Everyone was thinking the same thing after a video of Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board members watching a performance of "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music at the White House went viral, prompting people to point out the plot developments in the film that lead to why the song is sung in the musical in the first place.
The Sound of Music follows Maria (Julie Andrews), who leaves an Austrian convent to become the governess to the children of the cold Captain Georg Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). After being moved by the power of song, the Captain sings "Edelweiss," a song about the flower that serves as a symbol of his loyalty to Austria.
This loyalty is on display in the film's final act, when the family—now a celebrated group known as the Von Trapp Family Singers—sings the song once more as a hinted goodbye to their nation despite the pressure the Captain faces to enlist in the German navy after the Anschluss, the Nazis' annexation of Austria.
Below you can see the moving performance from the film.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
So it was quite off-putting to see that the Kennedy Center's board members—installed earlier this year after President Donald Trump appointed himself as chairman of the board, installed a top ally as interim director, and purged the board of the "woke" organization—were being serenaded with that particular song.
The irony is rich here because the board members don't seem to understand the song's significance.
For that matter, Trump has multiple times been compared to Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, whose populist rise eventually led to him overturning German democracy and whose anti-immigrant sentiment and attacks against Jews and other minorities culminated in the Holocaust and the murders of millions of innocent people.
Trump, who has previously said that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country," echoing fascists like Hitler, who wrote about "blood poisoning" in his book Mein Kampf, was also in a recent report alleged to have privately commended Hitler's generals for their loyalty, stating he wanted "the kind of generals that Hitler had."
Unnervingly, Trump's repeated calls to annex sovereign countries—particularly Canada, which he has referred to as the "51st state"—have drawn comparisons to the Anschluss.
People were quick to point this out.
Since taking office again, Trump has said the Kennedy Center will not feature “woke” programming.
In remarks this week, he said the organization's programming "was out of control with rampant political propaganda, DEI, and inappropriate shows,” saying it hosted a “Marxist anti-police performance” and “lesbian-only Shakespeare.”
He also claimed that the organization spent “tremendous amounts of money," an amount he signaled the federal government would scrutinize.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson
Mayor Brandon Johnson
Mayor Brandon Johnson