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In 1839, shortly before President Donald Trump’s favorite president, Andrew Jackson, died, an admirer gave him an ancient sarcophagus, thought to have once held the emperor’s remains. Jackson, refused the request, saying, “my sentiments and republican principles forbid it.” There may be a lesson here.
Since Trump returned to the White House about a year ago, it seems that every day something new is being said about him. The Kennedy Center, the Institute of Peace building, the new naval base, the Palm Beach airport and, who are we kidding, finally the White House.
Meanwhile, a giant banner with strong Trump symbols was placed at the Justice Department this week, not the first public building emblazoned with the president’s vision to gaze upon.
Workers installed Donald J. Trump above the current signs at the Kennedy Center on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
Everything seems to have gone too far, but not for the reasons often cited. Instead, the sheer number of Trump-branded government buildings is beginning to diminish the meaning and impact of them all.
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To be clear, there is no danger of a major political backlash from voters as Trump’s name and image are plastered across Washington like Dave Matthews Band concert posters. The people who hate him call it “Dear Leader” fascism and the people who love him take selfies. Everyone else just backs off and says, “Well, that’s Trump.”
Traditionally, the question of whether naming everything after yourself is fancy or wrong is also a matter of personal preference. As a first for voters, it falls somewhere under good taste in music.
And after all, every city has a John F. Kennedy and a Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevards, although, honestly, they are killed, which is a big advantage if your goal is to get things named for you.
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No, the real question is whether this crisis of unknown business is burning, or diminishing, the legacy of the president, and in the far-sighted eye of history, often, very little.
I get it, Trump has spent his entire life making buildings grow out of the ground to stamp his name on, life-size and often golden. It is an admirable and human impulse to leave something permanent.
The photo shown behind Trump shows an example of the “Trump class” of warships. (Jessica Koscielniak/Reuters)
The president was very good at leaving his mark. Trust me, I lived in New York City for 20 years, and you can’t miss it. But now it turns out that all that glass and metal is nothing and doesn’t last when compared to Trump the man, which means what you like, will be talked about and discussed for centuries.
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It is not on the hard metal or cold plastic of physical reality that Trump’s true legacy must now be built. Rather, it is in the invisible fire of the future, where the man, not the buildings, will be judged.
Trump has an image of immortality, with his bold vision not only in America but around the world. He must be the most important figure of the early 21st century. We don’t need to name all the county courts and rest areas 1-95 after him.
Placing your name all over the place in big fonts is actually the kind of weird behavior that millennials scoff at. Like Caligula threatening to make his horse consul of Rome, it will be used by many to suggest narcissistic mania in Trump, because it is already being used that way.
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Trump will never be the dignified type of Abe Lincoln with the shawl and the husky, “No one will remember my speech,” attitude. That’s cool, his braggadocio is sweet. But I don’t want to live in a world where I look at my Trump watch to see that it’s time for a Trump burger when I go to Trump airport.
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As it turns out, “Old Hickory” Andrew Jackson will be buried in a hollow pine box, although the ancient treasure he rejected is still preserved by the Smithsonian. And instead of praising him with marble masterpieces, we keep small pictures of him in our pockets.
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More importantly, our current commander-in-chief still wields Jackson’s power and values to this day, fancy Roman sarcophagus or not.
The more things we say about Trump, the less it means, and the more we feel forced, when we don’t have to. No one, including Trump, has to convince us that he is a historical figure. Seeing that ad over and over again starts to make it all seem a little cheap.
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