A giant banner bearing Donald Trump’s portrait has been erected at the US Department of Justice in Washington. The US President’s appetite for self-promotion knows no bounds. But this is the first time the face of a convicted felon has adorned a building devoted to the administration of the law.
The Big Brother portrait, with its message, “Make America Safe Again”, is just one of several humongous planned or existing homages to Trump in the nation’s capital. With the President intent on retribution against his political enemies, though, it takes the biscuit. And as a sign of the politicisation of justice, it can’t be beat.
Trump’s thirst for revenge is unsated. Travelling to Georgia on Air Force One, he insinuated he could prosecute former president Barack Obama for releasing classified information about aliens (spoiler alert: Obama hasn’t seen any). Yes, the Dear Leader was trolling us again, but no subject is too ridiculous or petty for his attention.
You would think that with an attack on Iran pending, the establishment of the Board of Peace for Gaza at the Donald J Trump Institute of Peace and 101 other activities going on simultaneously, the President would have enough on his plate without trying to win every second of the information space.
But Trump is obsessed with dominating every news cycle. His face and image are everywhere: on television, on buildings, on social media. There’s no escape.
However, what began as “shock and awe” at the beginning of his second term – a way of grabbing attention and ramming through change – has become an exhausting round of chaos and drama. Trump Fatigue Syndrome is setting in. Passengers are disembarking the Trump train, feeling overwhelmed rather than entertained by his ever-inflating ego.
The evidence is in the polls, with CNN data guru Harry Enten observing on President’s Day last Monday: “There’s this question that folks keep asking, you know, ‘Where is the floor for Donald Trump?’
“I’m not sure there is a floor,” he added, “because if there is one, Donald Trump has just fallen through to another new level.”
Enten pointed out that four national polls in late January and early February put Trump’s approval rating between 19 and 26 points underwater, though they continue to fluctuate slightly (the latest Economist/YouGov tracker has him on -16).
Initially, opposition to Trump’s second term was muted. Trump Fatigue Syndrome led to apathy among Democrats, accompanied by sighs of “let him have his own way”. Trump had won reelection in improbable circumstances and had a mandate. To carry on harrying him on every front smacked of Trump Derangement Syndrome, a hangover from his first term in office.
But governing at “muzzle velocity”, as Trump ideologue Steve Bannon calls it – along with his other favourite phrase, “flooding the zone with shit” – has been wearing down the 79-year-old President, as well as testing the patience of the rest of us. Only 37 per cent of voters think he has the temperament to be President, according to the same Economist/YouGov poll.
At the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, Trump slumped in his chair and appeared to nod off in front of the assembled dignitaries, including Gianni Infantino, the president of Fifa, who sported a red Maga hat and came bearing promises of soccer pitches and a stadium for Gaza.
That afternoon, Trump flew to Georgia, where he interrupted his own campaign stump speech on “affordability” – a topic he has declared a hoax – to announce that he was minded to award himself the Congressional Medal of Honour for flying to Iraq in 2018.
“I flew to Iraq. I was extremely brave. So brave, I wanted to give myself the Congressional Medal of Honor… someday I’m gonna try. I’ll test the law,” he (sort of) joked. Some of us can remember the astonishing feat of visiting Iraq was accomplished by George W Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden when this was a more dangerous mission.
Should Trump care to stop congratulating himself, he might start improving his position with the public. In Georgia, he told voters in the district of former renegade Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene that he intended to make the economy a central theme of this Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
He does have some good news to deliver, if he can calm down and concentrate for a moment. Inflation is down to 2.4 per cent despite the introduction of tariffs (though merely 0.6 per cent lower than when Biden left office). And unemployment is only 4.3 per cent, even though millennials are having difficulty finding jobs they want.
But he is incapable of bringing humility – or empathy – to the effort. “We had record inflation; we don’t have it anymore,” he said in Georgia. “What word have you not heard over the last two weeks? Affordability. Because I’ve won. I’ve won affordability,” he said, stuffing his ears to anybody who begs to differ.
The State of the Union address (SOTU) will be delivered to a supine Congress that has abdicated its constitutional “power of the purse” to the President, who has been collecting billions from tariffs and Venezuelan oil, and stashing or redistributing it to wherever he thinks fit ($10bn (£7.4bn) to the Board of Peace has been offered – Trump did not clarify if that was with congressional approval).
Likewise, Congress will have no say over whether the US will be at war with Iran in the coming days, possibly on the day Trump will be delivering his address. Lawmakers were ignored over the toppling of the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolas Maduro.
As for domestic matters, Trump has announced that “one way or another” he will abolish mail-in ballots and impose tighter voter ID for the midterm elections, by-passing the requirement for legislation if Congress fails to act on his wishes.
We can expect this week’s SOTU to be an imperious display of presidential power. But the hectic pace, shameless self-promotion and constant boasting by this administration are draining support for the man at the top. With every act of hubris, Trump Fatigue Syndrome increases.
Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting
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