On a years-ago hiking trip in Kenya, I tuned in Nairobi TV: Its news broadcasts began with the inevitable nine words: “His excellency the president, Daniel Arap Moi said (or declared) today . . .,” Displays of the leader, and his visage, are the stuff of which dictators are made. As our democracy celebrates its 250th birthday, Donald Trump is thrusting himself at us. Our new Gilded Age is taking on indisputable tackiness.
To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Mint is turning out a 24-karat-gold commemorative coin featuring the visage of our 47th president, glowering as if pained by bone spurs. Trump is leaning forward, as he is in a display at the National Portrait Gallery. A smaller $1 Trump coin will soon go into circulation.
Our president is remaking the U.S. Capitol to reflect his self absorption and tackiness. The East Wing of the White House is ripped down to accommodate a $250 million ballroom. The Trump name has been plastered on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and attached to the U.S. Center for Peace.
He is promoting a new “Trump Class” of battleships. He wants a new tunnel under New York’s Hudson River to carry his name, holding approval of funding for the project as ransom. His portrait confronts all who enter the U.S. Justice Department in the capital.
Trump has financed his campaigns, in part, by peddling himself with gold stuff. Gold sneakers will set you back $399 and he has even offered up a watch for $100,000. Two years ago, in his criminal trial, Stormy Daniels revealed the guy used gold manicure tweezers in tiny hands. And new payments of $1000 for newborns are being called Trump Accounts.
Is this America? Donald Sarinci, a member of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, thinks not, pointing out in a statement; “This is a democracy, not a dictatorship — and democracies do not put their elected officials on coins.” Indeed, the gorgeous Moraine Lake in Canada’s Rockies replaced Queen Elizabeth II on Canada’s currency. And it would violate federal law in our country to put the Trump visage on any currency, an issue likely to be litigated.
The administration’s lawyers have pointed to a provision of the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 which allows the U.S. Treasury Secretary to issue $1 coins “with designs emblematic of the United States” for the country’s 250th birthday. Query: Is the image of a glowering Trump “emblematic” of today’s America?
Discover more from Post Alley
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Joel,
As the saying goes, “…everything Trump touches dies” and unfortunately it does so at the expense of everything he touches. The entire administration is a representation of the worst of the worst and their actions are like the dripping of DDT on the entire nation. If November doesn’t help rid us of this plague upon the land, I am very afraid for our future. We have recovered from the ilks of Senator Joe McCarthy, and Adolph Hitler, so perhaps, with a little luck and voters who get off their wide behinds, we can overcome this latest threat to our country. If November doesn’t at least slow things down, then I fear there may be no recovery. Until then, we can only hold on and resist.