Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
The festooning of the president’s name and likeness across Washington, D.C., is consistent with authoritarian tendencies.
Strolling through the capital these days, you can’t go far without encountering an image of the president’s face. It drapes down over the front of the Department of Labor building, and peeks out from behind the trees that cluster at the entrance to the Department of Justice. What is the expression playing out on his lips, magnified to a hundred times their actual size? There is something of a Mona Lisa quality to this particular photo of Donald Trump. He could be scowling, or maybe slyly smiling. His glowering eyes, though, are less enigmatic; they seem to follow the pedestrians scurrying around the city from above.
The rollout of these banners, and the placement of Trump’s name in front of those of institutions such as the Kennedy Center and the Institute of Peace, continue the president’s long history of shameless branding (see: products as varied as Trump steaks and Trump University). Except in this case the brand is being emblazoned on federal institutions that Trump himself does not own—for example, the Department of Agriculture. Last May, a 31-foot banner with that same brooding portrait hung (temporarily) down the side of the USDA building next to one depicting Abraham Lincoln, who established the department. The display, accompanied by the motto growing america since 1862, reportedly cost taxpayers $16,400.
www.theatlantic.com
Strolling through the capital these days, you can’t go far without encountering an image of the president’s face. It drapes down over the front of the Department of Labor building, and peeks out from behind the trees that cluster at the entrance to the Department of Justice. What is the expression playing out on his lips, magnified to a hundred times their actual size? There is something of a Mona Lisa quality to this particular photo of Donald Trump. He could be scowling, or maybe slyly smiling. His glowering eyes, though, are less enigmatic; they seem to follow the pedestrians scurrying around the city from above.
The rollout of these banners, and the placement of Trump’s name in front of those of institutions such as the Kennedy Center and the Institute of Peace, continue the president’s long history of shameless branding (see: products as varied as Trump steaks and Trump University). Except in this case the brand is being emblazoned on federal institutions that Trump himself does not own—for example, the Department of Agriculture. Last May, a 31-foot banner with that same brooding portrait hung (temporarily) down the side of the USDA building next to one depicting Abraham Lincoln, who established the department. The display, accompanied by the motto growing america since 1862, reportedly cost taxpayers $16,400.
Trump’s Giant Face Is Everywhere
The festooning of the president’s name and likeness across Washington, D.C., is consistent with authoritarian tendencies.
www.theatlantic.com
