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The Screaming Moderate

For Trump, 'legacy' matters. Nothing else.

8/26/2026

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President Trump’s narcissistic personality hits new heights daily.
This week alone:
  • His administration issued a blackmail notice to the world that either the Kennedy Center puts his name on its building, or he’ll knock it down (at least he’s giving prior notice versus his illegal destruction of the East Wing of the White House).
  • Because of a hissy fit, said he'll rename Lake Ontario to Lake America (at least it’s not Lake Trump)
  • In the middle of a war he seems incapable of ending, led reporters on a White House property tour to show how he plans to redo the South Lawn, to meld well with his new helipad that he wants completed before the Chinese President visits next month, while his Treasury  Secretary told China they are included in the latest sanctions against Iran to further an economic war they apparently think they can win since they haven’t won the military war. The China president’s trip is now up in the air.

And, it’s only Wednesday.

When I started this blog, a little over 10 years ago, my plan was to write about politics, yes, but also retirement, family and basically anything else that popped into my head.  Call it my narcissism but at  least I'm the one paying and you are free to ignore it. Ten years later, it’s been primarily politics, unfortunately, because Donald Trump came on the political scene at about the same time. And no one can ignore him.

Trump sucked all the attention to himself. And, he continued sucking for four years during his first term.
  
He was impeached twice. Convicted on 34 felony charges stemming from his relationship with a stripper and lost a civil suit to E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation, and we thought the ugliness of the Trump chapter in our history was finished.

Then, some normalcy returned to politics. Joe Biden became President.
Biden broke his promise, though, to serve only one term. Then he showed up impaired at a debate with Trump. His age and mental condition quickly became the only issue of the campaign (after all, what Trump does best is leverage any opponent’s weakness for his own gain). Biden was forced to quit the campaign which left Kamala Harris not enough time to wage a strong enough effort, not to mention Biden leaving a suffering economy.

So, Trump, the luckiest man in U.S. political history, was left to chalk up another win against another weakened candidate.

This time, he’d been through it before and understood more how the levers of power could (emphasis on “could” not "should") work. Worse, his hangers-on/sycophants spent four years plotting out an anti-democracy plan for Trump to follow.

He made loyalty to him the top – and only – requirement to be appointed to his Administration. The Congress did not matter. The courts (except, so far, the Supreme Court) did not matter.
 
Only the whims of the me-first Donald Trump mattered in his second term.

Money became his priority. Not your money. His and his family’s wealth.

He and has family have made billions since his return to the White House. He tore down the East Wing of the White House in the dark of night. He gilded the Oval Office  – floor to celing, displayed his “peace prize” from a soccer mogul when he couldn’t earn the Nobel, “beautified” the Reflecting Pool whose repair  from the damage continues, slapped his name on things he didn’t earn – including a Congressionally ordered memorial to John F. Kennedy. And more.

Because, Donald Trump is focused on, solely, his “legacy.” And legacy, to Donald J. Trump, means one thing – putting his name and tacky taste on things. Don’t believe me? Then remember, if you will, Trump Tower, casinos, magazine, vodka, water, wine, steaks, university and on and on.

Be it government organizations he simply renames without regard to the law. Be it planning to build his offensive Arc d’Trump to ruin the landscape and skyscape of Washington, D.C.

He campaigned on “no forever wars” and then chose to dive us into yet another morass, in the Middle East of all places where even a moron knows if you start a war, you’re going to be there for a long while, mired in the centuries-long tribal history of that region. He swears it's been a military victory but this week waged economic war on Iran to defeat them.

He wants to redesign -- at a cost of billions -- our aircraft carriers to make them look stronger. Not perform better but to look stronger. Appearance matters to him. And to him, a strong aircraft carrier looks like what he viewed in his primary military experience – watching World War II movies.

Name one piece of legislation he got passed. Oh yes, the Big Beautiful Bill. Now, tell me what’s in it that benefits you. I’ll wait.

He picks Cabinet members based on what he thinks a Secretary of State, or Defense Secretary looks like, not what he or she necessarily knows. He likes to let Central Casting make his choices because appearances are what matters to him, not substance.  

He allowed the UFC to tear up the South Lawn for a one-night only program of fights, where the fighters used the White House to pose in their fighting outfits, muscled bodies featured before heading out to do battle on the lawn, which is still being repaired. Those memories of black-tie affairs in the same space by JFK? Replaced now by muscled men in tights. Class.

Trump watched a Grand Prix race he called for on the streets of Washington where the speed limit is basically 25 mph but for race day these machines hit nearly 200 mph.

Why? I have no idea other than the King can order such things. This “president” does not watch out first for you and me, but for He.

It’s all about Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s legacy, Donald Trump’s whims, and Donald Trumps impaired view of the world, diplomacy and war.

It’s about Donald Trump’s view of democracy, from his obvious lie that he won the 2020 election to his “right” to tear down the East Wing without anyone’s approval, to his belief he can rename the Kennedy Center the Trump (his name first, of course) Kennedy Center.

It’s about appearance, not substance. It’s about image, not reality.

It’s about Donald J. Trump.

Oh, and the bill will be paid. Someday, long after he is gone from the White House, we will learn what all this cost the taxpayers -- in spite of his promises that his excesses would be paid by private donations.

Rant over. But the week's not over yet.


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    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

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