{"id":36044,"date":"2025-02-20T09:04:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T16:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=36044"},"modified":"2025-02-20T09:28:35","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T16:28:35","slug":"there-can-be-only-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=36044","title":{"rendered":"There Can Be Only One"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screenshot<\/a>Trump is obsessed with the Kennedys \u2014 Jack, Jackie, the whole Camelot thing \u2014 and not in a good way. Firing the board of the Kennedy Center and installing himself as head, closing the Kennedy Library in Boston, paving over Jackie’s White House rose garden, even appointing a Kennedy to a cabinet position (where said Kennedy can be made to jump through hoops, although the joke’s on Trump because RFK Jr. loves the attention).<\/p>\n

Somehow the promised release of classified JFK assassination files plays into Trump’s obsession (although I’m willing to bet those files will remain under lock & key, at least during my lifetime).<\/p>\n

Then there’s the airplane and its Jackie Kennedy-inspired blue & white livery. Trump has wanted to replace the two aircraft that serve as Air Force Ones since his first term in 2016, and I think in his mind it’s the paint job, not all the other improvements, that’s the heart of the deal. Yesterday he threatened Boeing over continued delays in preparing the new replacement 747s, saying he might cancel the contract and just buy a couple of used VIP-configured planes from another country instead. While I don’t think that’ll happen, I won’t be surprised if in the meantime he orders the existing presidential fleet repainted in his desired red, white, and blue livery, getting rid of the last bit of JFK & Jackie’s legacy altogether.<\/p>\n

What’s up with him and the Kennedys? I think it comes down to jealousy and his sense that Jack & Jackie were not just celebrities (and we all know the value he places on celebrity) but the closest thing this country ever had to royalty. And he can’t stand it. Because only he can be royalty. I mean, look at this guy:<\/p>\n

\"donald-trump-2016-election-biography-photos-24\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As far back as 2010, when this photo was taken, Trump was projecting a competing (and decidedly second-rate) vision of Jack, Jackie, the kids, and Camelot. And now he’s issuing tweets like this:<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s real, by the way. If it were anyone else, I’d say it was meant as a joke. But Trump? He’s showing us his soul. He means it. And he can’t bear the thought that Americans ever worshipped a different king and queen, and wants to erase all trace of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He’s showing us his soul. He means it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10],"tags":[2786,4133,4725],"class_list":["post-36044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-class","category-current-events","tag-airforceone","tag-americanroyalty","tag-camelot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36044"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36051,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36044\/revisions\/36051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}