Scott Gurvey's Public Offerings

Mental health practitioners, of which I am not, tell me it’s called Megalomania: An obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others. Plastering a country with one’s face is a direct manifestation of grandiosity, an inflated belief in one’s supreme importance, omnipotence, and unique historical destiny.

Reporters who have spent decades reporting on the activities of Donald Trump, of which I am, know it has been one of his most visible traits throughout his career. New York is replete with examples of the Trump name on projects from one end of the city to the other. Most of these, and I inspected most of them in my Manhattan apartment hunting days, are mediocre at best and overpriced without exception.

Trump has also plastered his name on a wide variety of companies selling everything from steaks to vodka. He put his brand on a casino, an airline, and a university, among others. In my role as a reporter, I joined him at many a ribbon cutting for these various ventures. I also attended, while he was conspicuously absent, many of the bankruptcies of these projects.

The president’s obsession with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is in keeping with his desire to remake the nation’s capital, the White House, the parks, the wide boulevards and open spaces, to his own gilded, ostentatious, self-serving taste.

While it hasn’t drawn nearly as much attention as the destruction of much of the White House, the US Institute of Peace, wreck of the reflecting pool, and the plans for a triumphal arch, I find the picture above to be the most frightening of all.

The banner shows Trump, he of the woeful countenance, scowling down on everyone who enters the building generally known as “Main Justice.” That’s the Washington headquarters of the US Department of Justice. This is the part of the national government most involved with the protection of the laws and the Constitution. The message of the banner is clear. This is Trump’s DOJ now, run by Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, now Attorney General of the United States. Similar banners have appeared at other government buildings in Washington.

When I see that picture, all I can think about is “Big Brother.” That’s a reference to the all-powerful, intrusive authority or government that constantly monitors and controls its citizens featured in George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984.” In the book, Big Brother is the leader, the supreme dictator of the totalitarian state of Oceania. Public posters display his face alongside the warning: “Big Brother is watching you”.

I am also told an obsession with naming things after oneself is called toponymic narcissism. In political behavior and history, this practice is also associated with building a cult of personality, where a leader uses omnipresent branding, imagery, and naming to achieve cognitive saturation and project total control over the state.

Trump is now appearing in television commercials featuring his image and voice and cheering on his supposed achievements. The ads say they are paid for by the US government. This is the mark of one sick cookie.

In China, Mao Zedong‘s image became a permanent institutional fixture. His massive portrait famously overlooks Tiananmen Square on the Tiananmen Gate, and during the Cultural Revolution, his likeness was mandated across all public infrastructure, factory floors, and schools.

In Russia, Lenin’s image remains a permanent fixture in all public buildings. However, the portraits of current leaders, like President Vdlamir Putin, are relegated to standard, framed photos inside administrative offices and schools rather than dominating public building exteriors.

And perhaps most infamously, there was Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s portrait was explicitly required and heavily displayed on public and state buildings throughout Nazi Germany. While the Nazi regime did not pass a formal law forcing private citizens to hang his picture at home, state regulations mandated that government offices, schools, and state-run facilities prominently display his likeness.

The Trump administration used at least $50,000 in taxpayer dollars to create the large banners featuring the president’s face or policies, according to a new report released by Senator Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) office. Schiff calls the move illegal, saying the banners amount to “propaganda” mirroring “totalitarian dictators.” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios the “report would only be valuable as toilet paper” and declined to comment on the specific claims Schiff’s office made.

After thinking of Big Brother, I move on to thinking of “Fearless Leader.” That was the dictator from the fictional country Pottsylvania, and the employer of the inept spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. These were all comedic characters who appeared in many television and film projects featuring Jay Ward creations Rocky and Bullwinkle.

The difference is Rocky and Bullwinkle were meant to be amusing. Trump is no laughing matter.

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