As with everything concerning President Donald J. Trump — including the boos that greeted him for Game Three of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan Monday night — much has been written about his on and off Freedom 250 concert series. It included an array of performers from country music’s Martina McBride to funk and soul’s The Commodores — until it didn’t.
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A depiction of the murder of St. Thomas Becket by knights of his friend King Henry II of England. From the Carrow Psalter, 1250, ink, gold and parchment. Courtesy Walters Art Museum.
Trump's 'meddlesome priest'
OK, so who had Pope Leo XIV versus President Donald J. Trump on their fight card, let alone bingo card?
Today, many shocked posters on the internet are saying they didn’t. But I did.
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Nikolai Ge’s “What is Truth?” (1890) crystallizes the biblical encounter between Pontius Pilate and Jesus, between military might and spiritual transcendence.
Netanyahu, Chalamet and the limits of ‘truth’
Sometimes you can say the right thing – the “true” thing – and still be wrong.
So we have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the limits of Jesus Christ and actor Timothée Chalamet on the limits of ballet and opera. Both offered a realistic assessment of the world as it is. But both failed to see the world beyond its limitations.
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Ilia Malinin before the free skate of the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships. Courtesy
FloweringDagwood/Wikipedia.
Alex Pretti, Bad Bunny, Ilia Malinin and the challenge of identity
In a not-very-good but nonetheless watchable 1998 film of Alexandre Dumas”The Man in the Iron Mask” that capitalized on the Taylor Swift-like phenomenon of then teen heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons’ Musketeer Aramis tells DiCaprio’s hapless title character that the greatest mystery in life is who we are.
Who are we? Who are you? We receive names and unique Social Security numbers at birth, pose for endless selfies, research our digital DNA data and generally live in a “me” culture, branded and monogrammed. But who are we really? What are our values? What are the strengths and weaknesses of our personalities?
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John Everett Millais’ “Ophelia” (circa 1851, oil on canvas), for which the artist and poet Elizabeth Siddall posed, helped inspire Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia. Courtesy the Tate Britain.
Taylor Swift and 'The Fate of Ophelia' (and Hamlet)
Why does a billionaire feminist continue to write songs about being rescued from towers by men who “were just honing their powers”?
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William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s “Orestes Pursued by the Furies” (1862, oil on canvas), Chrysler Museum of Art.
The Michael Cohen-ing of Elon Musk
Well, that didn’t last long but perhaps longer than we thought it would.
Actually, Elon Musk was only slated to have a six-month tenure at DOGE, although given the importance of groceries — remember them? — Musk’s sell-by date was always ready to be stamped.
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Gala opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 8, 1971 with members of the Kennedy family in the presidential box. From left, Rose Kennedy and Sen. Edward M.Kennedy standing. Seated far right is his first wife, Joan Kennedy. Courtesy the U.S.News & World Report Collection of the Library of Congress.
King to pawn in Trump's cultural gambits
Fresh from his blitzkrieg of directives, President Donald J. Trump took a break to attend Super Bowl LIX, leaving the rest of us to consider what the past three weeks have meant.
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