Nominal Culture

From the conquest of the native savages to the liberation of Latin America, re-writing history has always been a deeply un-American act; hence the displays of righteous indignation over the re-christening of a centre for performing arts in Washington DC, which has hitherto borne the name of a wealthy war criminal who succeeded rather spectacularly in an area of political promotion where the Trumpster has thus far achieved little more than a grazed earlobe. The Trumpster and his head-tribble are pledged to orient the centre's programme towards encouraging Americans to ask not what their country can do for them but rather what they can do for their country, and have added the Trumpster's own name to that of the famous martyr to gun control. A trustee has started a lawsuit based on the nugatory technicality that this adjustment is illegal, and a relative of the deified forebear has proclaimed that the change makes about as much sense as re-naming the Lincoln Memorial. Indeed, it would surely be no more than justice to balance the memory of the sixteenth president, who fought the first civil war in order to keep the country together, with that of the president whose head-tribble seems happy to divide the country until a second civil war comes along.