The Precinct of Tyrants

"USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] has much to remember."

"The banners on the building's facade observe these moments in American history and acknowledge the vision and leadership of USDA's founder, Abraham Lincoln, and the best advocate of America's farmers and ranchers, President Trump."

Seth W. Christensen, USDA director of communications 

Getty Images

 

People in Washington -- residents and tourists -- all stopped for a closer look at a giant portrait of President Donald Trump newly installed on the facade of the National Mall's U.S. Department of Agriculture building. Another portrait featuring Abraham Lincoln hung a few columns in distance from that of the current president, both installed in honour of the 163rd anniversary of the department's founding, both scheduled to be in place "for the coming months", according to the department's communications director.

 

The impeccable lawn stretching from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument attracts over 25 million annual visits, a backdrop for protests, presidential inaugurations, civil pilgrimages and summertime picnics. On its grounds sit monuments, memorials and museums where Americans see their identity, history and presence on the global stage portrayed. On its website, the National Park Service legend states: "The National Mall is America's Front Yard".

"There's Trump, I need a picture."

"I support him -- foreign policy, domestic policy, stance on immigration."

Frank App, 68, telecommunications worker

As people wander by the USDA building, passerby reaction ranges from admiration and support to condemnation and disgust. Such public displays of ruling heads are infamously more common in the reigns of tyrants and dictators, where for example, huge photographs of former President Saddam Hussein were to be seen ubiquitously throughout Iraq, and those of former President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where citizens of those benighted nations were forced to face the visages of their hated overlords and dared not ever express their opinion in fear of arrest and detention.

 

As an admirer of the classical features of the USDA building, the Corinthian columns and the department's mission in support of farmers and the purposeful vigilance over the nation's food supply, one passerby, Jessica Stevens, 53, voiced her objection to the president's portrait looming over the mall: "They ruined my favourite building. It's about people, not politics", she stated. 

 

It has long been the tradition that portraits such as these have been hung in place within federal buildings, along with a reshuffling of artwork that invariably tends to follow an administration change. The White House itself last month hung a painting of Trump pumping his fist following last year's attempt at assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania on the campaign trail. A portrait of President Barack Obama was vacated from the spot to make room for Trump's iconic escape from death. In the Oval Office, a gold-framed copy of the cover of the New York Post portrait of President Trump now has pride of place. 

"There isn't really a word to describe not just the embarrassment but also sadness that I feel."

"The USDA is supposed to be an institution that is for the people, for health and safety."

"And this is a person who is not exactly a big advocate for critical research."

Chase Foresti, 22, recent college graduate

For every critic of the prominent new portrait of President Trump hung on the USDA facade, there are as many, or more of MAGA-hatted passersby who pose happily in front of the banner, and totally approve of its presence, in honour of a president whom they regard as one of their very own in tenor and meaningful purpose, including every step the volatile man takes to roil the world order in reshuffling alliances and punitive trade policies.

 

After Donald Trump had a 50-foot banner of himself hung from the Dept of Agriculture building, right next to Abraham Lincoln - 3 more banners have mysteriously appeared.  PaulleyTicks, X

"It [the National Mall] represents our history and our foundational ideals."

"Even something as initially innocuous as hanging a banner with the president's face on it has increased importance and symbolism because of the meaning of that space."

"I can't think of another example where an administration has self-promoted itself that visibly on the Mall in quite such a clear way."

Lisa Benton-Short, professor of geography, George Washington University