A sultan, a king and a judge who once played for the Chicago Bears

President Donald J. Trump will be trying to buy our love on Friday, what with his presentation of Presidential Medals of Freedom to seven individuals, including some long deceased whose celebrity status is too great to be ridiculed.

Superimpose Trump's face over that of Nixon?

Seriously, who’s going to bad mouth Babe Ruth or Elvis Presley. The cultural celebrities of baseball and rock ‘n’ roll whose levels reached so high that they remain exalted even though they’ve both been deceased for decades.

AT THE VERY least, there’s no chance that either man will show up at the White House and express sarcastic thoughts at the White House. Seriously, if “the Babe” were still alive, I think he still was having a better year than the president.

And maybe Trump thinks he can have those old photographs of Presley at the White House with then-President Richard Nixon digitally altered, with his own face (and always-tacky hairdo) superimposed over that of Nixon so that Trump is now shaking hands with “the king of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Whether Chuck Berry is the one who really deserves that label because he went to jail for his musical art (as comedian Tommy Chong once suggested in one of his films with Richard “Cheech” Marin) is a topic of discussion for a future commentary.

But seriously, Trump thinks we need to have his official recognition granted to Ruth and Presley for them to have any cultural significance. Which is more about the pomposity of the Trump ego than anything else.

Had better years than just about all presidents

BESIDES, TRUMP IS more than willing to use these ancient celebrities to try to give himself a good day in the news cycle.

Not that it’s unheard of for this honor, which has been given out since the days of John F. Kennedy as president, to be awarded to athletes. In recent years, Barack Obama gave it to basketball stars Michael Jordan and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar.

And as far as baseball players are concerned, former President George W. Bush (a former owner of the Texas Rangers ball club) gave the medal posthumously to Roberto Clemente, the Pittsburgh Pirates star who was killed in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 while trying to deliver medical supplies and other relief to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua.

George W. Bush honored Clemente's greatness

So it may be technically accurate to say the award has been given out posthumously. Although one has to admit, Trump honoring Ruth (who I suspect would have viewed as Trump as some little pygmy trying to bloat his own ego off of Ruth’s aura) feels different than when Obama in 2014 gave the medals to James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner – Civil Rights activists who in 1964 were murdered in Mississippi because of the local sentiment that they were “damn Yankees” meddling into something that locals thought was none of their business – as in challenging the Southern “way of life” that thought segregation was acceptable.

FOR ALL I know, Trump probably wishes he could rescind those medals because they would offend the sensibilities of many of those who wear the ridiculous red caps that publicly identify themselves as backers of this “Age of Trump” we’re now in.

Page a Chicago-tied medal recipient

Of course, there will be other medal recipients on Friday, including Alan Page.

Remember him? He’s the former pro football player who actually finished up his career with the Chicago Bears, and also played his college football at Notre Dame. He went on to a legal career, and in fact wound up being elected a judge to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

But considering how much Trump likes to dis anything connected to Chicago, it wouldn’t shock me that his stint at Soldier Field will be amongst the last things mentioned when Page accepts his medal.

IT SHOULD BE remembered that this medal is meant to give presidents a chance to share in some celebrity glamour. Trump would hardly be the first president to try to score political points with people for non-political actions.

SCALIA: Bigger than 'the Babe' or Elvis?

Heck, when Obama gave the medal to Jordan in 2016, he made a point of mentioning how he was now in the presence of a star of the movie “Space Jam.” Even though anybody who actually remembers the film knows that Bugs Bunny was the real star of that partially-animated flick.

Or there’s another posthumous recipient whom Trump will honor – former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, whose long-time stint on the high court may be worthy of historic recognition.

Although I’m sure that Trump thinks Scalia’s significance is that his death, along with the partisan political battle that ensued, enabled Trump to have a Supreme Court vacancy to fill on Day One of his presidency!

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No more rock ‘n’ roll McDonalds? I think Chicago will overcome the loss

Chicago is going to lose something come year’s end that some people seem to regard as a semi-serious tourist attraction. Yet I can’t help but regard the news with nothing more than a yawn.

