctive turf, becoming the favorite of the 'new right' that rejects Reagan and Bush era economic dogma, and is anchored around institutions such as the protectionist-minded American Compass, Zoomer-filled American Moment , and the Buchananite The American Conservative magazine (which I edit). Both Vance and Bannon are likely to run in the next presidential cycle, all bluster about a third Trump term aside. With the trade nationalist market seemingly cornered, other aspirants have been buying real estate in the dilapidated ruins of free-market, movement conservatism. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, has been doing this for years. In a February 2024 op-ed, Donald Trump's then-opponent ripped his tariff plan as a joke: 'Imagine if a presidential candidate promised to raise taxes on every American. Imagine if he promised to make life even harder for the middle class and the least fortunate. That candidate … should be laughed off the stage and defeated at the ballot box.' Well, Donald Trump was not defeated at the ballot box. But that hasn't stopped Haley from being an eminence grise among that bastion of populism skeptics, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, possessed by the Trump frenemy Rupert Murdoch (who is also pushing war with Iran behind the scenes, one prominent Trump interlocutor told me recently). 'This is no time to go wobbly on capitalism,' Haley wrote in Murdoch's vertical as far back as February 2020. This contingent is no doubt licking its chops to capitalize if economic nationalism is discredited amidst a massive recession. It's a delicate balance, however: The free marketeers don't want GOP chances in 2028 to be sabotaged outright. The WSJ board this month is prattling on about the invincible relevance of the hundred-year-old Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act disappointment, and attacking its own, including Senate GOP leadership fixtures such as the ur-establishmentarian John Barrasso. The Wyomingian's crime? 'Barrasso … similarly pretends tariffs are a swell idea. Back in the day, he was one of many Hill Republicans to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership,' writes the Journal . 'Barrasso wore his free-trade credentials more lightly during Mr. Trump's first term, but he wore them. In his 2018 re-election campaign he distanced himself from Mr. Trump's tariffs — no easy thing in a state as red as Wyoming.' Barrasso may not be in the presidential mix, but every other Republican who is understands the message the WSJ board is sending with its broadside against him: The bastions of traditional conservatism are looking for a showdown in the next GOP primary. Without Trump's gravitational pull (presumably) on the stage in 2028, future contenders are desperate for the Journal and the old guard's favor, especially with Vance and Bannon monopolizing the new wing. And there is, of course, a new kid on the block more sympathetic to the golden age of global 'free' trade: Elon Musk, who recently assailed the White House's Navarro as an 'idiot.' Musk's unreconstructed libertarian economics — and his penchant to spend like a real capitalist — is the 'free' traders' potential ace-in-the-hole. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was, of course, Musk's first choice for president in 2024 before flaming out. DeSantis has mostly kept his powder dry on the tariff furor, but if anything, that he hasn't leaped to the White House's defense is telling enough. With no love lost with Trump, the doyen of Tallahassee is happy to see where the tide is going in 2028. That his political operation traditionally shared significant overlap with Cruz's — including the retention of political consultant Jeff Roe, who was the main consultant on arguably the three major 'Trump alternative' projects of the last 10 years — should be evidence enough of where DeSantis' sympathies truly lie. The Florida governor is a 'normie' Republican on trade . Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin occupies similar space — not as hardline as Vance and Bannon, but not as throwback as Haley and Cruz. Given the chance to back the administration to the hilt, the most important man in Richmond (and ex-financier) told the New York Times this week that 'no one should be surprised' and 'there is a necessary rebalancing of our trade negotiations or trade relationships that needs to happen,' but declined to weigh in further — including on if the administration is taking the 'right' approach. Former Vice President Mike Pence is out of the mix with the new Trump administration, but that's unlikely to deter him from disparaging it — and keeping his options open for 2028. Pence has a new think tank, and sees himself as not only a critic of Trump on social conservatism and militarist foreign policy, but as keeper of the flame on Friedmanite economic policy. 'The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history. These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year,' Pence posted on X . In response, Trump's enforcer — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — replied : 'Mike Pence is just bitter. These tariffs are the definition of America First, which is a concept he doesn't understand.' Tariffs aren't the only area where the early cracks in the 2028 field are beginning to show. Retro Republicans like Haley and Pence also break sharply with the new wing's desire to achieve detente with Russia and Iran. The battle to define America First, after Trump, has probably just begun.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What Donald Trump really means for the arts in America
