\n
W<\/span>The old adage that you can’t plate shit with gold, but you can make it sparkle has become darkly redundant with the release of President Trump’s library, which captured the world’s attention in both timing and content as April Fool’s Day. It turns out you can definitely gold plate poop.<\/p>\nAt the center of a 47-story skyscraper planned for Miami’s waterfront (47 stories for the 47th president) will be a giant golden statue of Trump, giving off the air of a dictator-for-life, with his golden fist raised triumphantly. Such an ornate monster wouldn’t look out of place in Pyongyang or Ashgabat, but Turkmenistan’s former president Saparmurat Niyazov – another autocrat with a suspiciously rich haircut – went even better, installing the $12 million gold statue on a rotating pedestal so that it always faces the sun.<\/p>\ndouble quotes<\/title><path d=\"M5.255 0h4.75c-.572 4.53-1.077 8.972-1.297 13.941H0C.792 9.104 2.44 4.53 5.255 0Zm11.061 0H21c-.506 4.53-1.077 8.972-1.297 13.941h-8.686c.902-4.837 2.485-9.411 5.3-13.941Z\"\/><\/svg><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"dcr-zzndwp\"><p>“I don’t believe in building libraries and museums,” President Trump told reporters. \u201cIt will probably be a hotel.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The unveiling comes at the same time that Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis renamed Palm Beach International Airport, located near President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago bolthole, the Donald J. Trump Presidential International Airport. After a tough month in the Strait of Hormuz and the recent No King protests, not to mention a plummeting approval rating, Trump clearly felt the need for a self-congratulatory backlash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">“This landmark will be a lasting testament to a great man, a great developer, and the greatest president our country has ever known,” Eric Trump, the president’s son and co-chair of the nonprofit foundation seeking donations to build the library, exclaimed on social media.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"439c0ef5-67f1-46ed-b121-c218a1643ac3\" data-spacefinder-role=\"showcase\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-5h0uf4\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-9ktzqp\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">The atmosphere of a lifelong dictator…the golden doll proposed by Trump. <\/span> Illustration: CBS12 News WPEC\/You Tube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">“I don’t believe in building libraries and museums,” Donald Trump told reporters. “It’s probably going to be a hotel.” This tilt is not surprising, given that Trump’s relationship with architecture was shaped by his career as an “amazing” developer. A “Library” video posted by Eric Trump on social media showed a mirrored glass prosthesis inscribed with “TRUMP” and a peppy AI-generated MAGA Cocktail Quaffer floating around a rooftop garden perusing a replica of Trump’s Oval Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The towering lobby, resembling a glittering air and space museum-themed Las Vegas hotel, features golden escalators, fighter jets and Air Force One, a “flying palace” donated by Qatar that looks like a ship in a bottle. The book is nowhere to be found. It is basically a playing card in architectural form. A warrior who plies his trade, a Midas-esque man presided over by his glowing, gloating, satiated doll.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"fe02f4d1-30e9-43de-8e25-80aa668afbc3\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-fd61eq\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Mirrored glass prosthesis…The building will be 47 stories tall, representing the 47th president.<\/span> Illustration: CBS12 News WPEC\/You Tube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Designed by Bermelo Ajamil, a Miami-based firm specializing in luxury condominiums, the building appears to be loosely modeled on New York’s post-9\/11 Freedom Tower. However, there is already a whiff of a prank in the air. The waterfront land where the library will be located was donated to Trump’s library foundation by Miami-Dade College in a controversial transfer last year. A judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the gift on the grounds that the university’s board of trustees had not provided sufficient notice for public discussion of the transfer. The site is said to be worth more than $67 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">“This is not really a presidential library,” argues Thomas Kennedy, former political director of the Florida Immigration Coalition. “It’s a real estate scandal where land is being gifted at taxpayers’ expense so that hotel complexes can be built.”<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Founded by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who recognized the importance of passing on documents and memorabilia from the administration to the people, presidential libraries are a uniquely American conceit. Filled with the warm glow of philanthropy, this event is a chance to shape your reputation and decide how you want history to judge you after you leave the Oval Office.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"824da4cc-51d9-4dd9-9c46-a251da0be1a2\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-fd61eq\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Prime location…The site was donated to the Trump Library Foundation by Miami Dade College.