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President Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress, his hand-picked appointees, and all manner of other allies have been doing their best to put Trump’s name, image and likeness all over the place.
Using taxpayer dollars, these efforts differ from Trump’s lifelong effort to put his name on privately owned buildings. They’re controversial in part because Trump is divisive and not currently very popular; his approval rating has recently been stuck in the 30s.
More importantly, the US more traditionally memorializes the dead with such honors. Placing the image of a sitting president on buildings and in such public government displays is often associated with kingdoms or authoritarian regimes.
Democrats, bristling at the Trump stamps, have introduced legislation to ban his name from being added to federal buildings or coins, but those efforts are likely to be stuck in Congress. So will GOP efforts to officially name more things after the president.
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