The interim appointment of Richard ‘Ric’ Grenell as Executive Director of Washington’s John F. Kennedy Centre is the latest and among the most high-profile of President Donald Trump’s actions to reshape the cultural landscape of the United States into something in line with his nativist-conservative, anti-liberal agenda.

Richard Grenell. Official portrait/Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Grenell is considered a Trump loyalist and he served as the US Ambassador to Germany in a short but controversial tenure. He also served as acting director of the US national intelligence (DNI) toward the end of the first Trump presidency in 2020 and was the first openly gay person to hold a leadership position in the American intelligence community.

The changeover has come hard and fast at the Kennedy Center, after President Trump’s announcement last week, via his Truth Social network:

“I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the [Kennedy Center’s] board of trustees, including the chairman, who do not share our vision for a golden age in arts and culture. We will soon announce a new board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!”

“Just last year,” Trump continued, “the Kennedy...