{"id":46801,"date":"2026-02-20T11:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46801"},"modified":"2026-02-20T11:55:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:55:49","slug":"an-abomination-enormous-dictatorship-style-banner-with-trump-face-on-side-of-justice-department-decried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/an-abomination-enormous-dictatorship-style-banner-with-trump-face-on-side-of-justice-department-decried\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018An Abomination\u2019: Enormous \u2018Dictatorship-Style\u2019 Banner With Trump Face on Side of Justice Department Decried"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"'An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Workers on an aerial lift check their installation of a new banner featuring an image of President Donald Trump on the facade of the US Department of Justice headquarters building in Washington, DC, on February 19, 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Brendan Smialowski\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is an incredible affront to our democracy to display the president\u2019s face on one of the most sacred US judicial buildings,\u201d said one critic.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 19, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics reacted with outrage on Thursday after a large banner featuring President Donald Trump\u2019s face was hung on the outside of the US Department of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The banner shows a large blue banner draped from the side of the department\u2019s headquarters in Washington<\/a>, DC, with the slogan, \u201cMake America Safe Again\u201d written across the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Although the Trump administration<\/a> in the past has hung up banners with the president\u2019s face on other federal buildings, including<\/a> the US Department of Labor, many critics were particularly alarmed by a banner going up at the DOJ given how the department has been pursuing criminal prosecutions against his political enemies, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI<\/a> Director James Comey<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a stunning confirmation of the grim reality,\u201d wrote<\/a> MS NOW<\/em> justice and intelligence correspondent Ken Dilanian, \u201cwhich is that Donald Trump<\/a> has seized control of the once independent Justice Department and is using it to pursue his political objectives\u2014including trying to punish his perceived enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-NM) marveled<\/a> at \u201cthe irony of a twice-impeached, convicted felon putting his own picture on the wall of the Department of Justice<\/a>,\u201d while adding that \u201cPresident Trump is weaponizing the DOJ as his own personal law firm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) objected<\/a> to the banner and reminded his social media<\/a> followers that \u201cthe Department of Justice is supposed to work for and represent you, not him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) linked the banner to the ongoing scandal of the DOJ\u2019s continued failure to release all files related to the criminal investigation of late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWant more evidence that the Justice Department is covering up the Epstein files to protect Epstein\u2019s best friend Donald Trump<\/a>?\u201d wrote<\/a> Lieu. \u201cLook at this photo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney Brian Farnkoff, a former DOJ official, described<\/a> the banner as \u201can abomination and an outrage,\u201d while acknowledging it was symbolic of how the president has taken over the department to use as a weapon against his enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Frum, staff writer at the Atlantic<\/em>, also said that the symbolism being conveyed by the banner was apt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Trump DOJ is a pure creature of presidential whim, retribution, and cover-up,\u201d he wrote<\/a>, \u201cso this banner has the virtue of candor at least.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen<\/a>, said<\/a> that the banner showed \u201cTrump is laughing at the idea that the Justice Department is independent of the White House<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is an incredible affront to our democracy<\/a> to display the president\u2019s face on one of the most sacred US judicial buildings,\u201d Gilbert added. \u201cIt\u2019s also beyond satirical that Trump, who is at the center of numerous current court cases and was convicted of numerous felonies, is splashing his face on the exterior of the Department of Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic California Gov.\u00a0Gavin Newsom<\/a>, who\u2019s expected to run for president in 2028, called the Trump DOJ banner \u201cbeyond parody,\u201d and asked, \u201cHow many dictatorship-style monuments, building name changes, and fake awards do Americans have to endure?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers on an aerial lift check their installation of a new banner featuring an image of President Donald Trump on the facade of the US Department of Justice headquarters building in Washington, DC, on February 19, 2026.  (Photo by Brendan Smialowski\/AFP via Getty Images) \u201cIt is an incredible affront to… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46802,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46801\/revisions\/46802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}