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Trump’s wild new plan for DC leaves experts furious

President Donald Trump’s various Washington DC renovations have aroused tremendous controversy, from his destruction of the White House’s East Wing and West Wing Colonnade and failed Reflecting Pool renovations. Now a prominent architecture critic is warning that Trump plans on further changes to Washington DC — alterations that, despite being unpopular, will be very hard to reverse.

“The proposed ‘Arc de Trump’ in Washington is less a monument than a gaudy construction the height of a skyscraper — a travesty that, if built, would dramatically change the landscape of the nation’s capital,” reported The New York Times' Paul Goldberger on Sunday. “This is probably why President Trump is so eager to get it made as fast as he can. It would be an unavoidable monument to a presidency and a man whom many Americans would rather not honor so conspicuously, if at all. He understands that once it is there, it will be hard to for anyone to make it go away.”

Goldberger described how Trump’s administration is trying to revise Section 106, a statute which mandates public collaboration over changes in Washington DC's monuments. Instead Trump is trying to revise it through a board he has stacked with his supporters, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

“The Trump administration’s revised version of Section 106 replaces ‘the views of the public are essential to informed Federal decision making’ with a statement that says the government will have ‘exclusive discretion to determine the usefulness of public participation’ — in effect saying that federal agencies can do as they please,” Goldberger wrote.

He added, “The Commission on Fine Arts, the National Park Service and the National Capital Planning Commission received tens of thousands of public comments on the ballroom and the the arch, almost all of which were negative. The commissions approved both projects anyway.”

Proceeding to describe how Trump’s renovations have already done tremendous damage in America’s capitol, he explained that “the proposed arch will destroy the vista connecting Lincoln to the Civil War dead, a space that for more than a hundred years has been kept open as one of the capital’s most subtle acts of monumental beauty. There is also the wreck that has been made of the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial and the bronze statues that have been painted in gold, using funds taken from the National Park Service budget.”

He continued, “And let’s not forget Mr. Trump’s insistence on painting the gray granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building a stark white to have it ‘match’ the White House. The building is arguably the greatest work of architecture of the Second Empire style left in the United States, but when the mansard roofs and columns and terraces are all bright white it will look cheap, and worse, it will be effectively ruined. Granite is not porous, so it does not hold paint. I doubt that you can find a single painted Second Empire building in Paris, and for good reason. Does anyone think the Paris Opera would look better with a coat of white paint?”

Ultimately he concluded, “If the Trump administration succeeds in making its proposed changes to Section 106, it will take a wrecking ball to the historic preservation movement in the United States. And its effects will be felt across the country for generations.”

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Trump’s renovation is his attempts to blame others for their failures. When his Reflecting Pool renovations failed after being assigned to the manager of one of his golf clubs rather than someone with engineering and architectural qualifications, Trump instead tried to blame vandals including Olympian David Hearn. The case against Hearn did not reach the court after prosecutor Jeannine Pirro admitted the evidence proved incompetence rather than sabotage explained those issues.

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Park Service warns Trump vanity arch will 'ruin just about everything near it'

Another of President Donald Trump's vanity construction projects just got hit with a reality check, with the Park Service warning that his massive "triumphal arch" could, per The New Republic, "ruin just about everything near it."

Amid his broader push to remake Washington D.C., in his own image, Trump has been pushing through numerous construction projects in the nation's capital, with one of the more ostentatious among them being a 250-foot arch, a structure heavily inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The structure is slated to go up at Memorial Circle, a traffic circle across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial and situated near Arlington National Cemetery.

Critics have already warned that the massive arch, a great deal larger than most structures in Washington, would disrupt the city's skyline and block certain iconic vistas. Now, his own Parks Service agency has dealt the project a reality check, warning of the disruptions it will cause to the area.

"It would disrupt the symbolic relationship between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, obstruct sightlines from the Kennedy Gravesite and Robert E. Lee’s home, and alter what official documents call 'one of the most magnificent' views in Washington at the National Cathedral four miles away, the Park Service said," the New York Times detailed in a Monday report. "The Park Service is supposed to seek ways to reduce such 'adverse effects' on historic sites under the National Historic Preservation Act. But the arch is expected to move forward with little change given that Mr. Trump has shown no interest in the most obvious remedies — scaling down the project, or building it somewhere else."

