{"id":2407,"date":"2026-05-30T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/artists-flee-trumps-state-fair-proving-maga-radioactive-as-ever\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T12:00:00","slug":"artists-flee-trumps-state-fair-proving-maga-radioactive-as-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/artists-flee-trumps-state-fair-proving-maga-radioactive-as-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists Flee Trump\u2019s State Fair, Proving MAGA Radioactive as Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

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[Essay]<\/span><\/div>\n

Canceled Culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When President Trump won his second election, MAGA celebrated as much a cultural victory as a political one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right-wing glee was met with left-wing despondency \u2014 this moment couldn\u2019t be considered as a fluke, a grievous mistake only recognized later by an unwitting populace. Trump was the first Republican to win the popular vote since 2004; 49.8% of the country saw what this guy was offering and wanted more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That feeling drove both sides to overinterpret Trump\u2019s very narrow 2024 victory. The right\u2019s decades of sneering at and secretly envying liberal cultural dominance \u2014 Hollywood! Fashion! Every musical artist, barring third-place American Idol contestants! \u2014 were over. Liberals mourned accordingly, and tech billionaires dutifully trooped to the inauguration, bearing their gold, frankincense and myrrh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the past two years, there has been no seismic shift in artistic talent to the MAGA camp. Performers cancelled<\/a> their shows at the once vaunted Kennedy Center rather than be tainted by association to Trump. Prominent architects publicly shamed<\/a> the firm leading the ballroom construction project. Twice as many Americans watched Bad Bunny\u2019s halftime show as did the \u201cAll-American Halftime Show,\u201d featuring luminaries Kid Rock and, uh, Brantley Gilbert. Popular artists frequently threaten legal action when the Trump campaign uses their music. Even podcasts, arguably the artform (I know, relax) where MAGA made the strongest inroads, have soured<\/a> on the president as his popularity nosedived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new slate of artists recoiled this week after their participation in a series of concerts for Trump\u2019s celebration of the country\u2019s 250th birthday was announced. Of the nine acts listed (most at least 20 years past their peak popularity in the first place), at least six have bowed out apologetically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed with the opportunity to be a voice for those who have felt like they didn\u2019t have one,\u201d Martina McBride said in a statement. \u201cIt greatly upsets me that any fan who has been moved by my music may now feel like I\u2019m abandoning the meaning behind those songs. I assure you, that is not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fascism \u2014 with its demands of conformity, propaganda, devotion to authority \u2014 stands in direct opposition to art. It\u2019s obsessed with aesthetics but violently opposed to creativity and experimentation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAGA\u2019s central tenets of excluding non-white, non-Christian, non-heterosexual, non-male people and requiring blind loyalty to Trump inherently limit its cultural reach. That was true in the first term and remains true today.<\/p>\n

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Link Copied<\/div><\/span>

By Kate Riga<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

[Rhapsody]<\/span><\/div>\n

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So, What’s the Move Here?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was in college during the Great Recession so I emerged unscathed. You cannot lose wealth you do not possess. While others were licking their wounds, I was reveling in the undeserved confidence I had that next <\/em>time, not only would I not lose money, I would make<\/em> money. Tons of money. If Michael Burry can do it, I can do it. I didn’t just watch The Big Short,<\/em> folks, no I even read the book. I got myself a shiny internship at Bloomberg where I covered U.S. Treasuries and learned how to use a Bloomberg Terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow, even with all this training, I have a dilemma. I’m pretty sure the entire economy is on the verge of collapse, sort of like when Wile E. Coyote runs off a cliff but doesn’t fall until he actually looks down. When does America look down? And how do I make sure I’m rich as hell shortly after?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some concerning facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n