Oh, history, that compulsive rerun machine, seems intent on dredging up its greatest hits—only this time, the sequelitis that’s plagued Hollywood has spread to Washington. But here’s the thing: When reality teeters on parody, art sharpens its blade.
Periods of upheaval have always been a crucible for creativity, pushing artists to confront the world’s contradictions and distill them into something resonant. When the center cannot hold, art steps in—not just as commentary, but as a means of cultural survival.
As history repeats, so does its creative backlash. We’ve crossed from “stranger than fiction” into full-on Mad Magazine territory. And for those with an anarchic streak and an artistic bent, this clusterf— is a gift.
Would punk rock or Basquiat have thrived stateside without the conservative cultural vacuum Reagan created? When Bush the First arrived, grunge bubbled up from the underground. When W metastasized into The White House, hipsters got vinyl back in circulation, and coffee and cocktails became art forms. Although comedians say they suffered under Trump because it’s impossible to satirize such a self-caricature, I urge them to “try harder.”
This is how art serves us in moments like these: It gives us the cultural vocabulary to understand our times. (If you can name it, you can blame it—and maybe even fix it.) Art is a flashpoint that clarifies where everyone stands, and inevitably, it becomes a timestamp by which we gauge how far we’ve come… or fallen.
More chaos births more creativity. Artists, this is your cue. Transform the wicked and banal with inspired urgency. Create fiercely, without restraint. Let the absurdity of our era be the unwelcome muse that sparks the masterpiece we never saw coming.
There’s no time for a manifesto, just a mandate: Make more art. Create to destroy. Burn it all down, rebuild it in your image, and, for the love of all things sacred and profane, Make Art Great Again.
Daedalus Howell is the editor of this paper and writes the Press Pass newsletter for creatives at dhowell.substack.com.