In its own report on the Parks Service assessment, The New Republic summed up the warning as saying the arch could "ruin just about everything near it."

Ed Stierli, the vice president for government affairs with the National Parks Conservation Association, spoke to the Times for its report and said that "adverse effects" translates to "you’re building something that will irreversibly harm the experience in these other locations."

In a letter to the Parks Service in June, Roger W. Kirchen, Virginia’s State Historic Preservation Officer, warned that these disruptions were intentional on Trump's part.

“These adverse effects are intentional and inherent in the design of the arch," he wrote. "It is intended to dominate the surrounding landscape."

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Inside the raging legal fight over Trump’s 'triumphal arch'

Back in 1910, Congress passed the Height of Buildings Act — which was signed into law by GOP President William Howard Taft, amended the earlier Height of Buildings Act of 1899, and limited how tall buildings could be in the District of Columbia. Now, in 2026, that law is playing a major role in the legal battle over the 250-foot "triumphal arch" being proposed by President Donald Trump.

According to New York Times reporters Luke Broadwater, Emily Badger and Junho Lee reporters, the National Capital Planning Commission is examining the law's specifics and how they apply to Trump's proposal.

"For decades, the planning commission reviewing construction projects in Washington has stood by the principle that the federal law limiting the height of buildings in the capital applies to federal projects," Broadwater, Badger and Lee report in the Times. "But now that President Trump has proposed building a giant triumphal arch, the commission, which is led by Trump allies, is considering a different, more lenient view. On Thursday, (July 9), the National Capital Planning Commission will consider a new interpretation of the 1910 Height of Buildings Act: that it was never meant to apply to federal projects, and certainly not to Mr. Trump's 250-foot arch."

The reporters add, "The act 'does not reference federal buildings,' the Interior Department wrote in a memo submitted to the panel, arguing that 'Congress did not intend' for the law to be interpreted the way the commission had read it for nearly 90 years."

If the National Capital Planning Commission does change its interpretation of the Height of Buildings Act, according to the Times journalists, it "would likely prompt a new legal fight."

The arch, if it comes about, would be built near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. And a group of Vietnam veterans is suing to stop the project — which they say would obstruct the views between the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's home.

"Democrats have said that the project violates three federal laws, including the Commemorative Works Act, which governs monuments on federal land in Washington, and a 1912 law that says buildings or structures 'shall not be erected' on federal land in the capital 'without express authority of Congress,'" according to the Times reporters. "But the Height of Buildings Act, which generally does not allow buildings more than 130 feet tall in Washington, has become the latest complication…. There was no locally elected government in Washington when the Height Act was passed in 1910. The city was run by federally appointed commissioners, and by Congress. Washington gained its current measure of local governance only in the 1970s."

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Vietnam vets tear apart Trump in court over 'disrespectful' DC arch

On Thursday, May 21, the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts approved the "triumphal arch" that President Donald Trump is proposing for Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. The arch would appear at one end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge next to Arlington National Cemetery. But a group of Vietnam War veterans, according to CBS News, are voicing their opposition to the project.

Vietnam vets Shaun Byrnes and Jon Gundersen, along with other opponents of the arch, filed a lawsuit in February in the hope of preventing it from being constructed. And they are still expressing the reasons for their opposition.

CBS News reporters Arden Farhi and Jacob Rosen explain, "They argue the project has been rushed and the administration hasn't gotten proper congressional approval. The arch, they say, would disrupt the symbolic connection between the Lincoln Memorial and the Robert E. Lee Memorial — a carefully considered sightline meant to convey unity after the Civil War. According to recent renderings, the arch would be more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial."

Gundersen, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer who is now 81, views the arch as disrespectful to the many veterans buried in Arlington National Cemetery — which was opened in 1864 during the American Civil War.

Gundersen told CBS News, "I think what we're doing is being loyal to the country, and loyalty can be measured in different ways."

The 83-year-old Byrnes, a U.S. Navy veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, told CBS News, "It's more about the duty I feel towards my colleagues and friends who did not come home to stand up against this project, regardless of who's in charge."

