Week of Sept. 3, 2026

From the publisher’s desk

I’d like to address those of you out there who are Trump supporters (if there are any of you left reading news publications like the RN&R). I have a question to ask—and it’s a question that I know a lot of Americans have:

Don’t you find the president’s desire to put his name and face on all sorts of things, and his compulsion to build monuments to himself, to be a little, well, weird? Concerning? Wasteful? Dictatorial, even?

Time magazine reported yesterday:

President Donald Trump has suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait” amid renewed hostilities with Iran following a brief period of respite.

“Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to Trump Strait? Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!” the President said Wednesday.

Trump floated the idea a day after the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) launched a new wave of strikes against Iranian military targets.

Then there’s his proposed $100 million-plus arch in Washington, D.C.

The Associated Press today reported:

The Trump administration said Thursday that excavation work will start over the next two weeks on the site where it plans to build a towering, gilded arch, a project that is facing a lawsuit and that critics say will disrupt historic sightlines in Washington, D.C.

The proposed arch is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave his lasting imprint on Washington, including renaming and renovating the Kennedy Center, building a huge new White House ballroom, refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and rebuilding a golf course in East Potomac Park that could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths.

“This will be one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote on X, “befitting the most powerful Capital in the World.”

Along with the announcement on X, Burgum posted artistic mockups of the planned 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch, which will stand between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. …

A National Park Service report released Friday backed the project, though it said there would be adverse effects to the sightlines between a host of iconic landmarks, disrupting the historical significance of dozens of nearby sites.

The Associated Press mentioned the Kennedy Center thing; there’s also the Palm Beach airport mess, the questionably legal $1 Trump coins, the “commemorative” passport thing … I could go on, but I think you get the point.

One other question … don’t you find the fact that the president is putting so much emphasis on renaming things and building monuments to be a bit troubling, seeing as there are very, very serious problems in the U.S. right now?

Here’s just one example from the news today. CBS News reports:

Gasoline prices are surging ahead of Labor Day, with AAA predicting travelers will face the highest pump prices on record for the holiday weekend amid ongoing conflict in the Strait of Hormuz. 

The national average for regular gasoline reached $4.14 a gallon Thursday, up 4 cents from a week earlier, according to AAA data. Diesel averaged $5.78 a gallon, just below its record of $5.81 set in June 2022.

Gas prices have never eclipsed $4 per gallon on Labor Day, the motor club noted.

Don’t you find this all … bad? I sure do.

Cheers,

—Jimmy Boegle, publisher/executive editor