Trump's Megalomania In Architecture Form

Emperors and dictators have a need to have the ruled population view everything through their eyes, from policies to culture. From Caligula and Nero to Louis XIV of France to Hitler, each wanted to impose his own vision and style on everything around them. Once he grabbed power, Hitler, who fancied himself a brilliant artist / architect, imposed his style in music, art and architecture. His unrealized new Berlin, which he dubbed "Germania," was a monstrous, neoclassical reflection of his profound brutal megalomania.

We see in this report that demagogue and would be autocrat Donald "Impeached Forever" Trump has plans to impose his personal taste on the design of new Federal office buildings:

"A draft of an executive order called “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” would establish a classical style, inspired by Greek and Roman architecture, as the default for federal buildings in Washington and many throughout the country, discouraging modern design.

The order, spearheaded by the National Civic Art Society, a nonprofit group that believes contemporary architecture has 'created a built environment that is degraded and dehumanizing,' would rewrite the current rules that govern the design of office buildings, headquarters, and courthouses, or any federal building project contracted through the General Services Administration that costs over $50 million." (our emphasis)

We're surprised that this "society" didn't throw in the words "cosmopolitan" and "non-Aryan degenerate" as architecture that's on their banned list. Also, "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" is all you need to know that Dear Leader has his little vulgarian fingers all over it. From the linked article:

"Architects have regarded Mr. Trump, a former real estate developer who keeps close watch over his family’s portfolio of luxury properties, with a certain degree of wariness since he took office. His design style at his personal properties favors gilded furniture, marble flooring, and Louis XIV-style flourishes. But two of his higher-profile business projects, including the Trump Towers at Columbus Circle in New York City and The Trump Tower in Chicago, were built with modernist influences.

'At one level, it’s aspirational, meant to project the wealth so many citizens can only dream of,' the author Peter York wrote in 2017 of Mr. Trump’s style. 'The best aesthetic descriptor of Trump’s look, I’d argue, is dictator style.'” (our emphasis)

We'd argue that's true for everything he touches.

(photo: "Hail, Cheeto!")