His blazing blonde hair notwithstanding, President Donald Trump is not actually a royal successor to the “Sun King” Louis XIV of France. But he increasingly acts like it.
No, Trump does not pursue religious persecution as did Louis against Protestants. And in stark contrast to Louis, who regarded it as the centerpiece of his royal court, Trump has little use for his bed. Trump does, however, share Louis’s affinity for fanatically rendering himself one and the same as the state. Just as Louis built the Palace of Versailles as a monument to his greatness, so also is Trump fixated on the completion of his White House ballroom. Louis also made his personal image central to France’s currency and identity. Now, unsatisfied with planting his face upon U.S. passports, National Park passes, vast posters around the nation’s capital, and his immigration “Gold Card,” Trump plans to introduce a $250 bill adorned with his visage. Trump and the 250th anniversary of the greatest nation on Earth are one and the same, you see?
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Or not.
It’s pathetic how many Republicans are willing to support this absurd triumph of self-aggrandizement. The very name, “Republican,” should underline why this is so antithetical to America and the Constitution. It speaks to a belief in the freedom of a people against the supremacy of a monarch or dictator. George Washington famously refused to have his face on a coin prior to his death. And since the mid-19th century, federal law has restricted the depiction of living persons on U.S. currency. There is a Roman historical antecedent that underlines this approach. And it cuts to the heart of America’s national identity.
After all, while the Roman Republic was vanquished by Julius Caesar’s military victories and his populist support, the death of the Republic was also made manifest by currency. More specifically, Caesar’s enshrining of his face upon Roman coins. The dictator wanted everyone to know that he, and he alone, was now master of the state. While the revulsion this caused among the neutered senators helped lead to Caesar’s eventual assassination, the basic point is that putting one’s face on a national currency is a very un-American thing to do. Indeed, it is so profoundly un-American that both colonial currency and memorabilia coins have long featured the inscription, “Sic semper tyrannis” (“Thus always to tyrants”). As they move to change the law so that Trump can grace the new $250 bill, a better motto for today’s Republicans might be, “Thus unto the new Sun King.”
But this silliness isn’t just arrogant, it’s stupid. It will add another challenge for the already overstretched U.S. Secret Service (which is responsible for anti-counterfeiting activity). It also adds easy partisan attack lines for Democrats in what looks set to be a difficult midterm election year for Republicans. Those lines almost write themselves. As Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) put it, “If this White House put even half as much energy into working to lower costs as it does into stoking the president’s ego, American families wouldn’t need that new $250 bill just to fill up their gas tanks.” Trump’s ego is allowing Democrats to distract from their now devoted party platform of tax-and-spend leftism.
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It’s easy to write this off as a largely harmless product of Trump’s unique personality. And yes, America’s Constitutional checks and balances remain functional and healthy. Dictatorship does not, as too many Democrats screech, beckon. But the Republic has remained and will remain healthy mostly because of the Founders’ wisdom in guarding against the ego and folly of men. Trump holds the highest office in the land and has twice sworn an oath to serve the Constitution over himself.
It is sad that he cannot recognize why planting his face everywhere is the antithesis of making America great again.
