Trump's Fourth of July salute to himself will only hurt him - By Max Boot
By Max Boot
Columnist
July 3 at 1:43 PM
It’s no surprise that President Trump has hijacked the Fourth of July ceremony on the Mall. He wants to turn a celebration of America’s founding into a celebration of himself. Obscene, yes, but entirely in character. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Theodore Roosevelt’s eldest child, said: “My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening.” That is Trump to a T — minus any of Roosevelt’s redeeming qualities.
A desire to be the center of attention has been — along with a desire for money and a desire to grab women by their private parts — Trump’s defining passion in life. It is why he has plastered his name on so many buildings and products. Why he fed the New York tabloids so many stories about himself. And ultimately why he ran for president. He didn’t think he’d win — it was just a way to get the attention he’s always craving.
Remarkably enough, Trump hasn’t become any less needy and greedy for publicity since he entered the White House. Having drunk so deeply at the well of ego gratification, he keeps coming back for ever-bigger gulps.
He has turned, as my Post colleagues Ashley Parker and Robert Costa noted, into our narrator in chief: He feels compelled to comment on matters that do not involve him just so he stays in the conversation, no matter the topic. Recent examples include technical glitches at the Democratic presidential debate, a helicopter crash in New York and the controversial outcome of the Kentucky Derby. Trump is obsessed with his ratings and how he is perceived by the “Fake News Media.” His approach to North Korea — three summits without any of the necessary preparation work — makes little sense diplomatically, but it makes perfect sense if the only point is to put Trump where he always wants to be — on center stage.
In fairness, lots of people are as mesmerized by Trump as he is by himself. The media have covered him obsessively and minutely ever since he announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015. He has been president for only 2½ years but has dominated our head space for four years — and counting.
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