Some time ago, I visited the Joseph Stalin museum in Gori, Georgia, about 50 miles from the capital Tbilisi. Stalin was born in Gori in 1878 and died in 1953. The museum opened in 1957 and is still a tourist attraction — it displays Stalin’s death mask, a small wooden hut where he was born and the armor-plated railway car in which he traveled across the USSR and beyond, including to meet FDR at the Tehran Conference in 1943. Despite periodic discussions about updating the museum’s content, it remains largely unchanged and comes across as a tribute to the man who led one of the bloodiest regimes in history.
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953. His name at birth was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili but he took the name Stalin in 1907 because it means “man of steel.” Although he was a small man who tended to be private and quiet, he ruled with an iron hand and Soviet propaganda presented him as all-powerful and all-knowing.
His name and image were displayed all over the country. The Soviet press praised him constantly, calling him “great,” “beloved,” “bold,” “wise,” “genius” and the “father of nations.” The cult of his personality was a feature of his rule and reached its apogee in 1944 when his name was included in the Soviet national anthem.
The cult of Trump hasn’t quite reached that point, but Trump has called himself a “very stable genius” and I wouldn’t put it past him to order the lyrics of the “Star Spangled Banner” revised to include his name. After all, this is a man who, in just 13 months, has put his picture (alongside George Washington’s) on passes to our national parks, planted his name on the Kennedy Center, the U.S. Institute of Peace and a discount drug program (TrumpRx), and has tried to blackmail New York by suggesting that he would release federal funding for a long-planned project to build new tunnels under the Hudson River only if New York agreed to rename Penn Station after him.
In addition, Trump has put his name and face on special visas to the U.S. for rich people (the “Trump gold card,” the “Trump Corporate Gold Card,” and the “Trump Platinum Card”). He announced a new fleet of battleships to be called “Trump class” and has strung up gigantic banners with his face on them on federal buildings in Washington, D.C. He has launched new savings and investment accounts for children that are named after himself and has repeatedly suggested that his likeness should be carved into Mount Rushmore, alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. He has adorned the Resolute Desk with baseball caps that proclaim “Trump was right about everything.” I could go on.
Why does all of this matter? Here’s why. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a personality cult as “a situation in which a public figure (such as a political leader) is deliberately presented to the people of a country as a great person who should be admired and loved.” The Nabb Research Center at Maryland’s Salisbury University explains that a cult of personality arises when a leader is presented as larger-than-life through “imagery and words of uncritical praise and flattery.” The Center says: “Propaganda is a common vehicle used to help create personality cults. Leaders are often depicted as superhuman, courageous, wise, and incapable of error. If a leader is viewed as god-like, it is less likely followers will criticize or question their policies or challenge their power.”
The rejection of dissent is a feature of the Trump administration. The legitimacy of opponents is routinely questioned — think of Attorney General Pam Bondi calling Representative Jamie Raskin, a lawyer who has taught constitutional law for more than 25 years, a “washed-up loser.”
Sycophantic media and influencers are hand-picked to dominate at White House and Pentagon briefings, and journalists who dare to question Trump are insulted, like when Trump snapped “Quiet, Piggy” at Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey for asking about Jeffrey Epstein.
When Olympic skier Hunter Hess spoke of his “mixed emotions” at representing the U.S. while masked ICE agents are brutalizing people on the streets of the country, Trump called him “a real loser” and said it was hard to support American athletes who questioned his administration’s policies. Hess bravely responded: “There is so much that is great about America, but there are always things that could be better … One of the many things that makes this country so amazing is that we have the right and the freedom to point that out.”
For now, at least.
Judith Kumin is a retired official of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). She lives in Contoocook.