What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to brand the basic functions of government with his name and face.

The White House launched an official government website today accepting applications for what Trump is calling the Trump Gold Card. Supposedly, it will allow wealthy foreigners to skip the normal process for obtaining permanent residency and receive it "in record time," in exchange for fees starting at $1 million (plus a $15,000 nonrefundable "processing fee"). 

Additional fees may apply—Trump hasn't said for what—and there's even a more exclusive "platinum" tier costing $5 million but offering special tax breaks, over and above the existing favors that Trump's tax code does for wealthy individuals.

There's a reason that cutting the line like this isn't usually allowed in democracies, and it's not just that most Americans don't really share Trump's belief that wealth is what makes a person good. The official White House line is that people with money are inherently more "productive" and will "create jobs." But in reality, the expensive passes will come at the expense of people who would normally be awarded EB-1 and EB-2 visas, who would normally have to go through a rigorous application process and demonstrate truly exceptional or unique talents.

In other words, Trump is promising to replace the absolute top-tier of the very most talented skill-based visas with a system where any rich person can buy a visa regardless of their personal merit, potential contribution to the American economy, or need. 

In addition to being named after him, the "card" also features Trump's face. The site—again, an actual page operated by the United States Government—showed his face appearing from behind mountain peaks like the rising sun.

 

Bizarrely, it's not even the only government document Trump has unveiled recently with his own face on it. He also put it on the all-access National Parks pass, which federal law requires to be a specific award-winning nature photo. (The picture of Trump's glowering, heavily made-up face was not the winner of the relevant award.)

 

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental organization, sued the government today to enforce the law and change the pass, calling it Trump's most "crassest, most ego-driven action yet." Presumably, that means that they regarded it as even crasser than Trump's decision to make admission to parks free on his birthday while canceling it for the actual federal holidays Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

Why does this matter?

• Money isn't what makes someone good, or a good American. 

• Even by the standards of Trump's usual need for attention, this is pathetic.