There is no way to sugarcoat a coup. When President Donald Trump made the abrupt decision to overtake the board of the Kennedy Centre – among the foremost cultural institutions in the US – firing its top leadership and announcing plans for a reboot, it amounted to no less than a full-blown attack on the arts in America. The arts in America, however, have been marginalised for so long that throwing salt on the wound has greater symbolic connotations than the destructive ones implied in this instance. Trump and his newly-anointed Kennedy Centre interim president, Richard Grenell, have expressed a desire to obliterate the current programming in favor of… well, so far, 'a big, huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas' – as Grenell, a former ambassador to Germany under the previous Trump administration, told Conservative Political Action Committee. For his part, Trump himself proclaimed that the Kennedy Centre would no longer host drag shows (there was a small 'drag brunch' event last fall, but little else). Whatever new programs develop with time, the Kennedy Centre – a world-class theatre that also hosts the annual Mark Twain and Kennedy Centre Honors awards celebrations, among other major cultural events – has essentially lost its prestige factor. Like so much else with this administration, it's become a billboard for autocracy run wild. These manoeuvres have occurred in tandem with a flurry of efforts to overshadow institutional support of the arts. They followed a new mandate from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, denying funding to grant applicants with diversity, equity, and inclusion factors (DEI) or those that promote so-called 'gender ideology,' a coded term with transphobic implications. Trump even attempted to get his talons into Hollywood with the announcement that Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight would serve as his ambassadors to bring back business to Hollywood. (Gibson said he wasn't even aware of the appointment until it was announced.) Anyone looking for a curatorial vision from the new leadership doesn't have to think hard about the implications here: Trump and his team seem intent on weaponising creative expression as an instrument of propaganda. 'We want to make the arts great again,' Grenell said. The pushback against his administration's efforts has come from every direction. The comedian Issa Rae and soprano Karen Slack cancelled gigs at the Kennedy Centre. Singer Rhiannon Giddens followed soon after. The theatre then cancelled an upcoming concert from the International Pride Orchestra scheduled for June. Over the decades, the Kennedy Centre has hosted big-ticket performers ranging from Led Zeppelin to David Letterman. In recent weeks, it has reportedly seen a 50 per cent drop in ticket sales. A letter signed by 463 artists, many of whom have been supported by the NEA, sent a letter protesting the organization's moves. Yet most of the ways that the Trump Administration can run amuck with the arts won't truly impact their presence stateside. That's because, for all the pearl-clutching around what artists do and whether the government should support it, America has fallen short of institutional support of the arts for decades. As in England, most major American artists thrive on alternate sources of income, private philanthropic support and the ever-combustible fine art market. Within that dynamic, the NEA has proven to be a valuable force for individual artists. In the third quarter of 2024 alone, the NEA distributed nearly $37 million to nearly 1,4000 entities. Yet these funds have never been enough to create a path for long-term sustainability. Meanwhile, big technology companies like Amazon and Apple control the fate of the entertainment business with success metrics that have nothing to do with cultural legacies. Filmmaking outside the Hollywood studio system has largely migrated abroad in the form of international co-productions. Ironically, the autocratic Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (a Trump ally) has proven more hospitable to American movies than America with robust tax incentives unlike anything available in the US. Current Oscar contender The Brutalist was shot mainly in Budapest – and yes, that includes the bulk of the movie that takes place in Pennsylvania. And yet The Brutalist director Brady Corbet recently made headlines when he said, during an interview with Marc Maron on his WTF Podcast, that he was broke. 