What did Donald Trump do today?

He purged the board of the Kennedy Center and appointed himself personally in charge of it.

Today, Trump posted to his private blogging site that he was appointing himself chair of the board of the Kennedy Center for the Arts, a performing arts center established by Congress in 1958 and operated as a public-private partnership. It is funded almost entirely by private ticket sales and donations.

It's not clear what, if anything, Trump meant by his reference to drag shows. Trump himself performed in a "drag show" when he appeared with then-NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani in a sketch that aired during the 2000 Inner Circle Press Dinner. In that clip, Trump attempted to kiss "Rudia" and bury his face in her (fake) breasts.

Trump also recently announced that the 2026 National Endowment for the Arts grants would be restricted to art celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Why does this matter?

• The President of the United States probably ought to have more important things to do than pick and choose an arts center's seasonal lineup.

• Purges of "degenerate" art in favor of art that glorifies the state is where the Nazis started, for obvious reasons.