Are you going to erase my trans Statue of Liberty? And then I'll erase the exhibit.

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In 2018, the little-known painter Amy Sherald was catapulted into the Olympus of contemporary art by none other than First Lady Michelle Obama , who selected her for her official portrait. Today, also thanks to enormous commercial success, Sherald is back in the news, again within the presidential context, of course. She has announced the cancellation of her major exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, titled "American Sublime," which was scheduled to open on September 19th after stops at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and the Whitney Museum in New York. The reason? The Smithsonian administration, which also runs the National Gallery, reportedly suggested—there are differing versions—removing from the exhibition "Trans Forming Liberty," a painting depicting the Statue of Liberty as a black transgender person. Some believe this work could have upset Trump.

Since the Smithsonian receives two-thirds of its billion-dollar budget from the federal government, the woke version of the Statue of Liberty could have been a good excuse or opportunity to cut some of its funding. Personally, I think that even though Sherald is a talented painter, albeit miraculously restored by Michelle, the painting in question should be removed simply because it's horrible and far inferior to all her other works. Canceling the exhibition is, however, a nice gift to Trump, who a few months ago announced he would fire National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet because, in his view, she was too biased and even a little anti-American . The Smithsonian's secretary, African-American Lonnie G. Bunch III, had taken to the streets like a hero, asserting the institution's autonomy and denying that the president had the power to fire Smithsonian employees. A very short-lived claim given that after a few weeks Sajet herself resigned and Bunch III avoided taking to the streets again, perhaps after having made a couple of economic calculations.

It was Bunch III himself who suggested that, if not removed, Trans Forming Liberty should at least be accompanied by a video featuring interviews with the public on the topic of sexual identity. This, according to the artist, would have given voice, in defiance of pluralism, even to conservative, bigoted, and even fascist subjects. Hence the cancellation of the exhibition, which would have been the first in the museum's history by a living Black artist. There's a saying that "the Greeks won the war inside the horse, not by sitting on it." For the artist, the Trojan Horse in this case would have been the museum itself. Once the exhibition was installed, Amy Sherald would have had the opportunity for more spectacular and significant actions, such as that of artist Gastone Novelli, who, during the famous 1968 Venice Biennale of protest, turned his canvases, with the words "The Biennale is fascist" written on the back, against the wall. Better to be kicked out than to withdraw with a sterile polemic, depriving the public of both the opportunity to see a beautiful exhibition and the opportunity to engage in constructive, and perhaps even confrontational, debate. The rumor of the cancellation will soon be over. The secretary general, as he had already done with the director threatened with dismissal, will not sacrifice himself to save the exhibition of Obama's court painter. Rather, the real risk will be that Amy Sherald's exhibition will be replaced by some hideous pro-Trump artist. Standing on a horse isn't always a sign of heroism; in fact, it's often a sign of stupidity that will allow the enemy to pierce you with his poisoned arrows.

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