This year marks the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby, a classic American novel. Taught in high schools and universities across the Anglophone nations, its message of financial opulence hiding dark secrets is still relevant in Trump’s United States.

There were numerous exhibitions and commemorative activities held in April this year, celebrating the publication of The Great Gatsby one hundred years ago. There are multiple themes and leitmotifs in that book, and it deserves to be hailed as the great American novel. F Scott Fitzgerald, the author, already had two commercially successful novels under his belt. The Great Gatsby, however, was not a financial success initially.

The exhibitions and literary events commemorating the book come at a difficult time for writers, libraries and museums in the US today. The Trump administration, under the guise of saving money, has issued numerous executive orders cutting the federal government’s funding of public libraries, museums and educational institutions. Trump himself has been compared to Gatsby, a nouveau riche hustler who equates financial success with possessing an ethical compass.

The main character of the novel, Jay Gatsby, is an enormously wealthy man. He hosts lavish cocktail parties, sumptuous gatherings and social events at his mansion at West Egg, New York. Beneath the glitz and glamour, there is a dark story; Gatsby, originating from an impoverished background, made his wealth through bootlegging and other criminal activities. Desiring nothing else than the love of the rich and already married Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby longs to be accepted by ‘old’ money families.

Indeed, if there is an Australian counterpart to Gatsby, it is convicted criminal and former NSW politician Eddie Obeid. The latter used his position and connections to amass a fortune in property development and real estate speculation. Charged and convicted of corruption and financial misconduct, he made a statement during the trial that indicates his personality.

During one of many heated exchanges with the prosecuting lawyer, Obeid remarked “I’ve spent more money than you have made in your entire lifetime.” He said that statement with pride, as if it is an accomplishment. The parallels with the Trumpian obsession with wealth are apparent. Nothing else matters except financial accumulation.

Obeid’s sneering remark reminded me of Jay Gatsby, the man for whom wealth is the ultimate measure of success. Reminds me of Trump for that matter. F Scott Fitzgerald, when asked why he wrote the novel, stated:

The idea that we’re the greatest people in the world because we have the most money in the world is ridiculous. Wait until this wave of prosperity is over! Wait ten or fifteen years! Wait until the next war in the Pacific, or against some European combination!

Indeed, Jonah Raskin, in his article examining the Gatsby novel, states that class consciousness comes through in this book by Fitzgerald. The novel is set in the Roaring Twenties, when success seemed unstoppable, Fitzgerald wrote a kind of warning for his fellow Americans. Seduced by the seeming and superficial allure of capitalism, he was indicating that there was an emptiness and vacuity at the heart of this system.

There is one criticism that Raskin makes of the book – the near total absence of working class characters. Sure, there are servants, cleaners, the chatty motor mechanic. However, the great mass of workers, without whom any economic success would be impossible, are conspicuously absent in Fitzgerald’s tale.

Earlier, I alluded to the Trump administration’s sustained attacks on public libraries and museums. The executive order to gut funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) may not appear to be that harmful at first glance. The IMLS is responsible for funding and maintaining the thousands of libraries and museums across the nation.

Formed in 1996 out of a merger of existing government departments, the IMLS has had legislative bipartisan support throughout its existence until today. This institution, while handing out grants, is not just a funding body. It helps poor and isolated rural and urban working class communities of diverse backgrounds to access books, audiovisual materials, internet connections, educational presentations and adult education courses.

The US Congress allocated $266.7 million for the IMLS in the 2024 fiscal year. That is quite a chunk of money, to be sure. However, that figure constitutes 0.003 percent of the federal budget. Cutting that amount would save 75 cents per person. In contrast, the US military budget for fiscal year 2024 was $842 billion.

Cutting the financial support for the IMLS will mean the closure of educational programs for rural communities, the stopping of internet access and drinking water for isolated communities in the largely rural state of New Mexico, and the elimination of educational avenues for young people. In fact, it will be harder for students to come by a copy of The Great Gatsby, which is still in demand 100 years after its publication.

I have not touched upon all the knowledge capital that will be lost should museums go under. They are a trusted and easily accessible venue of scientific knowledge. A treasure trove of scientific information and communication will be gutted should the IMLS close its doors.

Just a brief note here regarding the frontal assault by the MAGA cult on books that the Trump administration deems to fall within the purview of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI). While we are quick to point an accusatory finger at communist or socialist governments that we feel are censoring books not aligned with official political ideology, let’s take a brief look at the free-market fundamentalism sweeping the US.

The US military, in line with Trump’s directives to remove books which promote DEI, one book that has been purged is Memorializing the Holocaust by Professor Janet Jacobs. Is this book so frightening, its subject matter so disturbing, that future US soldiers do not have the courage or resilience to read it? Perhaps the hyper masculine MAGA cult is too weak and sensitive (snowflakes perhaps?) to handle the difficult issues pertaining to the Holocaust.

Libraries and museums are not just something nice to have, but are part and parcel of what an educated and informed citizenry require. I think that is what today’s Gatsbys, the financial oligarchs of the MAGA cult, find absolutely terrifying.