Byrnes, a Navy veteran who served two tours in Vietnam, said, "I think it's just disrespectful to those that I served with who didn't come back, and then, of course, to all those who are lying in Arlington National Cemetery."

Farhi and Rosen note that Gundersen and Byrnes "view the arch not as a commemoration of America's 250th birthday, but as a monument to one man: Mr. Trump."

Gundersen told CBS News, "We know how authoritarian dictatorships work. There's no rule of law, there's no consent of the governed, and there's monuments for the leaders there…. Even if you took private donations, is that how we want to build monuments? To the oligarchs who give money for favors? We have fought for our country. We believe in this country, and we're going to continue to the end — and I think we can change things."
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Trump tries to push through his arch with contract paperwork switch: internal emails

In an apparent effort to speed construction of President Donald Trump’s proposed Triumphal Arch, reports the Washington Post, his administration attempted to attach the project to an unrelated contract for engineering services at the White House more than a mile away.

Experts say this action is notable for two reasons besides distance and location. First, because the arch site is on National Park Service land across the Potomac River and is not part of the White House complex. And second, because it would allow the administration to bypass a potentially lengthy public bidding process.

“Park Service acting director Jessica Bowron wrote to White House officials last month asking whether the agency could extend a contract between the White House and engineering firm AECOM Services for an environmental assessment for the proposed 250-foot arch,” reported the Post. “In her email, Bowron acknowledged that the proposed arch isn’t adjacent to the White House like Lafayette Square, another site AECOM has worked on under the same agreement, but she wrote that using the existing contract would allow work to ‘align with the Administration’s timeline.’”

“I realize it's a little further afield than Lafayette Park, but given the engagement on this project from the WH, I thought I’d check,” Bowron wrote in late April. An hour later, the reply came: “Yes of course,” wrote Heather Martin, an official in the Executive Office of the President.

At this point it’s unclear whether this plan was implemented. In any case, according to the latest administration timeline, the site testing was scheduled to begin this week, and heavy machinery arrived on Monday.

While the Department of the Interior denies the report, an administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed that it was likely the agency would use one of the White House’s “existing contracts for the environmental assessment process.”

This is just the latest among the administration’s many efforts to skirt construction norms as it rushed to proceed with Trump’s vanity projects. As the Post notes, “In just over 15 months, the Trump administration has demolished the White House’s East Wing, painted the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool blue, taken over the public golf course at East Potomac Park and begun an overhaul of the Kennedy Center. Every one of the moves has triggered lawsuits alleging the projects are illegal.”

Now yet again, experts are questioning the administration’s move.

According to Stan Soloway, a former Pentagon acquisition official who is board chair at the National Academy of Public Administration, “It’s a real stretch to say that a contract for work on the White House campus, particularly the White House itself, has any relevance at all to an arch a mile away.”

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Trump's 'gaudy' arch approved despite unanimous hate

After months of public debate, a federal commission has approved the designs for President Donald Trump’s enormous triumphal arch to be constructed in Washington, D.C. The commission — selected by the White House — made some suggestions for improving upon the plans, but largely ignored widespread concerns that the structure would disrupt the city’s landscape and obstruct existing landmarks.

“We had just under 1,000 commenters,” admitted Commission Secretary Thomas Luebke. “100 percent of the comments were against the project.”

While Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claimed the arch would “strengthen the city’s symbolic architectural vocabulary,” opponents argue that that its 250-foot tall, 165-foot wide design would “be profoundly out of scale with its surroundings” and “appears to disregard established norms that prioritize harmony with existing structures, preservation of sight lines and respect for the symbolic hierarchy of the capitals and landmarks.”

Zachary Burt of the DC Preservation League expressed “serious concerns and strong opposition” to the arch, arguing that its proposed location would threaten the “solemn vista” between the Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery.

Other commenters argued that the arch is "a waste of money and misuse of funds” that will “obstruct historic views and disrupt the landscape,” deeming the design “gaudy” and “oversized.”

For Trump, that’s the point. Modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the president wants it to be the largest triumphal arch in the world.

“This is personal for the president,” said commission Chairman Rodney Mims Cook Jr.

