In what could be a chapter from some “authoritarian’s handbook,” President Donald Trump has used much of his second term naming publicly funded institutions and projects after himself. The decision a week before Christmas to change the name of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is getting the most pushback.
Trump chairs the board of the Kennedy Center, which is now controlled by Trump-appointed loyalists. The renaming may be illegal, since the center was created and named by an act of Congress and has not been changed by Congress. But for now, Trump’s name precedes JFK’s name on the building’s facade.
Kennedy’s niece Maria Shriver posted on Instagram, “C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up! This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It’s downright weird. It’s obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think someone can’t stoop any lower, down they go.”
The traditional Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center was called off after the renaming. Organizer and host Chuck Redd told the Associated Press, “When I saw the name change on the building, I chose to cancel our concert.” That follows other artists’ cancellations that took place after Trump ousted the previous board.
Days after the renaming of the Kennedy Center, Trump announced the construction of a new class of battleships — what he calls “Trump class” warships. Earlier in the year, he put his name on other public things: the U.S. Institute of Peace became the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, the “Trump Gold Card” was launched to allow wealthy applicants to buy American citizenship for $1 million, the Treasury Department announced “Trump Accounts” and the Interior Department put Trump’s face on its national parks passes.
There is talk of a Trump commemorative coin and there is legislation to add Trump’s name to Dulles Airport, the D.C. Metro and the $100 bill — and his likeness to Mount Rushmore. The whole thing has a “swimming upstream” feel to it, as Trump’s rush to name things after himself seems to be on the rise as his poll numbers drop.
All of it is contrary to American democratic tradition, where sitting political leaders do not have public facilities named for them until after they have died — including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. But, as a recent Slate magazine article observed, it is not uncommon among authoritarian leaders.
“Josef Stalin appeared on numerous stamps while he was the dictator of the Soviet Union and renamed a major city, Stalingrad, after himself. Kim Jong-un sometimes appears on North Korean stamps.”
This flurry of renaming is not all bad news for anti-Trumpers. No one remains in power forever and no movement lasts much beyond the departure of its leader. The more places and programs that Trump names after himself, the more opportunities there will be for anti-Trumpers to gleefully remove his name after the Trump era passes.
And one other thing. Long before Trump became president he made “Trump” a brand name and monetized it. Do you remember Trump Media & Technology, Trump University, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Taj Mahal and Trump Shuttle?
Probably not. And that will likely happen with many of Trump’s public brandings, too.