On the surface, the MSNOW report “Trump aides explore attaching president’s name to Ford’s Theatre” is something of a nothing-burger.
As President Donald Trump fights to rename the Kennedy Center after himself, administration officials are circulating a list of government sites that could have Trump’s name affixed to them in some way, according to people familiar with the effort.
One landmark that has emerged in the discussions among administration officials has raised eyebrows: Ford’s Theatre, the playhouse where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
It is unclear how seriously the theater is being considered or how the administration would attach Trump’s name to it. One Trump administration official said the idea has been discussed, but they didn’t know where it stood. The prospect sparked a flurry of discussion over the past week among people responsible for the historic site.
While renaming a theater whose name everyone knows because one of our great presidents was murdered there after Trump would be quite odd, the idea is purely speculative at this point. One guy says it’s “been discussed,” but the reporter doesn’t know how seriously it’s been considered. This is, it’s fair to say, not newsworthy.
But the larger context is noteworthy.
The discussions underscore how much of a priority honoring the president has become inside parts of the Trump administration — even as the Iran war nears its eighth month, diesel prices hit an all-time high, the midterm elections approach in six weeks and most Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance.
White House officials, advisers and allies pitch ideas such as naming buildings after Trump to get on the president’s good side, a former administration official told MS NOW. The president’s view, the official said: “Why would I say no? Everybody’s trying to please me.”
“They know flattery gets them everything,” the former official said, adding that people wait to hear “How can I help you?” in return.
Granting that the quotes all seem to emanate from a single, anonymous source whose access to the President’s thinking is unspecified, there’s ample outside evidence flattery is a key tool for influencing Trump and that he rather obviously likes having his name on as many things as possible.
Since returning to office, Trump has imprinted himself on Washington, D.C. In addition to the Kennedy Center, his appointees have renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace for him; put his likeness on U.S. passports, an NPS pass and a 24-karat gold one-dollar coin; hung large banners adorned with his face outside the departments of Justice, Labor and Agriculture; moved ahead with plans for a 250-foot “triumphal” arch near Arlington National Cemetery; discussed opening a promenade at the Lincoln Memorial; demolished the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new ballroom built to his specifications; and paved over the White House’s Rose Garden for a Mar-a-Lago-style patio.
The president and top administration officials have also reportedly discussed putting his name on Penn Station in New York, Dulles International Airport in Virginia and the new Washington Commanders stadium. Trump has denied pursuing the renaming of Penn Station. Some Republican lawmakers have gone so far as introducing legislation to rename Dulles for Trump. And then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in November that it would be “beautiful” for the Commanders’ stadium to bear Trump’s name.
Perhaps it’s time to revisit the Shakespearean adage, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
