The culture war isn’t a distraction. Trump really wants to win it.

President Donald Trump got two reminders this week about the limits of his influence.

Despite serving two terms in the White House, remaking the Republican Party in his image and wielding powers that many of his predecessors never enjoyed, Trump encountered setbacks in his efforts to extend that dominance into the cultural sphere.

The most visible moment came at Madison Square Garden, where the president was met with loud boos while attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Less dramatic but perhaps equally symbolic was a federal judge’s decision to reverse an effort to add Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, forcing the institution to remove it from its branding.

The two episodes represented Trump’s attempts to influence both ends of the cultural spectrum — from the sporting event watched across the country to one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions in Washington.

A lot of people see these as distractions, an attempt to get voters riled up about a side issue while the real fights happen out of sight.

I don’t. I’ve said for years that the culture wars aren’t a distraction; they are the playbook.

Culture shapes identity. It shapes belonging. It shapes what people view as normal, acceptable and true. Long before elections are won or lost, culture helps shape the lens through which people understand politics itself.

Long before he got into politics, Trump sought that cultural legitimacy, making cameos in TV and movies, starring in pizza ads and whining when he didn’t win an Emmy. 

When he first became president, it sometimes seemed like he was more excited about the trappings of the office than the tremendous powers at his command. But even as he’s learned to flex those powers in his second term, he still seems to crave cultural legitimacy. 

That helps explain the fight over the Kennedy Center.

The battle was never really about a building. It was about what the institution represents. The Kennedy Center occupies a unique place in American civic life, and association with it carries a kind of prestige and legitimacy that politics alone cannot provide.

The same dynamic is visible in America’s upcoming 250th anniversary celebration.

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This should be a moment for the country. A chance for Americans to reflect on our history, our triumphs, our failures and the unfinished work of our democracy.