The Guardian view on Trump’s omnipresence: commanding attention like a king | Editorial
Article excerpt
Trump's image and name saturate Washington and beyond, on buildings, merchandise, and media, a pattern the editorial compares to authoritarian regimes where leaders' likenesses proliferate unchecked. The piece argues this omnipresence overturns democratic norms against glorifying sitting presidents, citing historical parallels to Mussolini and other autocrats. While acknowledging Trump's celebrity status and supporters' enthusiasm, the editorial warns that constant exposure to a leader's image and name functions as propaganda, normalizing cult-of-personality politics in a democracy designed to resist such concentration of personal power.
The president’s image and name are proliferating in Washington and beyond, overturning well-advised democratic taboos on glorifying sitting leaders
One of the surest signs of an authoritarian regime is the ubiquity of its leader. Mussolini’s face was plastered across fascist Italy. In North Korea, pictures of Kim Jong-un have appeared alongside those of his father and grandfather, which are present in every home and public building. The golden statue of Turkmenistan’s leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, perching on a marble cliff in the capital is one of a multitude of portrayals.
Thriving democracies spurn such displays, rightly judging it safer to laud leaders once they are out of power. The first US president, George Washington, refused to appear on currency, believing that redolent of European monarchs. The 47th has no such concerns. The administration wants a $250 bill depicting Donald Trump to commemorate the 250th anniversary of independence, though federal law does not currently allow banknotes to depict living people. His signature will soon appear on $100 bills: a first for a US president.
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