On Tuesday afternoon, Donald Trump’s State Department confirmed that a newly redesigned U.S. passport would soon be available with a picture of the president’s face superimposed over the Declaration of Independence. It was emblematic of the Republican administration’s ongoing effort to glorify Trump, as if officials were members of a personality cult, celebrating a monarch.
Around the same time, MS NOW reported:
As [British King Charles] delivered remarks to Congress, the official White House X account posted a photo from the monarch’s visit to the White House earlier today. The image shows Trump and Charles laughing, with the caption “TWO KINGS.”
Trump has often likened himself to royalty and “No Kings” has become a frequent rallying cry against his executive overreach.
Subtle it was not.
The message, obviously part of a trolling exercise, was a familiar one for those who keep an eye on the White House. Indeed, when the president isn’t promoting the idea that he’s Jesus, he’s appeared eager to present himself as a monarch.
Shortly after his second inaugural, the Republican described himself as a “king,” which came just days after he similarly declared, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” a phrase often attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte.
It was around this time when an official White House social media account also released a portrait showing a grinning Trump wearing a crown.
Months later, the president also apparently thought it’d be a good idea to post an AI-generated video of himself wearing a crown, flying a fighter jet and dropping a plane-load of excrement on his critics.
Trump has already made his hostility toward democracy clear. The more he and his team “joke” about him being a king, the more they reinforce broader concerns about the president’s animosity toward his own country’s system of government.
It’s against this backdrop that The Atlantic published a new report on Trump’s private conversations with confidants, in which he seems to think of himself as a world-historical figure along the lines of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon, as opposed to American giants like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
The report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, added, “The tendency to self-aggrandize is as fundamental a feature of Trump as his sculpted hair and overlong red ties. But it has become even more important in setting his priorities and steering his actions as he hurtles through his final term in office. He no longer has to worry about the judgment of voters and can instead focus on what he’s decided really matters: ascending to become one of history’s so-called great men and leaving an enduring — and, in many cases, physical — imprint.”
It’s reporting like this that makes it tougher to shrug with indifference when the White House repeatedly refers to Trump as a “king.”
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
The post The White House ups the ante, characterizes Trump as a ‘king’ again appeared first on MS NOW.
