Here’s an actual Washington Post headline: “Navy weighs major warship redesign to match Trump’s aesthetic preferences.” The subheading (called the “deck” apparently in newspaper speak) reads, “The president wants the new fleet of aircraft carriers to more closely resemble those from World War II. The change could cost billions.” Stupidity, thy name is “Trump”!
After I finished laughing at the use of the phrase “aesthetic preferences” to describe Trump’s whims, and before reading further, I wondered whether he was insisting that our warships be encased in tacky gold leaf, like the statues on the Memorial Bridge near the Lincoln Memorial and, of course, like the Oval Office. But that’s not the change he wants. What a relief!
Instead, he wants changes (expensive ones) in the design of our future aircraft carriers. Specifically, according to the Washington Post, he wants “the multistory tower that acts as the carrier’s command center farther forward, toward the middle of the ship, to resemble older vessels.”
The fact that the design change, if implemented, would reportedly cost billions is no big deal for Trump. After all, the taxpayers will bear the costs, and paying taxes is for losers. Trump and his billionaire friends will be just fine. So no worries.
And anyway, spending oodles of money to satisfy his “aesthetic preferences” is a principal theme of Trump’s second term. He’s very good at wasting our money to make stuff all pretty and grand, and worthy to be named after himself.
Trump’s World War II aesthetic actually isn’t terribly surprising. You can understand a lot about Trump by realizing that much of what he does reflects his yearning for the good old days. You know, the days when US Presidents weren’t limited to two terms, when we didn’t have all these icky immigrants, when “dames” knew their place, when sexual harassment and abuse were A-OK, and when white men were firmly in charge. (Oh wait, they still are in charge.)
But this is probably just the beginning. If Trump really goes all in on the World War II aesthetic, soon he’ll have the military replacing its jets with propeller models, and medics will be using sulfa drugs instead of advanced antibiotics. (The latter move probably would have an eager spokesman in Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.)
And of course, women will be relegated to nursing duties again, and there will be all African-American units but no African-American generals. Pete Hegseth will be ecstatic.