President Donald Trump holds a model of an arch monument during a ballroom dinner in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., October 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump has made it clear he is determined to build an arch in tribute to himself in Washington DC, despite widespread opposition from veterans groups, historic conservationists, constitutional scholars and others who worry the structure would disrespect Arlington Cemetery, destroy historic landmarks and overstep the president's legal authority.
Now, an Ivy League expert in city planning is lending credibility to some of those concerns, calling out the hollow pointlessness of Trump's "triumphal" structure.
"One issue with the so-called Arc d’Trump is its proposed location at Memorial Circle, just over the Potomac and on axis with the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. Washington is a city of vistas and sightlines; few are more sacred than this one," wrote Thomas J. Campanella, professor of city planning at Cornell University, for The New York Times. "It was to protect this visual axis that landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke, then-chair of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt not to build the Pentagon at Arlington Farms, where it would have obliterated the backdrop of tiered headstones and Arlington House. The War Department was furious, but had to concede. The Pentagon was built instead well out of the way. But today’s so-called War Department may have revenge of a sort: The Arc d’Trump could be the first in history designed to also serve as a military installation, an aerie for snipers and drones."
Campanella added, "But the real issue is that of purpose. What exactly is Mr. Trump’s behemoth meant to celebrate? Our abnegation as a force for good in the world? Our bitter internal divisions? Will it be another desperate display of might by a state in decline, an India Gate on the Potomac? Will it be mostly made in China? In the end, of course, it will be a taxpayer-funded monument to the vainglory of our outer-borough emperor, Donald Trump. After all, the English word trump — and thus “triumphal” — is derivative of the French word triomphe."
Last week, The Washington Post elaborated on the controversy surrounding the proposed monument.
"The lawsuit is the latest attempt to stop the 250-foot-tall arch, which Trump hopes to build near Arlington National Cemetery and says will commemorate the nation’s 250th birthday," the Post's report detailed. "The administration would like to begin construction as soon as next week. The two jurisdictions are asking a federal judge to halt the plan and argue that they have 'indisputable standing' to bring their lawsuit because the towering arch would have tangible, negative effects on the region — an argument that distinguishes their lawsuit from others that have tried to stop Trump’s construction projects."
The Post has also reported that "over the course of a year, the shadow of the triumphal arch would touch burial sites in Arlington National Cemetery on 284 days. It would briefly cover [John F.] Kennedy’s eternal flame on 18 days, and it would shade the former president’s memorial on 50. It would darken the Military Women’s Memorial on 109 days."
They continued, "The shadow would move across the graves of veterans and their next of kin from the Vietnam War, Korean War, World War II, World War I, Spanish-American War and Civil War, the model shows. It would dim the headstones of formerly enslaved people. In total, The Post found that it would pass over more than 75,000 graves. On most days, by the time the cemetery opens at 8 a.m., the shadow would recede from the grounds. It would linger past that time on 26 days, the model shows."