Source: Washington Post
by Theodore R Johnson
“Trump’s approach to the presidency has been the same as his business strategy, one that’s uncommon for democracies: putting his name and personal brand on everything, building monuments to himself along the way. He hung his massive portrait on buildings around the nation’s capital. He has gilded the Oval Office, put his name on the border wall and on federal stimulus checks, and bathed his career and venues in a sea of American flags. Republicans have proposed legislation to make his birthday a federal holiday, carve his face into Mount Rushmore, and rename D.C.’s Metro system and one of its airports after him. These kinds of civil religious measures canonize the man more than the country and its founding ideals. … Similarly, earlier this year, officials assured the public that the grandiosity of the Army’s 250th anniversary parade had nothing to do with its occurrence on Trump’s birthday.” (10/15/25)