In addition to his accumulation of political power, His Royal Majesty has embraced visual cues designed to project personal command and grandeur.
Agencies have hung enormous portraits of His Royal Majesty outside their buildings. The Treasury Department is preparing to mint a commemorative coin that shows His Royal Majesty raising a heroic fist. His Royal Majesty is planning a triumphal arch across from the Lincoln Memorial for America’s 250th birthday.
His Royal Majesty has also added 24-karat golden adornments to the Oval Office, giving it a palatial feel. He has arranged to receive a luxurious Boeing jetliner from Qatar. He has ordered thicker paper, decorated with gold, for the letters he writes to military officers who are becoming generals.
His Royal Majesty’s aggressive moves to accumulate political power — deploying National Guard troops, invoking massive tariffs —have prompted protests and lawsuits as well as plaudits. But he is also asserting his power through what might be called an imperial aesthetic: surrounding his presidency with visual cues designed to project personal command and grandeur.
“What it’s intended to convey is a kind of martial strength, the kind of presence of power that you see a lot of dictators around the world wanting to project,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California). “The gold ornate style, the imposing portraiture, the military parades, the physical depiction on currency — this is what you see from state-run authoritarian regimes.”
