Killjoy Was Here: Monument Envy and the Trump Regime |
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said – “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert…. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
–Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias”
“It’s a monument. I’m building a monument to myself because no one else will.”
—Donald J. Trump, as quoted by Fox News propagandist Jesse Watters, on his “big beautiful ballroom”
Donald J. Trump is ubiquitous and inescapable. He appears in our newspapers and on our televisions, cellphones, and computer screens almost every single day. Ever the Killjoy, leaving his mark on every institution he touches. Ever the Killjoy, he uses every public speaking engagement to boast of his achievements and air his endless list of grievances, turning turkey pardons and Christmas tree lightings into joyless spectacles of self-promotion and score-settling. He – and his resentments – are everywhere. As are his monuments, real and proposed.
In less than a year in office, Trump has succeeded in paying tribute to himself where others have refused. He is like a feral animal marking its territory or a delinquent child graffitiing public property with a golden Sharpie. His name now adorns the United States Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center – the latter named for a real war hero who, unlike the White House’s current occupant, did not receive a deferment because of bogus “bone spurs” or describe STDs as his “own personal Vietnam.” His followers, for their part, are afflicted with TDS – Trump Devotion Syndrome, not to be confused with the more commonly discussed Trump Derangement Syndrome – a malady plaguing his cabinet members, Republican members of Congress, and his MAGA base, which demands unquestioned fealty.
Trump wants his name on everything, excluding, of course, the Epstein files.
Like Ozymandias, his frowning, sneering visage glowers at us from federal buildings, National Park Service America the Beautiful Annual Resident passes, and million-dollar Trump Gold Cards. (Don’t leave home without them, or risk being deported unless you also purchase the Trump Gold ICE Millionaire Pass Card for another million........