Commentary: Trump is slashing library funds. California is a target

President Trump has made it clear since his first term that he’s no fan of libraries, or books for that matter.In addition to attempting to cut their funding then, he created a frenzy over drag queen story hours that were hosted by some libraries, and backed book banning in school facilities.Like so much of the Trump 2.0 agenda, it turns out that was just the warm-up.

In the last month, Trump — mostly through the fine team at his Department of Government Efficiency, which is not an actual government entity — has gutted the Institute of Museum and Library Services, or IMLS, the federal organization that supports the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums, and demolished the congressionally approved grants that fund them.California, along with two other states that dared mention diversity and equity in their grant applications, will be especially hard hit.

But so will you and I, because for decades libraries have been more than just places to check out a book for free.They’ve evolved into a network of vital services and destinations that provide internet access for those who can’t afford it; literacy classes for kids and adults; in-home programs for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and so much more.

Really, the list of what your local library offers is too long for this space.But mostly, they offer this — to be a great equalizer between the haves and have-nots.

So curtailing their work is another arrow aimed at the heart of democracy, as damaging as the attack on universities and the free press.“Libraries are not icing on the cake.

They’re not the cherry on top,” John Szabo, the city librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, told me.“They really, really are essential.” Politics President Trump’s first 100 days in his second term have been a blitz of executive orders, job and spending cuts, and global tariffs, in pursuit of expanded presidential power.So what exactly did Trump do? In 1996, Congress created the IMLS to han...