OP-ED: The scream-like presidency of DJT
You would think that by now I would have learned to expect the unexpected from Donald Trump; but, no, I’m fooled just about every time some new scheme is proposed, or rather, is thrown against the wall for the public’s edification.
The president, or one of his legion of ultra loyalists in the administration, seems to take another surprise turn every 24 hours. I wake up, read the latest, and want to scream, “Please stop the madness!”
The latest is a prospective $250 greenback bearing the president’s likeness. The British artist who designed the mock-up for the Bureau of Engraving in the Treasury Department told the Washington Post’s Jonathan O’Connell that the president personally suggested changes to the design of the bill.
These included adding a tint of color to the U.S. flag and a logo trumpeting the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. The artist, Iain Alexander, commented that the president “absolutely loved it.”
Why not? It serves his ego, which is both massive and never satisfied.
To print and circulate any new denomination requires congressional approval. In addition, U.S. law prohibits any living person’s portrait from appearing on any legal tender, bill or coin.
In short, if the mockup were to became a reality it will have materialized illegally, absent Congress’s consent, which is not likely.
The $250 bill is just as foolish as Trump’s massive White House ballroom needed for presidential security purposes; his proposed 250-foot high arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery; and his plan to take a perfectly sane, sound, and affordable Washington, D.C., public golf course and convert it into a swanky, high-priced, professional-level, PGA-ready 18-holes in sight of the Washington Monument.
Besides which, there is Trump’s proposed park of American heroes, featuring statues ranging from that of Albert Einstein (who was born and spent most of his estimable life in Germany before putting down roots in Princeton, N.J.) to the late, great basketball star Kobe Bryant.
The park is slotted into East Potomac Park, in the vicinity of the proposed new Doral.
Oh, I almost forgot about the president’s insistence on painting the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. His preferred shade: “American Flag blue.”
To say that all of these projects are wasteful of a president’s time and attention seems obvious.
But, as Trump likes to note, he is the world’s greatest builder, and, as such, genius must have its sway.
It’s just too bad that the president doesn’t devote himself to building a sustainable foreign policy. It’s equally regrettable that Trumpian economics seems to be built on the quicksand of tariffs and wars of choice, historic harbingers of inflation.
Some presidents stamp their legacy in legislation. Some in policies which improve peoples’ lives or enhance national security.
This president evidently harbors the notion that paint and granite and well-manicured acres of grass are guarantors of historic immortality. For the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright, Jackson Pollock, and Pete Dye, sure. But not for a president.
But then again, President Trump is unlike any other chief executive. Several weeks ago the president mounted an inspection of the Reflecting Pool bed before the painting began, touring the scene in a caravan of White House limos.
Meanwhile, the White House was making ready for celebratory event the third week of June. A UCF fighters’ cage was going up along with attendant paraphernalia, including a huge Ferris wheel-looking bank of lighting.
The president is slated to host the June 20 fight on his 80th birthday. Instead of going to an arena, the arena is coming to him.
It’s a real scream.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.