May 6, 2025
As the Trump administration seeks to redirect museum and arts organizations, Berkeley academics assess the impact of pulled funding and new directives. Center for Right-Wing Studies’ graduate student affiliate Tyler Leeds says the right is characterizing these moves as a return to “sanity,” a framing that casts their vision for cultural institutions as commonsense. The political gains for this strategy for the right are massive, as cultural wins are felt as real wins on the ground, even though they offer nothing to voters who need better jobs, health care and housing.