The excitement In Washington is palpable with the announcement that President Donald Trump has a new project to help beautify the city on top of the huge banners bearing his image festooning the fronts of government buildings, his billion dollar White House fortified ballroom, the paving of the rose garden, the enlarging of the helicopter landing pad, the soon to be demolished and renamed “Trump”-Kennedy Center, the renaming of the “Trump” Institute of Peace, and the soon to be started Trump-fal Arch being constructed between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. The president has clearly identified the urgent need for a thirty-foot high effigy of America’s first president George Washington, which is already being referred to as a “Colossus Statue,” to be placed along the city’s mall in front of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The under-White House-control-or-I’ll-fire-you city planning and arts commissions will undoubtedly approve the project in spite of the fact that George Washington would have no doubt abhorred such a monument to himself, since he clearly rejected in his Farewell Address the suggestion that he and his successors would be or become anything like “kings.” The Smithsonian, which has independent management, might seek to block the move but recent history has shown us that Trump will ignore any opposition and employ any and every brutal expedient to get his way.
George Washington aside, President Donald Trump really is working hard to make both the city of Washington and the nation all about himself. Over the weekend, the president wrapped up the first-ever Republican Midterm Convention populated by an underflow crowd of his supporters with a pledge allegiance to him personally as part of a “vow to vote,” saying “Please raise right your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States. That loves us so much he can’t even breathe, that I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way — I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try to cheat like hell like they do… and we are going to vote on November 3.”
It was a call to vote illegally if necessary to defeat the Democrats, which, oddly enough, has often been claimed by Trump regarding the Dems with the alleged corruption advantage proceeding in the opposite direction. Trump added to his audience, “You know what happens if you don’t vote right?” The revealing punch line then followed: “You go to hell.’
Interestingly, even as Trump has continued to promote himself as the “greatest president of all time” as well in graphic form on his Truth Social pages, even better than George Washington, it would not surprise one to see a statue to Washington put up that is physically resembling the current president rather than his illustrious predecessor. Once it is up, the name plate can be changed to reflect the actual reality of who is being depicted and glorified. After all, if one can rename Great Lakes, oceanic Gulfs, States, issue coins and passports with the presidential face glaring out, plus rename foreign nations and even maritime Straits, then reconfiguring a statue of a former president is no big deal. Some in the media are referring to these memorialization actions as “vanity projects” for Trump and they rarely are subjected to normal approvals for exploitation or “redevelopment” of government resources, buildings and sites. And as for size, 30 feet high is kind of pathetic, so why not something closer to the 250 feet of the Arch that will soon be under construction. And after all the fine tuning of the city’s topography is done, it just might be possible to rename the city itself after Trump rather than Washington!
Donald Trump’s richly deserved many gifts to both the city and our once-upon-a-time republic are also being shared with foreign nations. He went to Ireland at taxpayer expense to watch some men play on one of his many golf courses. During a short stop in Dublin, thousands of protesters greeted him by carrying banners and placards with slogans such as “We don’t want you here,” “No Welcome for Mr Trump.” While in the country, Trump told the Irish that he would like to see the Republic of Ireland unified with the English ruled Northern Ireland. Some have suggested that throwing a barb at London over its historical dominance of most of the British Isles was one way to irritate the government there regarding Trump’s claimed NATO/UK failure to support his war against Iran. Nevertheless, when asked about Irish reunification by a reporter Trump characteristically drifted off into space, rambling on alarmingly about windmills.
And wherever Trump goes warm thoughts of Israel are not far from his dimly functioning brain cells. Just last week, Britain’s long overdue move to block trade with the Israeli settlements due to their homicidal crimes has roused the wrath of Washington over the treatment of its “best friend Israel” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Serious blowback from the White House is expected! Another way that Trump has chosen to poke London is to support his good friends and fellow Israel lovers the Argentines and their President Javier Milei in their quest to reacquire the “Malvinas Islands” now referred to as the Falklands by the British colonists who have had control of the place since 1833. Currently, the islands are an internally self-governed British Overseas Territory where a huge majority of the residents support continued defense and foreign affairs handled by London. Nevertheless, Trump is sending a signal that he just might support Argentina if efforts are made to come to a settlement if it seeks to recover the islands.
Trump is also, of course, engaged in what is something like a tariffs and trade war with Canada intended to damage that country’s economy and force it to conform with what he refers to as a foreign policy which apparently includes Canada becoming the 51st state. Canada is not yet at the point of a shooting war with the United States, but that may be coming if the deliberately incendiary exchanges of language mostly coming from Trump warm up a bit. And if one wants a real war it would likely be called something else by the Pentagon so it wouldn’t have to pay the usual benefits to the surviving spouses of dead veterans. This has been the reason for the word game regarding the dead Americans who have been victims of the Iran fighting. Meanwhile another actual armed conflict appears to be brewing vis-a-vis Cuba with US warships standing by. And maybe also with Colombia over the usual claims about “drugs.”. Trump has already stolen Venezuela’s oil and is bragging about how much he got so maybe it is time to steal a few cigar making factories in Central America. Why is Cuba an enemy since it in no way threatens the US? It is apparently because they are “communists,” according to Secretary of State and advisor on National Security Marco Rubio!
There are always a lot of good stories with Trump, but the final attack on America’s electoral process was, of course, last week’s pledge to give every adult American $5,000 if the Republicans retain control over the House of Representatives and Senate in the Midterms in November. At the mini-convention in Dallas Trump said: “Here is my promise: if the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them… because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000. If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump Dividend.”
This “dividend” would amount to $1.35 trillion dollars that would be printed up by the Treasury and added to the National Debt, which currently, due in part to Trump’s unfunded spending, has surged to beyond $40 trillion. Presumably that “gift” would have to be approved by Congress in some fashion and many in that august body might deem the transaction as either borderline or demonstrably illegal as it would be seeking to reward voters in advance to corrupt the voting process by casting their ballots in a certain way to benefit themselves personally, not in response to their judgment over issues normally seen as relating to government operations. In fact, the Trump dividend” promises $5,000 to every adult citizen, but so far lacks a Congressional bill, any enforcement mechanism, any income limits, or any delivery timeline. The tariffs that may be funding at least some of the dividend will also raise consumer prices, meaning recipients would partly pay themselves back at the cash register.
One might assume that what is being done by Trump, who does not believe in rules or laws and thinks whatever he does is all right based on how he “feels,” is manipulating and corrupting the entire electoral system. He should be impeached and removed before he does more damage. But will that happen? One has to hope that most Americans in November will at a minimum follow the path to an electoral result that opens the door to impeachment. One hopes!
Reprinted with permission from Unz Review.
