There
is
fine
line
between
patriotism
and
nationalism.
The
line
which
separates
enduring
respect
for
a
truly
great
leader
from
a
cult
of
personality
is
finer
still.
A
certain
amount
of
mostly
harmless
hero-worship
has
always
pervaded
the
American
presidency.
Human
beings
come
programmed
to
want
to
follow
a
strong
leader.
Sometimes
that
devotion
is
earned
and
deserved.
In
perhaps
the
greatest
feat
of
a
lifetime
full
of
noteworthy
accomplishments,
George
Washington,
gave
up
power
after
only
two
terms
at
a
time
when
he
could
have
become
president
for
life.
Today,
we
celebrate
George
Washington
by
naming
just
about
everything
that
can
be
named
after
him,
by
stamping
his
likeness
on
currency,
and,
of
course,
by
visiting
his
former
home,
Mount
Vernon.
Thomas
Jefferson
was
another
impressive
president,
with
another
impressive
estate
that
can
be
visited
to
this
day.
Situated
on
a
beautiful
mountaintop
outside
Charlottesville,
Monticello
overlooks
the
University
of
Virginia.
As
a
historic
site,
Jefferson’s
home
affirms
his
legacy
as
the
president
who
gave
us
the
Lewis
and
Clark
expedition
of
discovery
and
who
peacefully
doubled
America’s
size
with
the
Louisiana
Purchase.
On
a
darker
note,
the
site
also
tackles
Jefferson’s
more
complicated
and
contemptible
qualities
as
a
slave
owner.
Theodore
Roosevelt,
hero
of
the
Battle
of
San
Juan
during
the
Spanish-American
War,
distinguished
himself
in
office
by
smashing
harmful
monopolies,
by
greatly
strengthening
our
National
Park
System,
and
by
successfully
mediating
the
Russo-Japanese
War
(for
which
he
won
the
Nobel
Peace
Prize,
becoming
the
first
American
to
win
a
Nobel
Prize
of
any
kind).
Roosevelt’s
Sagamore
Hill
is
open
to
the
public,
operated
as
a
historic
site
by
the
very
National
Park
Service
Roosevelt
did
so
much
to
help
create.
You
can
visit
the
former
homes
of
several
other
celebrated
U.S.
presidents.
Of
course,
while
America
has
been
fortunate
to
have
been
led
by
many
great
presidents
over
the
centuries,
it
has
also
had
its
share
of
lackluster,
dud
presidents.
Yet,
even
the
bad
presidents
tend
to
get
their
homes
preserved
as
historic
sites.
James
Buchanan
and
Andrew
Johnson,
the
presidents
before
and
after
Lincoln,
respectively,
are
widely
considered
by
historians
to
have
been
the
two
worst
in
U.S.
history
for,
respectively,
bungling
the
lead-up
to
the
Civil
War
and
undermining
Reconstruction
to
help
deny
freed
slaves
their
rights
after
the
Civil
War.
You
can
tour
both
their
homes.
Nixon’s
too.
Hell,
William
Henry
Harrison
was
president
for
only
a
month.
You
can
nevertheless
go
see
his
house.
All
of
this
brings
me
to
the
sad,
undeniable
conclusion
that
someday
Donald
Trump’s
Mar-a-Lago
estate
in
Florida
will
open
to
the
public
as
a
national
presidential
historic
site.
Given
that
Trump
owns
various
properties
and
was
once
known
as
a
prominent
New
Yorker,
one
could
argue
that
the
Trump
Tower
penthouse
or
some
other
residence
might
receive
the
historical
attention
in
lieu
of
Mar-a-Lago.
Yet,
given
that
Trump
himself
seems
to
prefer
Mar-a-Lago
(it
is
his
current
primary
residence)
and
that
Mar-a-Lago
is
already
ostensibly
protected
by
an
agreement
with
the
National
Trust
for
Historic
Preservation,
my
money
is
on
a
major
Florida
Trump
historic
site.
