During his second term in office, Donald Trump has had a bit of an obsession with slapping his name all over the place.
He has already added his name to one government building; he was recently added to the Kennedy Center; and he is also building an arch and a ballroom that are both likely to bear the name of Trump.
The media and Democrats are having a meltdown over this, but they say not to worry, as they have vowed that Trump’s name will be erased as soon as Democrats are back in charge of the White House.
Trump hand-picked the members of the Kennedy Center board, then the group “unanimously” voted to add his name to the marquee of the historic venue,
Now, the building was erected a monument to John F. Kennedy, so the official name of the building can only be changed through an act of Congress (this is already being litigated), but the vote on the name change itself is now coming into question.
According to new reports, after Trump’s people took over, they changed the rules so that former members would no longer have a say (up to that point, former officials could still vote on such matters).
This meshes with reports from former officials who attended the relevant meeting via conference call and claimed they were muted when objections were raised, as well as when the final vote took place.
In addition to the ballroom renovation, with which I agree, Trump has also decided that we need an arch in the D.C. area that would mimic the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, only this would be called the Triumphal Arch.
When asked when construction would commence, Trump responded, "It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it. They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch."
I am not sure who "everyone" is, as I think that such a structure is rather silly and the last thing we need in D.C. right now. To me, this is just a vanity project, as Trump has become a bit obsessed with building monuments.
No location for the arch has been revealed, but based on mockups, it is believed that Trump has chosen a location near the Lincoln monument. The arch is reportedly being privately funded, but as far as the legalities of this go, I am not even sure he can place a structure like this on the site without congressional approval.
That brings us to the next aspect of this, which centers on what will happen when Democrats eventually take back control of Congress and the White House, especially since several possible presidential candidates have already stated they would demolish the ballroom project right out of the gate.
MS NOW contributor Sam Stein believes that Trump’s name on these buildings and monuments will be short-lived, stating, “Of course, all of this is going to be reversed as soon as a Democratic president takes office. I have to imagine that any time the power is going to change, they’re going to say, okay, we’re going to take that name off of the Kennedy Center, not exactly something we want. And so it’s all for short-term gain, and it makes you wonder why he’s doing it. And the only obvious answer to that is that it’s feeding his very sizable ego.”
He made another point, suggesting that the more Trump pushes these name changes, the more negative the attention he will garner. Thinking big picture here, what he said actually makes sense.
You have to keep in mind how the media operates these days. Trump may have irons in 10 different fires, but this is the one on which they will concentrate when comparing Trump's priorities to the current struggles of the average American. And as we have seen with the ballroom, how the project is being funded doesn’t matter because the media and Democrats pitch the narrative that Trump is blowing money on these vanity projects while Americans are dealing with skyrocketing housing and insurance costs. It is truly a no-win situation for the president in terms of public perception.
