A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Before he ever ran for office, President Trump was known for branding and putting his name on almost anything you can imagine - buildings, steaks, vodka. But in his second term, that has extended to the government. There are now two buildings in Washington, D.C., named after him, and others are displaying large banners of the president's face. NPR's senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith reports this is a break from American small-D democratic norms.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Trump's name seems to be everywhere these days. In the president's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, this happened not once...
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Brand-new Trump accounts. And I didn't name it. I did not name it.
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TRUMP: I did not name that.
KEITH: ...But twice.
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TRUMP: Trumprx.gov, and I didn't name that one either, by the way.
KEITH: Then there's the Trump Gold Card, where wealthy would-be immigrants can pay for an easy path to permanent residency in the U.S.
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TRUMP: Somebody said, can we call it the Trump Gold Card? I said, if it helps, use the name Trump. I'll give it to you for free.
KEITH: It has a picture of his face on it, just in case anyone was wondering. And that brings us to the federal buildings.
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TRUMP: Looked up, and there it said Donald J. Trump on the building.
KEITH: This was Trump last week at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
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TRUMP: I had nothing to do with it. I swear I didn't. I swear. I had no idea.
KEITH: He also claimed surprise when his name was added to the Kennedy Center, even though he had made himself chairman of the board and joked about it.
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TRUMP: And you have a big event on Friday at the Trump Kennedy Center. Oh, excuse me, at the Kennedy Center. Pardon me. Such a terrible mistake.
KEITH: He has also suggested New York's Penn Station be renamed Trump Station and maybe Washington Dulles Airport, too. In Florida, the Palm Beach Airport is being named after Trump. Typically, presidents are out of office or even dead before they're honored in this way, says presidential historian Barbara Perry at the University of Virginia's Miller Center.
BARBARA PERRY: Presidents in our democratic republic usually want to present themselves as men of the people.
KEITH: But like so many things in the Trump era, Perry says this is another norm Trump has blown past.
PERRY: Most presidents don't want to look arrogant or pompous or totally self-centered because they haven't thought that's a good political approach.
KEITH: A recent CNN poll found more than two-thirds of respondents said the president hasn't paid enough attention to the country's most important problems. In her response to the State of the Union, Virginia Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger hit Trump on this issue.
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ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes and billionaires for ballrooms, putting his name and face on buildings all over our nation's capital. This is not what our founders envisioned, not by a long shot.
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KEITH: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history and author of the book "Strongmen," says what Trump is doing mirrors what autocrats have done for a century.
RUTH BEN-GHIAT: The leader must be everywhere. His face must be everywhere. His name must be everywhere. And his aesthetic, his taste, must be reflected in buildings, in the people around him.
KEITH: Asked to comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, quote, "President Trump is focused on saving our country, not garnering recognition," going on to say that given his vast accomplishments, it is natural that people would want to recognize him. Trump himself back in 1999 was asked by CNN's Larry King about his notorious ego. He said he simply puts his name on buildings because it sells better.
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TRUMP: They want to make money.
LARRY KING: So we'll have a Trump White House.
TRUMP: No, I won't go that far.
KING: No.
TRUMP: I promise. I pledge on your show. That's the second thing I pledge on your show. I will not rename the White House.
KING: We will...
KEITH: He didn't say anything about a ballroom.
Tamara Keith, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SOULS OF MISCHIEF'S "93 'TIL INFINITY (INSTRUMENTAL)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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