Soon to be history. But is it really a loss?

I’m referring to the rock ‘n’ roll McDonalds. As in the McDonalds franchise at Clark and Ontario Streets in the River North section of Chicago just north of the Chicago River.

I’M TALKING ABOUT a McDonalds that serves Big Macs and the rest of the junk food menu that one can find at any other McDonalds across the country, or in many parts of the world.

But what made this one different, and is the reason there are people who thought it important to stop off at the place while visiting Chicago, is the wide assortment of rock music memorabilia that was on display – along with other elements of our pop culture such as “pet rocks” (remember that fad), early cellular telephones the size of a brick and 8-track tape players.

Which I’m sure kids who think the world’s content is meant to be downloaded look upon as an aberration, and evidence that their grandparents consumed some seriously-strong illicit substances when they were young.

That particular McDonalds is going to be closed to the public as of Dec. 30 to undergo a significant remodeling as McDonalds turns the place into what they see as their restaurant of the future.

No more Beatles figures under glass

MORE LUXURIOUS SEATING. Kiosks that will allow people to place their own orders rather than talk to some senior citizen who’s supplementing their retirement income with the kind of job they thought they had left behind some five decades ago in life.

But no more of the rock ‘n’ roll décor. For now, the owner of the items plans to put the whole collection in storage. Which I suppose is a step up from the notion that it all belongs in a garbage dumpster somewhere.

In short, this McDonalds will become just a McDonalds – a place to stop off for a fast-food burger or McNuggets (or one of their salads, if you want to fool yourself into thinking fast food can be a nutritious meal). Nothing more to make it an “experience” more thrilling than any that Jimi Hendrix and his band ever gave to their fans.

More pseudo-nostalgia from Chicago's past

Yes, I realize some people who visited Chicago felt compelled to stop there. Perhaps they think there was something about a Quarter Pounder eaten there (other than the higher-than-typical prices charged there, which McDonalds justified on the grounds that it was expensive to maintain such a décor.

BUT I’LL BE honest. I never got the concept.

The rock ‘n’ roll McDonalds was remodeled in 2005, and I honestly have to admit I have yet to see it. I’ve never been there. Since I don’t anticipate the need to go to that particular McDonalds site before the end of December, it appears I’ll never see it.

There has been a rock ‘n’ roll McDonalds since 1983 (the year I graduated high school and was likely foolish enough to think something like this could be "cool"), and I think I once went to it. Seriously, all the displays just struck me as being tacky, and the Quarter Pounder I likely had there wasn’t any different from a McDonalds burger I’ve ever had anywhere.

Was city's namesake band Chicago's best, ...

For those individuals who think they saw something unique, I’d wonder if they also felt compelled to visit the Hard Rock café that used to be a few blocks away. Or the Ed Debevic’s restaurant that gave us a pseudo-50’s era diner experience.

ALMOST AS THOUGH actor Henry Winkler’s “Fonzie” character would come riding up on his motorcycle and tell you to “Sit on it” if you happened to annoy him that day.

Perhaps I’m overly cynical. I ultimately don’t think a McDonalds experience is unique. It’s the ultimate generic experience of Planet Earth. I’m not convinced the new futuristic McDonalds is going to be much better than the experience I’d get if I went to the McDonalds located about a mile from my current humble abode.

... or were Buckinghams better?

Now if you really wanted a dining experience that also fed off pop music, you should have went to the one-time Demon Dogs stand located by the DePaul University campus underneath the Fullerton Avenue “el” train platform. It was run by the one-time managers of the old rock band Chicago, and I always thought the location was appropo considering the band that gave us "25, or 6 to 4" was originally named for the Chicago Transit Authority..

Album covers, music awards and other memorabilia used to adorn the walls and could be enjoyed while munching on a ketchup-less hot dog. It’s certainly more intriguing than all the Elvis stuff that a true fan would rather travel to Graceland to see.

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