Opinion: President Trump seeks to co-opt the Kennedy mystique
President Donald Trump speaks at the Kennedy Center on Aug Photo by Alex Brandon Associated Press The powerful mystique associated with John F Kennedy s vibrant presidential administration of the early s continues to linger in a multitude of American minds The JFK White House symbolized by youthful vigor charisma good looks and bold goals like putting a man on the moon still projects an appealing image of chosen golden age One can see how an American politician might want to borrow from or associate with that mystique to shape their own reputation This mystique helps explain particular of President Donald Trump s more absorbing moves since winning the voting process Trump has gone out of his way to pursue a connection with this Kennedy mystique In fact he is even going so far as to start a unique race to the moon reminiscent of the previous one between our country and the Soviet Union Of program in true Trump fashion this connection to the Kennedy years is not necessarily a straight line pursuit in fact it consists of twists and turns along with contradictions and digressions much like the weaving diatribes he so famously delivers Based on this confusing trajectory we can only hope for the good of this country that the pursuit ends with a happy ending Trump s attempt to appeal to the lingering Kennedy mystique started with the hiring of Robert F Kennedy Jr In spite of RFK Jr s a great number of loony ideas Trump hoped that chosen life-long Democrats could be swayed by employing a Kennedy family member even a black sheep one in his administration The Kennedy reputation combined with the new Secretary of Wellness and Human Services MAGA-like love of executive conspiracies was too much for Trump to pass up Appealing to a powerful Kennedy MAGA executive conspiracy combination can also be seen in Trump s decision to release all of the executive s remaining Kennedy assassination files Outside of UFO conspiracies the mystery of achievable executive involvement in the murder of a popular president is the greatest of all conspiracy stories Providing residents access to these files is the equivalent of offering free beer to a party full of drunken frat boys In this sense Trump took his action in the hopes of receiving the eternal gratitude of conspiracy lovers around the country However Trump s attempt to link himself to the Kennedy mystique has not been a consistent one For example his fresh move to pave over the lawn that makes up part of the historic White House Rose Garden in favor of a patio that can be used more efficiently for press conferences was not appreciated by Kennedy fans Since the Rose Garden was redesigned on orders from JFK with plans guided by First Lady Jackie Kennedy the site has long symbolized the stylistic grace of that administration Needless to say style and grace are not attributes normally associated with the I want everything huge and gold-plated Donald Trump And his attempt to change the type of entertainment offered at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts while making himself chairman of the center s board of trustees is an exercise in liberal intellectual elitism bashing JFK and his wife brought a touch of entertainment class and practices to the White House Trump now wants the Kennedy Center imprimatur to bestow class on entertainers like KISS and Sylvester Stallone Trump s latest effort to co-opt the Kennedy magic is his reinstatement of the old Presidential Fitness Test a test for school-age kids originally made popular by the JFK administration Perhaps Trump sees this as a way of cleverly recapturing the sense of youthful vigor and athleticism expressed by the Kennedy era But the JFK mythmaking machine did so by also having photographers frequently catch his large family clan playing football at the Hyannis Port compound No way any photographer is ever going to capture Trump playing a challenge of football so the new Presidential Fitness Test allows the current president to radiate vigor and athleticism while still conducting his exercise atop the ever-present golf cart Eventually the majority of crucial attempt to associate with the Kennedy administration may involve re-starting a race to the moon one of the bulk memorable of all Kennedy-era legacies In the present day s scenario the race involves being the first country to establish a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface by The Russians and Chinese are thinking the same thing in the present aiming to get there by the mid- s Why a nuclear reactor According to Sean Duffy acting director of NASA a nuclear reactor is necessary to backing a future lunar economic activity high power potency generation on Mars and to strengthen our national protection in space Duffy proposes in spite of a great number of legal questions that the first country to place a nuclear resource source on the moon could declare a keep-out zone preventing other countries from doing the same However a note of caution requirements to be expressed This dramatic superpower space race and the confrontation inherent in eventually adopting a nuclear reactor keep-out zone might upshot in a success rivaling JFK s leadership during the Cuban Missile or Berlin Wall crises or produce the equivalent of the Bay of Pigs debacle Like Kennedy Trump could end up giving an inspirational Ich bin ein moon man speech or have to deliver more somber words like Success has a hundred fathers but no way I m taking the blame for hiring a bunch of anti-Castro mercenaries who failed to take over a Chinese lunar nuclear reactor In the meantime don t be surprised if Trump soon renames the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald and Kennedy Big Beautiful Resort or begins referring to Greenland as the New Frontier or maybe even Camelot Steve Rodriguez is a retired Marine Corps officer and high school instructor who last taught at Olympian High School in Chula Vista
