I've noticed that President Donald Trump has a serious infatuation with a well-known man, but it's not the guy you might be thinking of.
No, it's not Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump put in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency. Nor is it any current world leader, though Trump has been known to say nice things when others have only scorn to share.
The bromance I'm talking about goes back more than a century.
The 45th and 47th president has abiding admiration for our 25th president, Ohio's own William McKinley. Karl Rove, the long-time George W. Bush adviser and strategist, called it a man crush.
I spoke with Rove last week for a story I’m working on about what draws President Trump to President McKinley. Rove, author of The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters, recently wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal criticizing Trump for getting “McKinley’s tariffs wrong.” The first sentence said it all: “President Trump has a man crush on a predecessor.”
If McKinley were alive today, his valentine from the Trump White House may read, “Tariff King”, “Great President” and “Underrated.” I’ve never seen such phrases on those chalky heart candies, so a special order would be needed.
Some may look at former presidents like McKinley as just another former president, gone before we were even born. But other than Lincoln or Washington, when was the last time a former president was mentioned in an inaugural address?
Imagine, if you will, John F. Kennedy declaring, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country, like John Adams.”
Or Franklin Delano Roosevelt exclaiming, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, certainly not my fifth cousin Teddy Roosevelt.”
Trump mentioned McKinley on Jan. 20 during his inaugural address;
“President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent — he was a natural businessman — and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did,” said Trump.
That surprised Robert Merry, author of William McKinley: Architect of the American Century, because the two men are very different. McKinley was the kind of guy who didn't care who got credit as long as things got done.
That doesn't seem to affect Trump's infatuation. In his first hours as commander-in-chief, he restored the McKinley name to the highest mountain peak in North America, something he promised in his campaign. President Obama had changed the name of Mount McKinley to Mount Denali in 2015. How much more can you do to show your love for someone than return their name to a mountain?
According to statistics from the publication Roll Call, including Inauguration Day, Trump has mentioned McKinley in public 34 times since 2017. Since the affinity seemed to grow leading to Inauguration Day, I was especially curious to see if a redecorated Oval Office would include a McKinley portrait. It does not, surprisingly. Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Jackson hang on the walls of the president’s office, accompanied by paintings of Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin.
I won’t go as far as Rove in proclaiming a presidential man crush, but I do offer this advice to the First Lady: Watch out, Melania. Your husband may give you roses for Valentine's Day, perhaps even some jewelry that costs more than my house.
But he gave McKinley a mountain.