<\/span> Illustration: CBS12 News WPEC\/You Tube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">An awkward hybrid of archive, museum, and theme park, presidential libraries are a kind of living mausoleum (in some cases, an actual mausoleum) dedicated to a single political figure. Construction would require private financing, but once built, it would be maintained by the federal government. From relatively modest beginnings, the Roosevelt Mansion, a faux Dutch colonial manor house with a “New Deal” gift shop, quickly grew in size and ambition, but always included a period replica of the Oval Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Architectural tastes vary widely. Jackie Kennedy commissioned IM Pei, the Chinese-American architect famous for designing the Louvre’s pyramid, to devise a strikingly modern confection of concrete and smoked glass to house the JFK Library. Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, favored the Spanish Mission style of placing slabs of the Berlin Wall on library grounds. Among the artifacts in George W. Bush’s vast complex of heavy pastiche classicism is a pistol confiscated during the 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein. There is no doubt that President Trump is thinking carefully about what spoils he wants to preserve for posterity.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"303d6b97-7925-4b68-be38-a707765fe098\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-fd61eq\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">It’s no coincidence…The Obama Presidential Library in Chicago opens in June.<\/span> Photo: Obama Presidential Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Some level of conflict is inevitable as powerful people compete for their legacies, but given Trump’s sociopathic narcissism, the idea that he might lose to his predecessors is untenable. It is perhaps no coincidence that his Miami announcement came in the same month as the confirmation that the Barack Obama Presidential Library, designed by the New York-based partnership of Todd Williams and Billy Tsien, will officially open in June, specifically on Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the abolition of slavery in the United States. A painful “battle of styles” has been witnessed on social media, with President Obama’s library being described as “a Marxist Tatooine sandcrawler abomination”.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The $850 million Obama Presidential Center, located on Chicago’s deserted South Side, is not without its own problems. The project has been overshadowed by soaring budgets and the diversion of public parkland, and some have accused it of merely promoting gentrification and displacing longtime Southside residents rather than acting as a catalyst for revitalization in an economically depressed area.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"5fa313ff-ee07-4f5c-914a-44470b3c1754\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-fd61eq\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Are your plans on hold? … Trump shows off renderings of his proposed 2025 ballroom project. <\/span> Photo: Washington Post\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In other news, President Trump’s long-awaited project to build a White House banquet hall and bunker on the site of the demolished East Tower has been halted for now after a federal judge blocked construction due to lack of congressional approval for redevelopment. President Trump claimed that the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit to hold him accountable for his plan was unfair and blamed “radical leftist groups of lunatics.” However, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon declared, “The President of the United States is the custodian of the White House for the next generation of the First Family. But he is not the owner.” Two days later, planning officials in Washington gave the green light, and the Justice Department appealed the judge’s decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But if bullying and frowning don’t work, Trump has a backup plan. An exact replica of the ballroom will be installed in his library tower, amplifying the sense of nightmarish fantasy that has come to perniciously characterize every aspect of his presidency. The shitty gold plating is going to continue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#Las #Vegas #hotel #meets #aerospace #glitz #Trumps #presidential #library #project #gaudy #selfglorifying #monster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WThe old adage that you can’t plate shit with gold, but you can make it sparkle has become darkly redundant with the release of President Trump’s library, which captured the world’s attention in both timing and content as April Fool’s Day. It turns out you can definitely gold plate poop. At the center of a … <a title=\"‘Las Vegas hotel meets aerospace glitz’: Trump’s presidential library project is a gaudy, self-glorifying monster\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/picsura.com\/?p=575\" aria-label=\"Read more about ‘Las Vegas hotel meets aerospace glitz’: Trump’s presidential library project is a gaudy, self-glorifying monster\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,1],"tags":[957,963,958,956,954,961,262,965,960,962,964,959,955],"class_list":["post-575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-design","category-general","tag-aerospace","tag-gaudy","tag-glitz","tag-hotel","tag-las","tag-library","tag-meets","tag-monster","tag-presidential","tag-project","tag-selfglorifying","tag-trumps","tag-vegas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}