Trump’s Self-Promotion Is Still Shameless and Sometimes Illegal

President Donald Trump has a long history of naming things after him, including Trump Tower, Trump National Golf Club, Trump Taj Mahal Casino, Trump University, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka and Trump: The Game. But as he discovered last week, such self-promotion can be legally problematic when it requires congressional approval.

On Friday, a federal judge ruled that Trump appointees exceeded their statutory authority by attaching his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The move is the latest reminder of the president’s tendency to trample the rule of law in his race for glorification.

The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, chaired by Trump himself and consisting of his friends, approved the name change on December 18, and this was immediately reflected in the letters on the facade of the building. The new name also appeared on the center’s website, logo and emails.

Not so fast, said U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper: Congress had clearly established the Kennedy Center’s name, and only Congress could change it. Predictably, Trump was disturbed by this attack on his vanity, declaring, “Judge Cooper should be ashamed of himself!” »

The implication that Trump knows the concept of shame seemed inconsistent with the conduct at issue in this case. And this isn’t the only time Trump has stirred up controversy by using his position to quench his thirst for public adulation.

Weeks before Trump called his name at the Kennedy Center, the State Department announced that the U.S. Institute of Peace, a think tank established by Congress in 1984, had been renamed to honor “the greatest negotiator in our nation’s history.” This change, which was also reflected on the facade of the building, was also difficult to reconcile with federal law.

Trump also lent his name to a new class of battleships. But unlike the Kennedy Center and the U.S. Institute of Peace, these ships have not yet been built and may never be funded by Congress.

The “Trump Gold Card” seems even more uncertain. The program, which Trump claimed to authorize in September, is supposed to attract foreign investors by granting them permanent resident status in exchange for a $1 million “contribution” to the U.S. Treasury. But because Congress has not approved any such program, the legal justification for this program requires rewriting the statutory criteria for EB-1 and EB-2 visas, which rely on qualifications distinct from simple wealth.

The Trump administration has nonetheless created a website that offers a place in line to wealthy would-be immigrants who pay a “processing fee” of more than $15,000. But given the program’s questionable legality, that promise seems every bit as bogus as the oversized mock-up of the Trump Gold Card the president displayed in the Oval Office last fall, which featured the Statue of Liberty, a bald eagle, a photo of Trump’s head and his signature.

Trump’s face and signature are also central features of the “commemorative U.S. passports” that the State Department plans to begin issuing soon, apparently in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Trump’s signature, but not his face, will also appear on U.S. currency, occupying the place usually reserved for the U.S. Treasurer — a revision that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent describes as “a powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump.”

These two tributes are unprecedented but legal. The same cannot be said of the fanciful plan to create a $250 bill bearing Trump’s image, which would violate federal law in two ways: by honoring a living person and by creating a new denomination.

Last year, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced a bill that would have eliminated these hurdles and required the Treasury Department to “commemorate America’s half-fiftieth anniversary” by producing the Trump bills. But that legislation went nowhere, underscoring a point Trump already understood: It’s hard to do things legally.

© Copyright 2026 by Creators Syndicate Inc.

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