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In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter that the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts is now the Trump-Kennedy Center. 

Putting the president’s name on a building for a few years isn’t going to kill any kids in Africa; it won’t result in masked goons arresting Americans because they have dark skin; it’s not going to increase the cost of living for families; it won’t cause anybody to lose their health insurance; and it won’t hide the truth about a sexual predator who used to be friends with Donald Trump.

The administration’s policies and (in)actions are taking care of those things. 

On another level, however, renaming one of the country’s most iconic cultural institutions matters quite a bit. 

It matters as a manifestation of the narcissistic personality disorder from which Trump suffers. It matters as an example of the casual lawlessness of his administration. It matters as a demonstration of its wastefulness and misguided priorities. And, most importantly, it matters as a symbol of how far down the road of authoritarianism the US has traveled in less than a year.

In a healthy democracy, a leader doesn’t appoint a board of sycophants who then turn around and, for no reason other than to cater to his ego, rename a building (without even having the authority to do so). 

And, obviously, it’s not just about the Kennedy Center. Or the Institute of Peace. It’s also about the military parade on “dear leader’s” birthday (or on any other day, for that matter), and waiving the admission to national parks on his next birthday. 

It’s about the bribes that countries and companies routinely offer the president. It’s the new “Trump Accounts” for children. It’s the new “TrumpRx” website. It’s the “Trump Gold Card.” It’s the plan to put Trump’s face on a new commemorative $1 coin.

While these things would be par for the course in Third World dictatorships, they are unprecedented in the US. 

This is one of those times when it really helps to ask: “How would you have felt about this if Obama/Bush/Clinton/Reagan had done it?” 

Now, you might say: “But what about Obamacare or Reagan National Airport?” 

We’re glad you asked. 

The Affordable Care Act was dubbed “Obamacare” by opponents of the bill, who hoped that the program would be less popular if it were tied to the president. In fact, Trump is still trying to do that. On Friday night, he referred to the health insurance program as “Barack Hussein Obamacare” because he is a bigot and thinks this will play well with other bigots. 

Reagan National Airport is a great example of how these things should work. 

First of all, it’s perfectly normal that federal buildings, schools, highways, etc. be named for presidents after they leave office. 

In the case of the airport, it took a bipartisan act of Congress to pass a bill that was then signed by a Democratic president.

Compare that to what Trump did: Earlier this year, he installed himself as chairman of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center and stacked it with loyalists. Then, on Thursday, that board, even though it has no authority to do so, voted for the change and, within 24 hours, the president’s name adorned the building.

Oh, and taxpayers are going to foot the bill… just like they will when a court (or the next sane president) removes his name again. 

The same is true, of course, for the president’s other vanity projects, like renaming the Department of Defense or the Gulf of Mexico.

All of this is very much out of the ordinary. 

Well, at least it is out of the ordinary for American presidents. On the other hand, it is perfectly ordinary for narcissists. And while Trump is never going to be a monarch-like ruler in the mold of the authoritarian leaders he so admires, he is certainly the king of narcissists.

Most narcissists go through life merely making things miserable for those who surround them. Not Trump, however, who was born into privilege in New York City in an ideal time and place for a wealthy playboy whose ultimate dream was to put his name on things. But that wasn’t enough for Trump. 

Fortunately for the president, there was a political party and a massive subsection of the American people who were looking for a cult-like leader they could blindly follow. While Trump initially flirted with Democrats, the GOP was a much better fit, with a base consisting of Evangelical Christians looking for a Messianic figure (whether or not his behavior or policies matched the teachings of Jesus Christ). 

Once again, Trump was in the right place at the right time, which in this case means beginning his political ascendancy on the heels of the nation’s first Black president (whose legitimacy Trump famously questioned). 

It got even better for him when he was elected president in 2016. 

However, while he had achieved a narcissist’s ultimate dream, his first term was also the ultimate failure. Constrained by people wary of him, he never ran the country fully in the way he wanted, and he suffered the embarrassments of two impeachments and, even worse, a decisive defeat at the hands of someone he considers to be unworthy. 

That loss gave him time to plan how he would do it all differently next time. 

While Trump in the past has found the country’s laws and norms to be inconvenient obstacles, this time he is ignoring them altogether and living out all of his narcissistic fantasies. He gets to put his name on buildings and institutions, his face on money and park passes and possibly national monuments. 

And while history will ultimately judge him and his followers harshly, for now he can pretend to be the equal of — or even better than — some of the greatest Americans. 

Therefore it makes perfect sense that of all the government buildings in DC, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts might be the most appealing to him (since renaming the Capitol the “January 6 Heroes Memorial” might be a bit much). 

On the one hand, it represents a community of artists, performers, and free thinkers who have shunned him. On the other hand, it’s named after an iconic and beloved president who came to power when young Donald was a teenager and, back then, represented everything Trump wanted to be. 

Instead of earning his place in history like JFK, he took a shortcut by having some of his toadies overstep their authority and put his name on the building… in letters that don’t even match the original.