Editorial: In a pair of edifices, a tale of two presidents

Had a satirist first imagined what President Donald Trump would want for his presidential library, the cartoon surely would have looked exactly like what Trump apparently actually does want: a massive Miami skyscraper erected at a size intended to dwarf all surrounding buildings and topped with the all-caps “TRUMP,” shimmering in all its LED glory.

Inside, plans call for a pair of golden statues of the building’s namesake, a huge replica of Air Force One, a ballroom not unlike the one Trump is struggling to persuade a court he should be allowed to build at the White House and, per the president himself, most likely a luxe hotel.

We have a good bet as to the franchisee.

Just to add to the surreal spectacle of it all, Trump said he didn’t have any interest in libraries or museums precisely two days after revealing one made in his own image (with the help of AI).

The contrast between what Trump has rendered for Miami and what former President Barack Obama is about to open at his Presidential Center on the South Side are succinct symbols of two very distinct presidencies, not to mention the differences between Miami and Chicago as cities. That said, both have a notable phallic verticality (or insecurity) about them and both are attracting their share of detractors for their outsize impact on the existing waterfront (or waterfrontish) landscapes.

Trump’s building is all gold plate and what you see is what you get (i.e. Trump, Trump and more Trump). Obama’s stone exterior has academics and architecture critics in mind; it’s loftily designed to resemble four hands coming together and comes with such other un-Trump-like attributes as a wetland walk and sustainable garden. (Presumably, in Miami, such a space will be monetized). The Obama Center also has overlapping text (taken from an Obama speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches) on its exterior: such words as “America is not the project of any one person,” which is not something we ever are going to see on the exterior of any Trump library, ever. Simply put, Trump focuses on Trump whereas the Obama Center wants to focus on the “we” of America, an aspirational goal these days, given how much an agreed-upon “we” has declined since 44 was in office.

Of course you could argue that the Obama center actually is every bit as self-aggrandizing as that of Trump, but merely coded more subtly for a different target demographic. Either way, we give credit for Trump getting moving at a faster pace than Obama, at least conceptually. You know, Democrats and their committees.

One of these buildings will be treated respectfully in the establishment media; one already is the subject of derision, even at the release of the conceptual rendering. Its remaining so is a big part of the reason why it will have its fans. Wise observers know how well Trump understands his base. They want to be bedazzled by shining lights and gold trim on their celebratory American buildings, not, for heaven’s sake, text.

Given the Obama center’s setting just outside Hyde Park, though, people actually like having some writing to deconstruct.

We suspect both buildings will actually please the honorees’ superfans and we think both of them are notably reflective of the personality of the two contrasting commanders in chief, which is a reasonable goal for a presidential library or center in an era when the original depository function of these places has receded, given that you can search for it all online. The rest of it is pretty much theatrical. And egotistical.

We will say this, though. It looks to us like Eric Trump, who said he has “poured his heart and soul” into the Trump library idea, was sending his dad a message. Libraries usually come after presidencies (as with 44), but Trump world is already fully in gear on that legacy stuff. So let’s hope that, at the appointed hour, Trump plans to go quietly to what should be the loudest place on the Miami waterfront.

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