"When the outlines of the Presidential Walk of Fame appeared on a West Wing wall this week, outside the Oval Office, I assumed that it was for portraits of donors. The people who'd given money for Donald Trump's forthcoming ballroom, I thought, would be honored with their pictures affixed to the White House in gilt frames, a tackier version of the donor wall at a university or museum or public-radio station."
"A few elections ago, Republicans clutched their chests when departing Clinton aides popped the Ws off their keyboards ahead of the junior George Bush's term and when Barack Obama put his foot up on the Resolute desk. But Trump in his second term has discarded any remaining shreds of conservative restraint (small government? Ha!) in favor of exacting revenge and punishment. In keeping with that small-mindedness, the aesthetic he's chosen isn't quite dictator chic (although it aspires to that, for sure) but dorm-room gags."
A Presidential Walk of Fame outline was installed on a West Wing wall outside the Oval Office, depicting a timeline of 47 presidencies that culminates with Trump placed higher than the others. Joe Biden's portrait was omitted and replaced with a photo of an Autopen device, signaling a deliberate provocation. The installation communicates trolling and mockery rather than respect for the office. The gesture is characterized as undignified, childish, and petty, consistent with a second Trump term focused on revenge and punishment rather than traditional conservative restraint. The chosen aesthetic emphasizes gag-like dorm-room humor over stately decorum.
Read at Curbed
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