In
fact,
Mar-a-Lago
is
also
already
listed
on
the
National
Register
of
Historic
Places
and
was
deemed
a
national
historic
site
in
1969
by
the
Department
of
the
Interior.
It
was
built
in
the
roaring
20s
by
heiress
and
notable
partier
Marjorie
Merriweather
Post.
Donald
Trump
acquired
the
property
in
1985
at
the
bargain
price
of
$5
million
when
the
Marjorie
Merriweather
Post
Foundation
failed
to
sell
it
to
multiple
different
potential
buyers
(Post
herself
spent
about
$7
million
building
Mar-a-Lago
in
the
1920s,
which
would
equate
to
more
than
$100
million
today).
Of
course,
designating
private
property
as
a
National
Historic
Landmark
or
listing
it
in
the
National
Register
does
not
prohibit
owners
from
taking
any
action
they
may
otherwise
take
with
respect
to
the
property,
nor
does
it
mean
that
the
property
needs
to
be
open
to
the
public
(Mar-a-Lago
remains
notably
private,
with
Trump
using
portions
of
the
property
as
a
private
residence
and
with
a
$200,000
initial
fee
to
join
as
a
patron
of
the
club
portion).
A
lot
of
properties
are
involved
in
these
programs,
most
having
nothing
to
do
with
presidential
history:
about
2,500
properties
are
designated
as
National
Historic
Landmarks
and
more
than
90,000
are
entered
in
the
National
Register.
These
programs
may
provide
limited
federal
funding
for
preservation
of
designated
properties,
but
are
not
necessarily
related
to
presidential
history
specifically,
and
operate
parallel
to
the
multiple
ways
in
which
a
presidential
historic
site
may
be
administered.
Not
all
of
the
historically
preserved
presidential
home
sites
are
managed
by
the
National
Park
Service:
many
are
administered
by
private
organizations.
Examples
of
privately
run
presidential
homes
include
Monticello
and
Mount
Vernon.
While
it
pains
me
to
consider
that
my
tax
dollars
may
someday
be
used
to
subsidize
tours
of
Mar-a-Lago,
this
might
actually
be
the
best
possible
outcome
as
opposed
to
private
administration.
“This
is
the
toilet
next
to
which
Mr.
Trump
stacked
the
classified
documents
with
the
national
security
secrets,”
one
can
imagine
a
sharply
dressed
docent
from
the
NPS
saying
as
she
gestures
professionally
at
the
porcelain
throne.
“That
was
before
the
FBI’s
raid
on
Mar-a-Lago,
of
course.”
You’re
just
not
going
to
get
that
sort
of
contextualization
within
the
purview
of
a
private
group
led
by
Trump
loyalists,
or,
heaven
forbid,
perhaps
even
by
his
adult
children
(those
sorts
already
whine
about
places
like
Monticello
being
too
woke).
Under
that
kind
of
leadership,
Mar-a-Lago
would
be
more
like
the
Museo
de
la
Revolución
in
Havana,
portions
of
which
are
so
thick
with
hyperbolic
propaganda
that
prudent
visitors
must
be
wary
against
suffering
eye-roll-related
repetitive
stress
injuries.
Trump
is
an
old
man
—
he
is
77.
Like
it
or
not,
one
day,
in
the
not-too-distant
future,
Mar-a-Lago
will
be
preserved
for
posterity
as
a
piece
of
presidential
history.
We
cannot
stop
this
from
happening.
What
we
might
be
able
to
do
is
provide
the
public
pressure,
and
yes,
the
funding,
to
prevent
Mar-a-Lago
from
becoming
nothing
more
than
a
tacky
everlasting
shrine
to
MAGA.
I’d
much
rather
it
be
a
cautionary
tale
than
a
mecca
for
aging
January
6
rioters.
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD
(affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at jon_wolf@hotmail.com.