'Manifest Destiny'

Detail of "Manifest Destiny," by Alexis Rockman (National Portrait Gallery)

     When methods of communication are being discussed, there is of course our drug, passion and universal solvent, social media. Then a passing glance at radio and television, with a sigh of parting for the fading old ways: books, magazines and of course my own ever shrinking ghetto, newspapers.

     Oil paintings don't even make the cut. Which is a shame, considering the drama and power they are capable of. Consider Alexis Rockman's mural "Manifest Destiny," noticed in the National Portrait Gallery during our recent visit to Washington. It is kind of hard to miss — an enormous expanse of sunbaked orange, crumbling infrastructure and suffering wildlife.

      Though its placard understates the case:
     "What might happen if we don't exercise responsible environmental stewardship?" it begins.
     "What might happen"? Ya think? I'd say it bleeding well is happening, right now, and quicker than we expect. "If we don't exercise responsible..." This ship has freakin' sailed on that one, has it not? We elected Mr. Damn-the-Windmills-and-Dig-Baby-Dig.

     "The painting shows the Brooklyn waterfront as it might appear several hundred years in the future if human-induced climate change continues unabated." Another underestimate. As with Hemingway's description of bankruptcy, these changes are happening gradually then suddenly.
     You can see why Trump came for the Smithsonian, almost right out of the box. In March he signed an executive order to “remove improper ideology” from the museums, forbidding exhibits that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.”
     Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery —  the star of the Smithsonian — stepped down even as Trump was firing her for expressing "anti-American ideology."
     Looking clearly at the future, like accurately accessing the past, is apparently no longer an American value. Being concerned for the rapidly deteriorating state of the planet is no longer an American value. Facts are un-American.

     At least at the moment. In some quarters. But it will change. Eventually.

     If you think sentient Americans curse Trump now, imagine how residents of that sun-blasted world — maybe decades, not centuries away — will revile his name, and the blindered rampant ignorance  he represents. He isn't dooming us — he's doing something worse. He's dooming our children and grandchildren.

Rockman's mural is eight feet tall and 24 feet wide.