| There’s a great joke about Boston (sorry to all the Boston lovers out there) that goes something like this: Yeah, the weather is terrible and the people are mean, but the food? *Big pause* Well, the food is also bad. The dig is easily rejiggered for the cultural contributions of the first Trump term, which critics generally agree failed to meet high expectations: Well, the art was also bad. Perhaps that’s because art wasn’t truly threatened back in the twenty-teens. Things are different this time around. Marc Fisher has had a few days to think about Donald Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center in D.C., and he sees nothing good coming of it. At best, Trump doesn’t have the programming know-how; as one area arts promoter tells Marc in what I am choosing to believe is a reference to “The Music Man,” the president doesn’t “know the territory.” At worst, Trump imposes acquiescence and his brand of conservatism on the nation’s stage. This, Marc writes, is the circumstance in which performers really must step up to the plate: “There is no one right answer, but artists ought not retreat — and good artists will use their work to counter the forces of conformity.” He likens the task to the one artists behind the Iron Curtain faced decades ago, writing that those who follow their example today, “who stick it out and push the envelope will find grateful audiences.” A bunch of those audience members have written to Post Opinions about the Kennedy Center, making for a great package of letters. One writer recalls the healing power of the center’s programming post-9/11 (especially the inclusion of Muslim artists); another fears “endless Americana-style dreck” on the calendar; and another sees Trump’s takeover as a “shot across the bow” of American culture. “Unless the American people rise up” soon, this writer says, “the Trump imperium will be virtually unassailable.” Perhaps the new regime will inspire an American Shostakovich, who triumphed with a symphony sarcastically titled “A Soviet’s Response to Just Criticism.” If so, we should rise up — in a standing ovation for an undaunted artist. Chaser: Our letters team wants to hear about your feelings on the five-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic declaration. How did covid-19 change your life? | 
