The Trump administration has spent at least $56,000 so far on Orwellian banners displayed on government buildings, according to a report from Democratic Senator Adam Schiff published by MeidasTouch Network.
In August, Trump’s Department of Labor unfurled a giant banner on its headquarters’ facade, featuring the words “American Workers First” and Trump’s glowering second inaugural portrait. Alongside the president’s banner was one depicting Theodore Roosevelt with the same motto. In the spring, Trump’s visage similarly appeared on a banner beside one of Abraham Lincoln on the Department of Agriculture’s building.
An oversight report by Schiff reveals that the Department of Health and Human Services also plans to exhibit political banners on its exterior. The Trump administration has awarded a contract for two “Make America Healthy Again Building Banners” at HHS headquarters, which are yet to be unveiled. Per contracting documents, the signs are to measure 11 feet by 88 feet and be made to last “preferably” the length of Trump’s term. While they will feature “different artwork,” the images are not detailed in the report—but if history is any indication, one of them can be expected to depict the president scowling.
Between all three reported banner orders, the Trump administration has dished out about $56,000 in taxpayer money. The USDA banners cost $16,400, the HHS banners $33,726, and the Labor Department banners about $6,000—though, Schiff notes, the full cost is “yet to be determined.”
According to Schiff, the banners could run afoul of federal appropriations laws that bar the spending of funds for “publicity or propaganda purposes.” Either way, as the senator notes, they serve as “a stark visual manifestation of measures President Trump and his administration are taking to consolidate power and control that are antithetical to American democracy.”
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