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Cultural imbecile Donald Trump continues to take a wrecking ball to what actually makes America great: citizens diving into parts of our history in order to form a more perfect, more truthful understanding of our heritage. Broadly speaking, we call these the humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities is the independent federal agency that has been funding cultural research projects in all 50 states for the past 60 years. So naturally the DOGE boys had to put a stop to it. They fired put on administrative leave somewhere in the range of 125-145 of the NEH’s 180-person staff, and canceled about 1,200 previously-awarded grants across the country. Not that DOGE reported those numbers — it’s what National Humanities Alliance executive director Stephen Kidd estimates based on the feedback on their action alert page. We’ll be feeling these losses for years to come.
‘Decimal dust’: Congress funded NEH with $207 million last year, an amount Kidd called “decimal dust” in federal terms but critical to programs across the country. About 40 percent of NEH’s program funding goes to state humanities councils for operating support and grant-making, Kidd said. “Without that funding, a lot of important history and heritage in small archives and museums and libraries and towns will just be lost.” … The cuts affect a broad range of programs and services, including state-specific efforts to reduce Alaska’s adolescent suicide rate and to help Alabama educators teach civil rights history, as well as nationwide projects to digitize small-town newspapers and bring Smithsonian exhibits to rural and remote communities.
Is the NEA next? DOGE, the cost-cutting effort tied to Elon Musk, has moved quickly to cut federal spending by scaling back or gutting federal agencies in an effort to further Trump’s agenda. It’s unclear whether there will be similar cuts at the National Endowment for the Arts, which was founded alongside the NEH in 1965. The NEA did not respond to a request for comment.
The wrong side of history: Last week’s target was denounced by state humanities councils and cultural organizations such as the American Historical Association, which released a statement Friday condemning “the evisceration” of the NEH. “This frontal attack on the nation’s public culture is unpatriotic, anti-American and unjustified,” the statement said, adding that Trump’s approach “prioritizes narrow political ideology over historical research, historical accuracy, and the actual historical experiences of Americans.” The AHA said hundreds of grant recipients had been alerted (“using a nongovernmental microsoft.com email address”) that their funding had been terminated on Wednesday.
You’re fired: Grant termination notices signed by NEH acting chair Michael McDonald — who replaced Shelly C. Lowe after Trump directed her departure last month — said the funds were being reallocated to “a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda,” according to copies of the letter reviewed by The Washington Post. “Your grant’s immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities,” the letter read. … As the NEH began pulling the plug on funding these programs, it also culled its own ranks. Staffers were placed on immediate administrative leave last week via a letter signed by the acting NEH chair.
Lawsuits begin: Some lawsuits have begun testing the legality of the administration’s terminations of congressionally approved programs. On Friday, attorneys general from 21 states announced they were suing the Trump administration over its March order shutting down the Institute of Museum and Library services, which supports museums and libraries nationwide.
Just like with his false notion that the Justice Department works for him, here again Trump is failing to realize that the research and programs funded by the NEH serve the American people, not one orange gasbag of a president. But Donald Trump’s idea of “American culture” is probably just McDonald’s. I tried only to excerpt it once, but variations of the phrase “this doesn’t support the president’s agenda” show up a lot in the full article. What’s on that agenda? Anything to do with the Declaration of Independence, that 1,320-word meditation on the evils of tyranny. The document that says “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” To be clear, I’m not disparaging research on the Declaration of Independence, but rather on the notion that Trump has ever read it himself, or would like what it says. And yeah, the NEA is definitely up next.
There will be more money used up in lawsuits because of this stupidity of DT’s than will be saved. So, at least that money won’t be available for his “agenda”.
It’s always been about the grift. How much 💸💵💰 can we siphon off from the government and line our pockets with. That’s why they’re so hell bent on slashing social programs so there’s more money for those rat bastards to get via contracts. All other government contracts/grants are bad except the ones for the military industrial complex and these nazi mofos
I know someone whose 3 year grant was cancelled in year two. Another acquaintance was placed on leave. The humanities are more important than ever and are being attacked more than ever.
My non profit historical organization is affected by this. We received support from Humanities NY which was funded by NEH. We are working to find alternative sources of funding.
“The President’s Agenda” is to censor history. He/Project 2025 want history to be “only the white guys did anything good” and they want us to forget past errors and wrongs so they can do them again. They already are.
There is a small but mighty profession of art and cultural heritage conservation (culturalheritage.org) that is the engine behind preserving all material objects created and valued by humanity. Combining art, science, and history, these experts train across these disciplines for years, equivalent to MD’s, to understand how civilization’s most valuable evidence of pre-digital history (paintings, books, photographs, etc) record the past and change over time. Fundamentally all these objects are magical mixtures of chemistry affected by time, the environment, and human action, and their preservation starts at the molecular level. NEH and IMLS are the financial backstops that ensure this professional expertise doesn’t die on our watch. Most of these angels are paid peanuts, barely a living wage, and now these jobs and training schools are in shreds. Systemic disinvestment in our analog human history will be our pathetic legacy.
This is monstrous. To undermine knowledge itself…to try to erase research into culture, society, and history…this is authoritarian dictatorship. I would have said This is not America…but to my regret, it is. This is America today.
My brother in law lost his job at Kaiser Permanente because of these cuts. He wasn’t even doing medical research; he’s in IT. He had been there for 20 years and was up for another promotion. Two weeks after being told that, he was laid off because of funding cuts. The BS about cutting the size of government (because billionaires don’t need services) will have ripple effects across the economy.
And the chainsaw roars on…
I wonder how much of what makes us recognizably America will be left when we finally shake off these monstrous parasites who are currently dug into the flesh of our nation?
And what disease-riddled, starved corpse of a theoretically free country will they leave behind them?
My sister works at a performing arts center located in the only national park that is primarily performing arts. Her center is a non-governmental foundation, but the park service provides grounds maintenance, guided nature walks, crowd + traffic control, medical aid, children’s programs, etc. Seasonal Worker cuts at NPS are really going to hurt when the summer season kicks off.
Thankfully, the center is outside of DC Beltway. It’s popular place and people who know it are huge fans of the place. People who don’t know it – don’t know it, so it may stay off the radar of these out-of-town jerks.
God – could I hate this administration even more? …
Don’t lose sight of the real. reason for these cuts:
It’s all about privatizing government services and out-sourcing contracts to themselves + their friends.