Most of the prominent billboards on major highways in the Philadelphia area feature the pitches of various personal injury lawyers. But one recently appeared that illustrates a contrast between the president of the United States and the 18th- and 19th-century German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.
A photo appeared on the R/Philly Subreddit in early March, and writer Mindy Isser posted it to X this week. The billboard, which is on I-95, says it was “paid for by Francis De Miglio.”
The Beethoven side of the billboard refers to “Ode to Joy,” “Brotherhood,” “Democracy,” and “Moonlight Sonata,” contrasted to, on the Trump side, “ICE agents,” “racism,” “fascism,” and “Epstein Files.”
philadelphia is so elite pic.twitter.com/xtG3l0I6bm
— mindy🌷 (@mindyisser) March 19, 2026
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Who’s responsible for the billboard? A York Daily Record story from 2018, during Trump’s first term, seems to have the answer. The column interviews “Frank Dimeglio” — presumably the same “Francis De Miglio” who paid for the billboard, although the spelling is different.
“Dimeglio, who lives in northern York County, is a veteran, having served in the U.S. Navy during Vietnam, enlisting in the service after college. Later, he worked as a fundraiser, mostly for the United Way, and had some other jobs,” the 2018 column, by Mike Argento, says. York County is about a two-hour drive from Philadelphia.
“And he has a lifelong love of Beethoven and his music. He has studied Beethoven’s life and times. He knows Beethoven. He’s listened to Beethoven. And Beethoven is no Donald Trump. (Sorry, had to do it.) He has a Beethoven bumper sticker on his car and a collection of Beethoven T-shirts. Beethoven’s music has soul, he said, as soulful as the compositions of artists such as Ray Charles or Johnny Cash. In short, he said, he ‘really admires’ the composer.”
Trump vs. Beethoven? Take a guess who comes out on top in York County vet’s assessment (column) https://t.co/tv8MLqfMdY
— YDR online (@ydrcom) May 10, 2018
“Like Trump, Beethoven was an iconoclast who railed against the elites and the aristocracy – although, in Trump’s case, there is a fine line between being an iconoclast railing against the status quo and a nihilist,” The York Daily Record story said. “And like Trump, Beethoven was a narcissist, the difference being that Beethoven knew he was great and had the talent to back up his narcissism and that Trump is a malignant narcissist who, Dimeglio said, lacks any discernible skills other than hucksterism.”
Reddit analyzed why this Beethoven writer and Trump hater thought to make that comparison.
“It’s just one guy in York who’s really into Beethovan. Don’t know why he felt the need to externalize it like this, but it’s the highlight of my commute,” one commenter on the Philly Reddit thread said.
“Really? Not even a little inkling of an idea?,” another Redditor replied.
Photo courtesy of a Reddit screenshot.
