The article “National Park Service drops free admission on MLK Day, Juneteenth, adds Trump’s birthday” (TribLive, Dec. 6) on President Trump replacing MLK Day and Juneteenth free admissions at national parks with his own birthday says soothingly, “Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term.”
But think about it. What other nations celebrate the birthday of a sitting leader?
Two kinds, basically. First, monarchies like Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Include British Commonwealth countries celebrating the birth of their royal head of state, like Papua New Guinea, Canada and Belize.
Second, dictatorships. Turkmenistan and North Korea, two of the most authoritarian places on earth, don’t actually have laws making their Dear Leader’s birthday a holiday. But the “optional” festivities are pretty de rigueur to avoid attention from the powers that be.
Tellingly, neither of Europe’s current strongmen, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, has foisted his birthday on the whole country. Adolf Hitler, however, was feted lavishly on every birthday, right up to his final days in the chancellery bunker.
Trump insists he doesn’t want to be a king or dictator. But look at the company he wants to keep.
Eugene V. Torisky Jr.
Latrobe