XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism, alt.politics.trump   
   XPost: rec.arts.tv   
   From: project2025@hotmail.com   
      
   Authoritarian leaders have long used portraits and banners to project power,   
   turning government buildings into vehicles for personal glorification. In the   
   Soviet Union, Josef Stalin's face loomed over cities for decades. His   
   likeness appeared on enormous posters, friezes and parade banners, presenting   
   him as the embodiment of Bolshevik ideals. According to research published by   
   the Australian National University, Stalin's image was deliberately crafted   
   to make him appear omniscient and heroic, a constant reminder of state   
   ideology.   
      
   China's Mao Zedong also deployed imagery on a massive scale. During the   
   Cultural Revolution, Mao's portrait was ubiquitous—from newspapers like the   
   People's Daily to billions of posters and badges featuring his face. In the   
   Dominican Republic, dictator Rafael Trujillo went so far as to rename the   
   capital after himself. Public buildings, license plates and even city walls   
   were plastered with slogans like "God in Heaven, Trujillo on Earth."   
      
   Turkmenistan's Saparmurat Niyazov took the tradition into the modern era,   
   erecting a golden rotating statue of himself in Ashgabat and renaming   
   streets, airports and even a meteorite after him.   
      
   Trump has on several occasions likened himself to a dictator. Before his   
   second term, he said he would be a dictator on "day one" in office.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)