Cartoonist's Work Perfectly Explains Why We Need More—Not Less—Funding For The Arts

Image via Wikipedia/Mike Denison

You might’ve heard that Trump plans to slash funding for essentially every federal agency you know and love. To fund a $54 billion increase in military spending, the Trump administration plans cut funds for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education, the Department of Transportation, as well as several programs that assist low-income Americans. In addition, whole programs will be eliminated entirely. Among the programs to go are the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, NASA’s Office of Education (which supports STEM education programs), and the Legal Services Corporation, which provides legal assistance to low-income Americans.

Trump is also angling to cut the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), eliminations which will only save less than 1 percent of the federal budget. For the marginal amount these programs contribute to the federal budget, they provide immeasurable benefits to American culture and communities.

On Wednesday morning, Trump rubbed salt in our collective, gaping wound, tweeting, “A budget that puts #AmericaFirst must make safety its no. 1 priority—without safety there can be no prosperity,” adding a link to a very disheartening breakdown of his budget plan. When a president has to write, “These cuts are sensible and rational” in a budget plan, you can probably guess it’s going to be neither of those things.

Artist Mike Denison was quick to call Trump out, unleashing a series of tweets that highlight why our current president might be against the arts (not to mention free expression). On why the arts are important to American culture, Denison tells GOOD, “Not only is art a form of expression and an outlet for free speech but it can provide the audience with some kind of escapism. If I can get a message across while making someone laugh then I've done my job.”

Check out his epic trolling below.