Simplicity of previous presidents is lost on Trump

In September 1941, the death of a family member prompted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to say how he should be remembered, according to the Tribune News Service.

One of America’s greatest presidents wanted only a plain block of stone, about the size of his desk, to be placed on the front lawn of the National Archives Building, with the words “In memory of ... ”

Friends — not the government — installed it, 20 years after he died. It’s still there, although a more elaborate memorial to one of our greatest presidents now stands beside the Tidal Basin.

Another great president, Thomas Jefferson, also insisted on simplicity. The epitaph on his gravestone would state only that he had written the Declaration of Independence and Virginia’s Statute for Religious Freedom and had founded the University of Virginia — not that he was elected president twice.

The accidental president, Gerald Ford, pocket-vetoed a bill to name a Michigan post office after him, writing that it would be “improper for me as an incumbent president to approve legislation which places my name on a federal building. This is a precedent I do not wish to establish.”

Such modesty is lost on Donald Trump, who constantly memorialises himself with monuments to bad taste, from Washington to West Palm Beach.

He slapped his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; intends to build a vastly oversized ballroom in place of the White House East Wing he razed without Congress’ consent; proposes a triumphal arch larger than any that the ancient emperors built for themselves, which would crudely overshadow Arlington National Cemetery; and plans an enormous “ Garden of Heroes” with 250 statutes of notable Americans among whom, one suspects, there will be yet another gilt image of Donald John Trump, fist raised.

When asked by a CBS News reporter whom the arch would honour, Trump replied‘Me’.”

His name is on a State Department building. His image is on gold commemorative coins, passports and national park passes. His signature is going on paper currency. He wants a new class of white elephant battleships to be named for him.

And the airport, of course

The licensing deal for Palm Beach International Airport to be named after him, as demanded by a law the state Legislature passed without local consent, requires a logo resembling the White House seal, in — you guessed it — gold with gold stars.

The renaming and branding will cost taxpayers $5.5 million and Trump will control who will be allowed to operate concessions there.

Trump’s personal edifice complex is unmoored to any qualifying achievements or to any corresponding esteem from any sector of the public, other than MAGA diehards.

In a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll, Trump’s approval rating has sunk to 37% and his disapproval has climbed to 62%. His approval among Republicans was 85%, but among independents it’s 25%.

Across the entire electorate, the public disapproves of how he’s handling every major issue, especially inflation, the cost of living, the overall economy and his illegal war.

He argues heedlessly that he needs the colossal ballroom to protect him from potential assassins, with the recent attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as the pretext.

But that thought conflicts with his personality, because it presumes that he would hunker down in the White House, never leaving for MAGA rallies or rounds of golf. It would not be an acceptable venue for independent associations that need to keep a respectful distance from whoever is president. The East Room was adequate for John F. Kennedy’s state dinners and for the one to which Trump welcomed King Charles III last week.