During the pandemic, someone shared a meme of President Donald Trump in his gilded New York apartment. Near him, Melania draped herself over a piano, while their son Barron sat astride a stuffed tiger. The image was accompanied by a question: “If Trump got Covid and lost his sense of taste, how could you tell?”

It was a wittier jab than most, for the president has an excessive love of gilt. As with his massive flags flying on the White House lawn, his attitude is that if something is good, more of it is better.