https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/sjcrokuxze
Since returning to the White House for a second term, U.S. President Donald Trump has devoted much of his time to leaving a physical, personal mark on Washington and on American history in ways no sitting president before him has dared to attempt.
From plans for a new White House ballroom to renaming the Kennedy Center and building an “Arc de Triomphe,” Trump is acting as president much as he did as a real estate developer: attaching his name, in giant letters, to buildings and symbols. The difference is that these buildings and symbols do not belong to the president of the United States.
The legal restrictions on living people appearing on U.S. currency date back to 1866, after the image of a mid-level Treasury official appeared on a 5-cent note. Congress responded by passing a law requiring that only deceased individuals appear on U.S. banknotes, a rule intended to prevent practices associated with monarchs and dictators.
I read an essay years ago asking why Elvis Presley, at the top of his fame, acting so bizarrely? Shooting a TV because you don't like what's on? A Jungle Room? Velvet Elvis? The outfits? Why would someone rich and famous behave like that?
ReplyDeleteThe answer was simple - you can take the guy out of the trailer park but you can't take the trailer park out of the guy. Elvis was trailer trash that was handed a huge amount of money and he spent it like any trailer trash guy handed a huge amount of money would. Don't like what's on TV? Shoot it and buy another one. What's the big deal?
Trump is the same, of course. He's a raving egomaniac and he also knows his time in the limelight is coming to an end. His winged will be clipped in November and in 2028 he will start his slow drift towards oblivion, punctuated by occasional outrageous stunts to get his name in the paper.
So now, while he can, he's living his fantasy because no one can stop it. It actually makes perfect sense.