Trump coin "The leader must be everywhere. His face must be everywhere. His name must be everywhere" [View all]

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/23/nx-s1-5758069/the-trump-gold-coin-is-not-normal

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

If you walk around Washington, it can feel like you are running into President Trump every time you turn the corner.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Looked up, and there it said Donald J. Trump on the building.

DETROW: That was Trump last month at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: I had nothing to do with that. I swear I didn't. I swear I had no idea.

DETROW: He also claimed he was surprised when his name was added to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he is chairman of the board of trustees. Giant portraits of him hang from the headquarters of the Department of Labor and the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history, told NPR that what Trump is doing mirrors what autocrats have done for a century.

RUTH BEN-GHIAT: The leader must be everywhere. His face must be everywhere. His name must be everywhere. And his aesthetic, his taste must be reflected in buildings, in the people around him.

DETROW: Last week, a much smaller tribute to Trump made news.