This is an adapted excerpt from the May 18 episode of “Velshi.”
It’s a serious matter, but the road from democracy to authoritarianism — the posturing, the demeanor, the threats made by those who wish to rule with an iron fist — is, among other things, often quite tacky.
If you think about Russian President Vladimir Putin or former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the first thing that may come to mind is all the gold decorations in oversized rooms at their palaces or government buildings.
When Putin visited the country last year, North Koreans gave him a warm welcome by plastering his photo everywhere.
Many strongmen also love to display giant photos of themselves wherever they can. If you ever go to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, you’ll be greeted with a portrait of Mao Zedong. Mao founded the People’s Republic of China, and he served as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party for more than 30 years. His portrait is about 19½ feet tall and 15 feet wide, and it weighs about 3,000 pounds. It’s been hanging over the gate leading into the Forbidden City since 1949.
If you travel farther to the east, you’ll find something similar in North Korea. In the country’s capital of Pyongyang, there’s an area called Kim Il Sung Square, where you’ll find large portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the great leader and the dear leader, respectively, overlooking the plaza at all times as people go about their daily lives.
When Putin visited the country last year, North Koreans gave him a warm welcome by plastering his photo everywhere. They even temporarily put up a humongous portrait of Putin next to one of Kim Jong Un during a welcome ceremony.
Neither China nor North Korea invented this idea. They’ve taken their cues from Joseph Stalin, the former brutal ruler of the Soviet Union. He liked to have portraits of himself displayed in public and lofted by his supporters during parades.
That practice continues in many other countries where strongmen rule today. You see it in places like Egypt, where the face of its president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, is inescapable. His mug is on billboards and banners, plastered on buildings and hanging along the roadside. That’s especially true ahead of an election, and it’s no wonder he’s been able to easily win three terms in office. (Not to mention the fact that Egypt doesn’t exactly have free and fair elections in the first place.)
In Iran, you’ll find an abundance of murals, posters and portraits of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He’s often depicted with the country’s late leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Their images are displayed everywhere — at mosques, in malls and even on the sides of some buildings.
And now, something like that is happening in the United States, too. Last week, a giant banner with Donald Trump’s official portrait was displayed on the United States Department of Agriculture building in Washington, D.C., alongside a similar banner featuring Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln founded the USDA 163 years ago last Thursday, so you can make sense of why they put up a banner of him. As for Trump, it’s not really clear why you’d need to hang a banner with his face on it there, especially if you consider how his tariffs and other policies are affecting farmers and the entire U.S. agricultural industry.
This is far from the norm in America. You didn’t see former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush or any other American president, put up their images for public display like this.
This is just another one of the many norms Trump has been breaking since returning to the White House. Consider the military parade that he’s planning for this summer. It’s evidently to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States Army on June 14, which is coincidentally and conveniently also Trump’s 79th birthday. Defense officials told NBC News that the estimated cost could be as high as $45 million. So much for cutting government waste.
There’s also all of the fawning over Trump, which has become a routine occurrence during Cabinet meetings. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have all taken turns to give dictator-style tributes to the president during recent meetings.
Then there’s the letter from Trump’s doctor about his most recent physical. The president’s doctor concluded that Trump is in excellent health, but the letter included some over-the-top language: “President Trump’s days include participation in multiple meetings, public appearances, press availability, and frequent victories in golf events. President Trump exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit to execute the duties of the Commander-in-Chief and Head of State.”
In a democracy, we don’t worship kings or rulers or presidents.
The military parades, the idolization of the leader, the sycophantic comments — those are the kinds of things that we’ve witnessed from afar in places like North Korea, but we have to acknowledge that it’s all starting to happen here.
All of these changes can seem small and petty, but they’re also part of the erosion of democratic norms. It’s softening people up for potentially more immoral and authoritarian behavior. Because if Trump can dress up the White House like a palace for a king, then why can’t he accept a $400 million plane from a foreign government? If he can put up a giant banner of himself on a government building, then why not put up more until Trump becomes omnipresent, until you’re reminded everywhere you go that Old Big Donald is watching you?
In a democracy, we don’t worship kings or rulers or presidents. They are not democracy’s most important citizen; you are. We have a Constitution that sets out that this government belongs to you, the people. And while we still have that democracy, we have a president who’s starting to treat this country like it’s his for the taking.