For decades, Trump has been obsessed with how other nations – including ones run by extraordinarily repressive regimes – honor their leaders with lavish, expensive public celebrations. In private conversations, per sources who’ve been in the room with him, he can go on and on about how much (in Trump’s words) “respect” and “love” these countries shower on their rulers, and how supposedly great it is for the people’s national morale. He does not seem to understand or care that many of these societies he cites – whether in North Korea or in certain Arab monarchies – do those things under the constant threat of arrest, torture, or execution.

Since the start of his new presidency, Trump has privately asked multiple times about how to get his face up there on Mt. Rushmore, crowing to close allies how he is a more accomplished president than some of those faces on the memorial, according to people familiar with the matter. Sources close to the president have told Zeteo that on separate occasions over the past year, Trump has talked to longtime advisers about what it would take to officially make his birthday a national, federal holiday. Similarly, he has already repeatedly inquired about getting a Donald Trump-shaped monument built in our nation’s capital, and mentioned that he wants final approval on the size, look, location, content, and design of the statue and memorial.

It’s tax season – so if you want to know where your hard-earned money is going, here’s one thing to keep in mind. At Zeteo, we ran the numbers, and during his first few months back in office, the Trump administration and the Republican Party marshaled upwards of $1 billion in public funds towards projects and initiatives specifically designed to make Donald Trump feel good about himself. That’s right: that’s a Billion with a “B” – in US tax dollars.

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Sources inside and close to the Trump-Vance administration tell Zeteo that the president repeatedly asks about myriad different things in and outside of DC that his allies could work to get his name or face on. Buildings, parks, airports, military bases, US battleships, highways, and city streets and squares – you name it, President Trump has likely schemed to slap his face and name all over it. He does this often enough that in some corners of the federal government, it has become a running “joke” in private conversations to just start adding his name to, well, everything: The Donald J. Trump National Portrait Gallery. The Donald Trump Washington Union Station. The Donald Trump Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. I’m headed down to the Donald J. Trump Whole Foods Market, they’d quip.

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