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On Thursday, the board of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts voted to rename the center “the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Weirdly, the board of the center, mostly picked by President Donald Trump, does not seem to understand that a “memorial” center is named for someone who is deceased, and thus the new name implies that Trump is dead. By Friday, Trump’s name was physically added to the building at the behest of his handpicked board. Don’t be fooled by the absurdity of Trump’s vanity and the obsequiousness of these government officials: This is not an at all an innocuous move.

American political culture has long rejected he idea that sitting officer holders, or even living persons, should be honored with buildings or institutions named for them, or have their names and faces on currency, coins, or postage stamps. This sort of behavior is alien to a republic and a democracy. It is common, however, in dictatorships. Adolf........

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