WASHINGTON — There’s a propaganda war playing out on the National Mall between the Trump administration and its critics. The administration has hung giant banners bearing President Trump’s face from several federal buildings. His name now adorns both the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the United States Institute of Peace.
Meanwhile, an anonymous group called the Secret Handshake has put up satirical statues of Trump and artworks that emphasize everything from the president’s friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to Trump’s taste for marble and gold leaf.
Another group, the Save America Movement, has plastered posters on fences and walls mocking members of Trump’s Cabinet. One shows a photo of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and says, “Fascism Ain’t Pretty.” Another shows Attorney General Pam Bondi and reads, “Epstein Queen.”
“We think that ridicule is a really important tool in an opposition toolbox to fight authoritarianism,” said Mary Corcoran, who runs the Save America Movement, a nonprofit.
Corcoran adds that she doesn’t see this as a fair fight “because they’re using taxpayer dollars to fund their propaganda, and we’re not.”
The White House rejects criticisms that the president is recasting the National Mall in his own image and using federal buildings for self-aggrandizement.
“President Trump is focused on saving our country — not garnering recognition,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told NPR by email. “A variety of organizations are free to share their opinions publicly, even when they lack any basis in reality.”
The National Mall is known as America’s front yard, and includes monuments and museums designed to unify the nation and celebrate democracy.
Last month, a gold-painted statue depicting Trump holding Epstein’s outstretched arms on the prow of a ship as though they were Jack and Rose on the Titanic drew a steady stream of people who laughed and posed in front of it for photos.
Not everyone was amused.
“It’s a gross interpretation of our president,” said Andi Lynn Helmy, a high school senior from Jacksonville, Fla. “Even if you don’t agree with his policies … I think it’s just an incredibly disrespectful thing.”
Other visitors took exception to the president’s face staring down from those banners on the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice. They likened it to the images of personalized rule seen in the People’s Republic of China during the Chairman Mao Tse-Tung era and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.
“I just feel like he’s sort of painting himself as the king of America,” said Luke Price, a freshman at the University of Vermont. “I just don’t think that’s what we’re about. America is a democracy, not a dictatorship.”
Transcript:
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
There is a battle for hearts and minds going on. It’s happening in Washington, D.C., around the National Mall. Huge banners bearing President Trump’s face hang from several federal buildings, one with an eyeshot of a satiric statue of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein that went up earlier this month. NPR’s Frank Langfitt spoke with visitors about this visual tug-of-war.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Luke Price (ph) stood in front of the U.S. Capitol and took in this remarkable juxtaposition. There was President Trump on the Department of Labor, his face measuring about two stories high, seeming to cast a steely gaze at the statue that mocked him. Price, a freshman at the University of Vermont, had this take on the government banner.
LUKE PRICE: I just feel like he’s painting himself as the king of America, and I just don’t think that’s what we’re about. America is a democracy, not a dictatorship.
LANGFITT: The gold-painted statue depicted Trump holding Epstein’s outstretched arms on the prow of a ship, as though they were Jack and Rose on the Titanic. It was called “King Of The World.”
PRICE: I was pretty stunned that they left it up. I saw it on Instagram, and I was really hoping to see it when we came in.
LANGFITT: Why are you surprised it’s still up?
PRICE: I don’t know. I just feel like our current government would not take kindly to representations of our president like this.
LANGFITT: In fact, the National Park Service gave a guerrilla art group a permit for the statue that lasted four days. People giggled and posed for selfies. Andy Lynn Helmy (ph), who attends home school in Florida, wasn’t among them.
ANDY LYNN HELMY: I don’t like it.
LANGFITT: Tell me why.
HELMY: It is a gross interpretation of our president. And even if you don’t agree with his policies or what he’s doing in office, I think that it’s just, like, an incredibly disrespectful thing.
LANGFITT: Helmy, who’s 18 and from Jacksonville, thought the statue made light of Epstein’s sex abuse of minors.
HELMY: A lot of people are smiling and laughing because this is a statue that was meant to poke fun. I feel like it would be funny if it wasn’t such a serious issue.
LANGFITT: The National Mall is called America’s front yard. It’s a collection of monuments and museums designed to unify the nation and celebrate democracy. Mary Corcoran, who runs the Save America Movement, says these days, it can also seem like a battlefield.
MARY CORCORAN: We are in the midst of a propaganda war.
LANGFITT: Corcoran’s nonprofit is part of that conflict. It’s been putting up posters that satirize Trump’s cabinet members. One shows Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, and says, quote, “fascism ain’t pretty.”
CORCORAN: We think that ridicule is a really important tool in an opposition toolbox to fight authoritarianism.
LANGFITT: Corcoran says the fight with the Trump administration isn’t fair.
CORCORAN: Because they’re using taxpayer dollars to fund their propaganda, and we’re not.
LANGFITT: Trump has repeatedly denied acting as an authoritarian. Max Stier runs the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, which focuses on government management. He says political protest is nothing new in D.C. But…
MAX STIER: What isn’t and has never been part of our DNA is the use of government resources to promote a single individual. That has never happened before.
LANGFITT: Stier says Trump is trying to recast parts of the city and government in his own image – the banners, Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center and the United States Institute of Peace.
STIER: Political leaders are hired help. He sees himself as owning it and getting to decide everything. And that’s wrong and deeply dangerous to our democracy.
LANGFITT: NPR shared these criticisms with the White House, which said, quote, “President Trump is focused on saving our country, not garnering recognition.” And others are, quote, “free to share their opinions publicly, even when they lack any basis in reality.”
EMMA BRIANT: My name is Dr. Emma Briant. And I’m a visiting associate professor at University of Notre Dame.
LANGFITT: Briant researches propaganda and information warfare.
BRIANT: Images of President Trump looking down from buildings that represent American power, that give a sense of his authority and permanence – there are a lot of parallels with the ways in which dictators and authoritarian leaders use the same kind of imagery.
LANGFITT: Briant says Trump is telling D.C. and Democrats that resistance is futile, which she says is an odd message to send before an election.
BRIANT: When politicians stop trying to build support broadly, I think that is very troubling. It sort of almost makes it feel like the election doesn’t matter.
LANGFITT: But some people touring the Capitol don’t see what all the fuss is about. Jay Williams (ph) of St. Augustine, Florida, came across a Trump banner hanging from the Department of Justice.
JAY WILLIAMS: It’s imagery. It has nothing to do with who occupies that building or what they do on a daily basis. Put whatever billboard you want on it, put whatever face you want on it, who cares? It doesn’t change what happens in that building.
LANGFITT: Williams’ wife, Kelly (ph), was drawn to the banner’s message, make America safe again, which she said no one should object to.
Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Washington.
