Matthew Day Jackson's art and Trump's rhetoric: America's dark mythologies

The article draws parallels between the violent mythologies of the American West and contemporary U.S. politics, using the Netflix series 'American Primeval' as a springboard. Created by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg, the series centers on the 1857 Mountain Meadows massacre in Utah, where Mormons disguised as Native Americans, with Paiute accomplices, killed 120 pioneers. The series depicts a liminal, violent territory where characters struggle for survival. The article contrasts this with Matthew Day Jackson's 2011 photograph 'Me, dead at 37,' showing the artist engulfed in flames, symbolizing transcendence of death and power. It then links this to Donald Trump's second inaugural address, quoting his declaration of an 'American golden age' and his description of immigrants as 'murderers, rapists, and mental patients poisoning the blood of the nation.' The text compares Trump's rhetoric to that of Brigham Young, the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who justified violence in God's name. It invokes Dostoevsky's 'Demons' and John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men' to critique the loss of alterity and the American Dream turning into a nightmare. The article is an opinion piece by Fabrizio Ajello, published on Artribune.