Trump Banner on DOJ Building Signals Authoritarian Capture

A banner displaying President Donald Trump’s portrait and the slogan “Make America Safe Again” was installed on the Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, mirroring similar displays at the Department of Labor. The blue banner hung above Pennsylvania Avenue as contractors assembled it while pedestrians and workers passed by, marking a visible assertion of Trump’s control over a federal law enforcement agency.

Senator Dick Durbin, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that Trump orchestrated institutional capture through operatives Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, and Kash Patel to weaponize the Justice Department for personal protection rather than serving the public. Durbin said Trump “shouted ‘weaponization’ and ‘witch hunt’ into the void for years…just to do it himself,” directly contradicting Trump’s prior claims that the DOJ had been weaponized against him under President Joe Biden. The Justice Department’s official mission emphasizes independence and freedom from political influence, standards the banner directly contradicts by fusing Trump’s image with the institution itself.

Democratic officials and Trump critics compared the display to authoritarian regimes. California Representative Dave Min called it “outrageous and inconsistent with democracy and the rule of law,” while former Obama strategist David Axelrod noted the banner resembled Trump’s mugshot. Governor Gavin Newsom characterized it as “dictatorship-style,” and the Unite the Country PAC stated that “historically, leaders who plaster their portraits on government buildings have rarely been the good guys.” These responses reference Trump’s 34 felony convictions in New York, establishing the irony of his image adorning the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.

Ken Dilanian, reporting for MSNBC Now, described the banner as “a stunning confirmation” that Trump has “seized control of the once independent Justice Department and is using it to pursue his political objectives—including trying to punish his perceived enemies.” The DOJ’s previous failed attempt to indict Democratic lawmakers over a military video and a federal judge’s rebuke of DOJ claims that Trump can unilaterally control historical narratives further demonstrate institutional capture. The display institutionalizes Trump’s personalization of law enforcement, completing the transformation of the DOJ into a tool of executive vengeance rather than impartial justice.

Republicans Against Trump declared on social media that “the DOJ is working for Trump, prosecuting his enemies and covering for his corruption, not upholding the law or serving the American people.” The banner’s installation represents the final visual codification of what Trump’s operatives have already achieved administratively: the elimination of the DOJ’s independence and its conversion into an instrument of authoritarian control, where justice is redefined as loyalty to the leader’s will.

(Source: https://www.newsweek.com/new-pro-trump-banner-appears-doj-headquarters-11551137)