Stench and Fascism
I landed at Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport mid-afternoon Friday, February 20, 2026 I was in town for Ukrainian Days, a five-day annual gathering of Ukrainians from around the country who are hoping to bolster support for Ukraine in its four-year-old war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. While I would be busy attending Ukrainian events, I always leave time to walk around D.C. On my walks, I was repeatedly confronted by Donald J. Trump’s despicable essence. What follows is a catalogue of my encounters.
The four days preceding Donald J. Trump’s State of the Union address were gloomy. The skies were largely grey (or white); the air was damp; the temperatures were frigid; and the grass and foliage were brown. While the weather didn’t facilitate leisurely walks around the nation’s capital, it was the perfect complement to the lies, gross exaggerations, and divisive rhetoric that dominated Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
As I headed to dinner Friday night at i Ricchi, I passed a nearby construction site. The green plywood panels lining the sidewalk were filled with evidence of Trump in the form of posters. One group called out U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein matter, including the release of the files required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The group’s posters referred to Bondi as the “Pedo Protector” and as the “Epstein Queen.” Another group chose to remember Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, the two demonstrators who were gunned down in the streets of Minneapolis by U.S. Border Patrol agents. My award for best poster goes to the folks who created the Jeffrey Epstein poster riffing on that classic Sixties Friday night television show, The Outer Limits.
There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal, and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels, or expand one single image to crystal clarity . . . and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to . . . The Outer Limits.
Given the expense of producing these clever posters, I was surprised that I did not see them hanging elsewhere in the city.
[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order]
Multiples
Remembering Renee Nicole Good
The “Epstein Queen"
Highlighting the Contradictions and the Hypocrisy
"Join the National Guard . . . and Arrest Homeless Veterans"
Pam the "Pedo Protector"
"For the Next [Three Years], Sit Quietly, We Will Control All That You See and Hear. We Repeat, There Is Nothing Wrong with Your Television Set. You Are About to Experience the Awe and Mystery that Reaches [from Donald J. Trump's] Inner Mind to the Outer Limits”
Saturday morning, I headed over to the Capital Hilton (16th and L) for breakfast. Walking back to my hotel, I encountered a several people prepping displays for a 2:00 PM demonstration calling for the end of the Iranian theocracy. Because I was in D.C. to cover the 2:00 PM Ukrainian demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial, I was unable to attend the Iranian demonstration, but I would have otherwise attended it.
After picking up my camera gear, I walked to Heins Point where the East Potomac Golf Links course is located. For $42, members of the public can play a round of golf on the 18-hole course.
While I had no intention of playing golf, I was interested in the course because Trump plans to convert it into a luxury golf course. To facilitate his efforts, contractors are dumping the debris from the East Wing and the excavations from the area that will house the White House ballroom. The National Park Service indicated that some 30,000 cubic yards of dirt and debris will be dumped, which translates to 2,000 truckloads. Trump apparently isn’t concerned about the health of the golfers who continue to play around the growing mound of dirt. The debris from the East Wing is laden with asbestos, but there is no evidence of any remediation effort.
As I walked toward the Jefferson Memorial, I saw large trucks carrying dirt driving south on 14th Street toward the golf course. Despite the disruption, the intrepid Saturday morning golfers continued to play golf. It is open to question how much longer these plebes will be permitted to play golf at at East Potomac Links. According to Trump,
We’re going to make it a beautiful, world-class, U.S. Open-caliber course . . . Ideally, we’re going to have major tournaments there and everything else. It’s going to bring a lot of business into Washington.
In other words, MAGA types won’t be playing golf at Trump’s new crown jewel, particularly if Trump imposes the $200+ green fees that he charges at his Trump National Doral course near Miami. One question lingers: Who is paying for the renovations? Congress never appropriated funds for Trump’s destruction of the East Wing or for his golf course project.
Trump claims that he is on the side of Leona Helmsley’s “little people,” but he couldn’t give a damn about his suckers and sheep. Mark A. Mungeam, the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, told the New York Times that “[Trump’s golf course is] a crazy idea,” but crazy ideas never stopped Trump’s from realizing his grandiose visions—visions ones that have resulted in six bankruptcy filings.
Prepping for a Saturday Afternoon Demonstration Calling for the Overthrow of the Iranian Theocracy
Just Five Blocks from Donald J. Trump's White House
Closed to the Owners on Orders from Donald J. Trump
Reading Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat on the National Mall—Yertle the Turtle Might Have Been the Better Choice
The Public Golf Course that Donald J. Trump Will Likely Turn Into a ‘Private’ Club
More Dirt Coming from the White House on a Saturday Morning
Playing Around Donald J. Trump's Dirt Trap
Entering the East Potomac Links Course At Hains Point to Dump Dirt Excavated from the White House Grounds
The East Wing of the White House Repositioned, Including Asbestos and Other Toxins
Unloading Dirt from the White House
Mid-day Sunday, I took the Metro to Foggy Bottom, and then walked ten minutes to the The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, which now bears Trump’s name above Kennedy’s. Setting aside Trump, whoever designed the center’s entrance did a terrible job. Who would put columns in front of a wall that displays the memorial’s name, thereby obscuring some of the lettering? A large plaque should have been affixed to the pillars with John F. Kennedy’s name on it. Trump has simply compounded the eyesore by adding his name.
