The Roman Emperors had a habit of putting their name and likeness on everything. They requisitioned artists to cast their visages in stone and bronze. They stamped their image on the coins of the realm. They put their images on buildings. Each time they did so, they would eliminate the image of the previous emperor – a practice known as damnatio memoriae – the condemnation of memory. For if the old emperor was still thought of positively, then the new emperor might be compared to the old one (potentially diminishing the standing of the ruler).

I reference this history lesson because our current president, Donald Trump, appears to have an obsession with seeing his image and likeness everywhere (and making money off of it where he can). He has been particularly focused on placing his name on buildings, government documents, coins – sounds like the Roman Emperors (apparently no one told him that the Roman empire collapsed, partly from the very corruption and military overstretch that characterizes the Trump Administration). We now have the Donald J Trump Institute of Peace. The President’s image is being placed on limited edition commemorative passports. The President’s image is being place on a US issued gold coin, despite US law prohibiting images of living Presidents being on our currency (let alone a sitting President). Banners with the President’s likeness are being hung outside of the Department of Labor and the Robert F Kennedy Department of Justice buildings. Trump’s face is on the national park pass – right next to George Washington, although with a much sterner look (Stalinesque, even). The prescription drug site for Medicare recipients has been named TrumpRx.gov – ironically since TrumpRx is frequently not a good deal. The most infamous naming was sticking the President’s name at the front of the Kennedy Center for the Arts (so named by an act of Congress) – which has since been removed from the building by court order (and is still rising in the federal courts as the President’s lackies attempt to keep him in their favor).

The most recent example of obsequiousness toward the President is the renaming of the Palm Beach International Airport. This $5.5 million dollar boondoggle (half from state tax revenues and the other half from the fee revenue of the public airport) involves new signage and new airport call letters (DJT). But unlike any other airport naming, this is the first renaming of an airport for a sitting President. It is also the first airport renaming that required a licensing agreement to allow the renaming to take place and the airport filed trademarks for the name – less of a honoring and more of a commercial transaction. Even the logo for the new airport appears to be fodder for critique. But the important thing is that the name Donald J Trump is emblazoned on as many things as possible – until the next would-be emperor comes along and renames it all.

And the national disgrace continues…