'The art life,' as David Lynch called it, has been a tough haul in America across many presidential administrations. America doesn't truly provide long-term support for freelancers of any stripe, thanks to an unstable healthcare system and the overall high cost of living. Trump can wreak havoc all he wants on arts organizations that operate at the government's behest, and it won't change much about the situation that has been operating on life support anyway. Still, the NEA has done extraordinary work for the arts on the local level. It was a non-partisan effort out of the gate, having been proposed during the Republican administration of Dwight Eisenhower. When the agency finally started 60 years ago under Lyndon B Johnson's administration, the organisation was launched to bring the same degree of investment to the arts that the government was already providing for the sciences. The concept was attached to Johnson's concept of creating a 'Great Society' across America, an idealistic goal that helped him win the election two years earlier. It was also an invaluable instrument of soft powder during the Cold War, with poets such as Robert Frost sent to the USSR on artistic-diplomatic missions. In recent times, the NEA has proven itself valuable for smaller organisations and individuals capable of working on tight budgets and within the constraints of their communities. Last year, the NEA granted nearly $37 million to communities in all 50 US states. The apparent shift in priorities for these funds will likely harm the most vulnerable and marginalised corners of creativity in America. We are likely to see efforts to create privatised support systems to make up the difference. Local resources will become more vital than ever. But could the new Trump administration go further? In autocratic regimes like China, all creativity in circulation faces a committee that determines whether the work is acceptable to the regime. Artist Ai Weiwei dealt with multiple prison stints as a result of rejecting censorship laws before finally choosing to live in exile. The same fate befell Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, another Oscar nominee this year for The Seed of the Sacred Fig, who went into exile after his prison release in 2023. Both men were jailed because their work portrayed governmental policies in a negative light. Might such harrowing restrictions find their way to American shores? In the 1950s, the era of the Hollywood blacklist, they certainly did. It's hard to fathom a similar state of affairs now. The power of the First Amendment looms large here, stretching across the political spectrum, and the idea of complete censorship remains a somewhat intangible conceit. The more likely scenario is a constant back-and-forth between establishment forces and artists resisting the pressure to hold back, with both ends of the equation lobbying for audiences to get on their side. The far-Right has made headway in the US through precise creative channels, including stand-up comedy and podcasting, where a war on progressivism has found a receptive audience. Traditional entertainment channels have a harder time worming their way into the consciousness of young audiences. The so-called 'war on wokeness' has sent executives scrambling to depoliticise any upcoming projects on their balance sheet – for instance, the recent Disney+ animated series Win or Lose eliminated the storyline of a trans character. If such a mentality continues to infiltrate the most powerful arts institutions in America, they will be facing a form of censorship by default. For now, though, an air of resistance persists. Comedian W Kamau Bell didn't cancel his scheduled appearance at the Kennedy Centre this month; instead, he took the gig and devoted his routine to the circumstances at the theatre. At the recent SAG Awards, The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion spoke out against the current political climate while accepting a lifetime achievement award. 'By the way, woke just means you give a damn,' she said. For 54 years, the Kennedy Centre has been a beacon for performing arts in America. It has survived many administrations and changes in the climate for the arts during that time. Yet if the Kennedy Centre becomes little more than an extension of the Trump Disinformation Machine, with programs featuring acolytes like Joe Rogan and Kid Rock, it's hard to imagine that it can maintain the aura of prestige surrounding its existence. Instead, like so many Trump decrees, it will become something of a sick joke. America has entered an era of contradictory moods. It's a celebratory moment for big business and conservative causes, but one of great fear and uncertainty for anyone invested in the pillars of democracy and liberal values. Popular culture and subsidised art may get steam rolled by pressures from the party in power, but that's only one factor in a vast, messy equation that amounts to the arts in America. In 2015, Lin-Manuel Miranda catapulted to fame with Hamilton, which became more politically charged than expected once the first Trump Administration swept into power a year later. With its Latin-flavored retelling of America's founding spirit, the musical met its moment and then some. When then-Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended the show shortly after Trump was first elected, actor Brandon Victor Dixon read a statement during the curtain call saying the cast was 'alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights'. In a response the next day, Trump demanded through his old mouthpiece, Twitter, that the show issue an apology for what he deemed a 'rude' manoeuvre. The opposite happened. Nobody apologised or faced repercussions for speaking out. Hamilton found its political voice. Tickets soared. It remains one of the top Broadway shows to this day. The outcome proved that there is power in dissent, especially when audiences choose to open their wallets to support it. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
