A US senator has delivered a blistering critique of Donald Trump, focusing on the president’s long-running habit of branding just about everything with his own name.
Trump’s appetite for self-branding didn’t begin in the Oval Office.
From Trump Tower New York to developments bearing the same label in cities like Mumbai and Istanbul, his surname has been stamped across buildings and products for years.
But since returning for a second term, Trump has reportedly set his sights on expanding that approach into even more public-facing institutions and symbols.
Among the moves drawing attention is a board appointed by the president attempting to apply Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, styling it as the “Trump Kennedy Center.”
He has also been linked to reported efforts to push for a new $250 bill featuring his portrait—despite long-standing US rules that prohibit currency depicting living individuals.
Now, Democratic senator Jon Ossoff has taken aim at what he described as Trump’s obsession with placing his name and image on prominent national fixtures.
During his remarks, Ossoff argued that Trump is trying to lock in his legacy now because, in his view, there would be no appetite to commemorate him later.
“He’s trying to put his face on the money, did you see that?” said Ossoff. “He’s building a monument to himself.”
Ossoff then laid out why he believes the president is accelerating these efforts while still in office.
He said: “But see, Atlanta, he’s doing these things now because no one will honor him when he’s gone, because he’s a failed president and a national disgrace.”
The comments come as a judge ordered Trump’s name to be removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ruling that the venue’s naming cannot be changed unilaterally by its board.
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so.”
The judge said the rebranding would require approval from Congress and ordered that Trump’s name be taken down within 14 days—though it has reportedly still not been removed.
Trump responded angrily on Truth Social, suggesting he would walk away from efforts to revive the institution if he couldn’t run it the way he wanted.
“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND’.”
In the wake of the attempted name change, multiple artists and performers have reportedly pulled out of scheduled appearances at the venue in protest.