This piece is inspired by the play “Rhinoceros” by Eugène Ionesco. The play is about the rise of fascism and Nazism leading up to World War II. It is set in a small French town. The play begins with a rhinoceros charging through town square. As people discuss the alarming event, another rhinoceros comes through town and crushes a woman’s cat. People begin to argue about the rhinoceroses: whether there were two of them or if it was the same one, what to do about the rhinoceroses. Some say that rhinoceroses should be banned from town. Others argue that a rhinoceros could never appear in France and deny the rhinoceros’s appearance at all. In act two, the “rhinoceritis” movement is often dismissed, it being said that the townspeople were too smart to be swayed by such meaningless rhetoric. However, people begin to turn into rhinoceroses, and quickly. At first the rhinoceroses are feared, but more and more people begin to sympathize with them and eventually become ones themselves. By the end, the main character has lost everyone he loves to the rhinoceroses, and is the only remaining human. He even tries to become a rhinoceros himself, but he finds that he is unable to transform. The play ends with him prepared to fight, and the final line is his desperate yell of “I’m not capitulating!”. In my painting, I aimed to use the metaphors from the play to shed light on the rise of fascism within the United States. I included the American flag and the MAGA hat in order to highlight the nationalist aspects of fascism. I’m concerned about the move towards fascist ideals under the leadership of Donald Trump. Trump’s executive orders, appointments, and dismantling of government agencies during his short time so far in office have been abhorrent and scary.