(For those of you that can’t figure out a lot of Shakespearean English like me, wherefore means why.  And for those who don’t follow Trump too closely, and I don’t recommend it, he leaves a foul smell behind, literally and figuratively)

Trump has a predilection for frantically marking his territory like a junkyard mutt.  His whole commercial life has been about branding and selling you stuff or aspirations that you don’t really want or need.  We’re talking about Trump Towers, Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks, Trump University and much, much more.

Now that he’s become President again – the first time was just a vainglorious TV reality show called The Apprentice President – he’s taken his grifting and branding to a new level by selling Trump smartphones, Trump UFC Medallions, Trump Stablecoins, . . . – the list is endless.  But he’s gone further by redecorating Federal buildings in his trademark trashy gold Arab chic and planning to add monuments in his name.

The Kennedy Center is a prime example of Trump’s egregious behaviour.  He decided that he wished to place his Trump Stamp on it.  Using his executive powers, he fired the board and replaced them with toadies who then elected him Chairman.  On 18 December 2025, the board voted to append his trashy name to that of Kennedy’s.  Meanwhile, in the background he had lined up the contractor who prepared the new signage. The next day a contractor, who was locked and loaded, arrived on site and added Trump’s name within a few hours – a preplanned assault to make it fait accompli before anyone could do anything about it.  The only thing wrong in Trump’s eyes was that his name was not in gold.

Job done, or so he thought.  The popular backlash was immediate and massive.  Booked performances pulled out to the extent that Trump closed the Center for ‘renovations’ for two years.  One of the planned décor ‘improvements’ was to replace the theatre armrests with cold unyielding marble ones – really!  He even showed off samples he had produced.

The judicial blowback took a few months but on 29 May a judge ordered that his name be removed within 14 days.