Once again, Trump has succeeded in bringing shame to his name. Eventually, his name will come down, either as a result of a lawsuit or through legislation once Trump exits the White House. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty has already filed a lawsuit to remove Trump’s name. As an ex-officio Kennedy Center trustee, Beatty probably has standing to bring the lawsuit. Her lawyers claim that “Congress designated the Kennedy Center as the sole national memorial within the nation’s capital to the late President. . . . [B]ecause Congress named the center by statute, changing the Kennedy Center’s name requires an act of Congress.”
Following my visit to the Kennedy Center, I walked a short distant to what is now the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. As another sign of Trump’s tackiness, his name was added to the wall in front of the Institute using raised silver lettering, while the phrase “Institute of Peace” is carved into the stone. Clearly a slapdash job.
In December, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said,
The United States Institute of Peace was once a bloated, useless entity that blew $50 million per year while delivering no peace. Now, the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, which is both beautifully and aptly named after a President who ended eight wars in less than a year, will stand as a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability.
Currently, the Institute’s fate is being debated in federal court. On May 19, 2025, District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell concluded,
The Constitution makes clear that the President’s constitutional authority only extends as far as Article II, but even Article II does not grant him absolute removal authority over his subordinates, under current binding caselaw precedent. Outside of Article II, he has little constitutional authority to act at all. The President’s efforts here to take over an organization outside of those bounds, contrary to statute established by Congress and by acts of force and threat using local and federal law enforcement officers, represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better. An order consistent with this Memorandum Opinion will be entered contemporaneously.
Howell’s order was subsequently stayed, with the matter remaining unresolved at this time.
In Presidential Executive Order 14217, Trump confiscated the Institute’s property and abruptly terminated nearly all of its staff and activities around the world. When Judge Howell rendered his opinion, the Institute had only four employees in D.C. and a “handful’ overseas. It had “zero” programmatic activities, which raises a fascinating question. Why did Trump want his name on what was essentially a defunct nonprofit organization? Answer: He is an insecure narcissist.
I also made a point of walking past the Department of Agriculture because I had seen photographs showing Trump’s image hanging from one side of the building, but it apparently has been taken down. On a previous trip, I had seen a Trump’s image hanging from the Department of Labor, but it was gone when I first walked past the department’s headquarters, but it returned Tuesday for the State of the Union.
Donald J. Trump Slapping His Name on the Congressionally-Mandated Memorial to a President Who Was Assassinated
The Nation's Cultural Center Trashed by Trash
Donald J. Trunp’s Name Must Go on Everything
This Photograph of the Gruesome Foursome May Be Partially Responsible for the Kennedy Center’s Decline in Ticket Sales
In the Opinion of Many People, the Word "Trump" Should be Excised
A Not-So-Subtle Reminder of What Can Happen When Presidential Power is Abused In Back of the Entrance to The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts
Simulated Urine Stains Dripping from the Lettering Spelling “Donald J. Trump”
"Donald Trump United States Institute of Peace"
On Monday, I spent the day on Capitol Hill with members of the Ukrainian community as they made the rounds lobbying for legislation that would help Ukraine prevail in its existential fight against Russia. After an evening reception in one of the Senate office buildings, I headed back to my hotel. As I was passing the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art, I saw images and words being projected onto the wall facing Constitution Avenue. Three or four people stood around a projector on the other side of the street cycling through a series of slides. The topic de jour? What else, but Trump’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. The slides spoke for themselves.
Turns out, the show was of courtesy of International Women’s Day, which is holding a Weekend of Action beginning on March 7, 2026.
Not Good
Or Impeached
Donald J. Trump Flashing on the East Wing of the National Art Gallery
Strategically Redacted
Raising an Important Question: Is Donald J. Trump Safe?
I passed the U.S. Department of Justice several times over the course of my five-day stay in D.C. I saw the banner featuring Trump’s official portrait hanging from the building. Of course, Trump couldn’t care less about justice, so displaying this banner is highly offensive. By the way, there are two identical banners, so if you miss it while walking past the north end of the building, you have a second chance when you pass the south end of the building.
Donald J. Trump Defacing the U.S. Department of Justice
A Zipper Truck Taking on the Pharmaceutical Industry
Copyright 2026, Jack B. Siegel. All Rights Reserved. Do Not Alter, Copy, Display, Distribute, Download, Duplicate, or Reproduce Without the Prior Written Consent of the Copyright Holder.
