To the editor:
The Trump administration won approval of an unprecedented design by the Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday, March 19. The Washington Post wrote on Friday, March 20: “(it) is an extraordinary break with centuries of democratic aversion to depicting living presidents on the nation’s money”.
It wasn’t enough for our narcissistic president to illegally add his name to the John F. Kennedy Performing Fine Arts Center. It wasn’t enough to plaster his portrait in huge banners displayed on government buildings in Washington, D.C.. It wasn’t enough to withhold congressionally-allocated funds to state projects until they re-named public facilities after him.
No, like dictators worldwide, his fragile ego now needs a gold coin minted to cement his hoped-for image as a powerful, resolute, authoritarian exuding vitality and a threat of retaliation if challenged.
Wake up, America! The authoritarian threat to our democratic Republic is as plain as the nose on Trump’s minted face.
Bob Hawk,
Walden
