"Are we, under Trump, at the beginnings of an American-style Gleichschaltung? There are certainly some echoes of those times. For the past month, Trump has fired off a ceaseless barrage of executive orders that either violate or at least challenge established law and the Constitution. Like der Führer, Trump undertook sweeping moves to dump government employees who might stand in his way. Trump is also firing salvos at the arts world. During the Third Reich, Hitler’s regime banished artworks deemed "degenerate" from German museums. After Trump purged the leadership of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he selected himself as chairman and vowed that "woke" performances would not be permitted there. Trump’s insistence that he is above the law is also classic authoritarianism, as is his portrayal of himself as America’s Messiah."