Even one of the commission members selected by Trump, Vice Chair James McCrery, expressed reservations about aspects of the design. In the proposed plans, lion statues sit at the base of the arch, which McCrery argues are “not of this continent.” He also wants architects to "open these arches and air them out" to prevent the obstruction of other monuments, and calls a planned 250-foot underground pathway for visitors to access the arch “unfortunate.”

"Sometimes it's absolutely necessary," McCrery said of the underground passage. "Here, I think it's not absolutely necessary at all."

He also acknowledged concerns about the height, suggesting that a 60-foot statue proposed for the top could be eliminated. But that, he said, could be decided at a later date.

“I think everyone is against architectural excess,” McCrery said. “It will be determined later whether that is an accurate characterization of this design.”

The White House has yet to share a proposed budget for the project. While Trump has claimed donors would pay for the arch, the National Endowment for the Humanities has already set aside $15 million for it, though the actual cost is expected to be significantly higher.

A group of Vietnam War veterans has sued to stop the project, arguing that it blocks the view of Arlington National Cemetery.

“The cemetery is supposed to be doing the speaking,” said retired senior architectural historian for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources Calder Loth, a plaintiff in the suit. “This arch is just a rude interruption. No matter what you may think of it aesthetically, it just is the wrong place for it. It’s too gaudy with too much gold ornament on it, but that’s the style of the current administration.”

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Trump plans to tap $15 million in taxpayer dollars for his arch

President Donald Trump is still pushing to build his own version of France's Arc de Triomphe in Washington D.C., and he may have found some cash to do it.

NOTUS reported on Tuesday that Trump has decided to take $15 million from the National Endowment for the Humanities to use for his own purposes

The president shared his plans with the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday, and among the demands was $2 million for the Trump arch, as well as with $13 million in matching grants. The spending plan is the first time Trump has publicly admitted that taxpayer dollars will fund his pet projects in Washington.

When speaking to donors, Trump claimed that the archway would be "fully funded," implying that there were leftover funds from his personal White House ballroom project that he could use to build the structure, NOTUS previously reported.

"Trump has been fixated on the archway and other construction and remodeling projects since he took office, even as he oversees a war in the Middle East and political headaches ahead of the midterm elections," wrote NOTUS reporter Mark Alfred.

He carried around a printed rendering of the arch during the annual Easter Egg Roll on Monday, the report said. While driving to his golf course in Virginia over the weekend, the report noted that Trump's motorcade slowed as he rounded the area where he hopes the arch can be built.

A group of Vietnam Veterans has already come out against the arch being on the grounds of the cemetery, which is supposed to be a non-partisan place to honor their sacrifices. They announced they were suing the administration in February.

When speaking to Politico about the project last year, Trump said it would be under construction “sometime in the next two months.” It has been four, and nothing has begun.

Thus far, Trump's monuments to himself go beyond the arch. Trump has paved over the West Wing Rose Garden, bulldozed First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's Rose Garden, leveled the East Wing and east colonade of the White House, ripped out the Thomas Jefferson-era Tennessee flagstone in the west colonade and changed the name of the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts to include his name above Kennedy's.

Trump has also uprooted several historic trees, taken over all of the public golf courses in Washington, added golden embellishments all over the White House, renovated the bathroom attached to the Lincoln Bedroom, and is currently plotting to turn the historic Treaty Room into a 12th bedroom for the White House. In celebration of the 250th birthday of America, Trump is putting himself on a three-inch golden coin.

Trump has asked aides to figure out a way to make his birthday a national holiday, put his face on Mount Rushmore and wants a statue of himself in Washington D.C. Those projects have not yet begun.

In renderings of the Trump presidential museum released by son Eric Trump, there is a multi-story golden statue of a flattering version of Trump.

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Here are the signs Trump is preparing to die: psychologist

Over the course of his second term, President Donald Trump has been fixated on his wide-ranging D.C. construction projects, from his much-demanded ballroom to his 250-foot-tall arch to the Reflecting Pool debacle, and more. While he has claimed it is all part of an effort to clean up the nation’s “dirty and disgusting” capital, according to one leading psychologist, Trump’s motivations are more ethereal: the president is attempting to create his own post-death mythology.

This is according to neuroscientist Frank George, who posted a video on Tuesday explaining Trump’s desire to “redesign history.”

“Trump no longer seems content to be remembered as a successful president,” asserts George. “Increasingly, he portrays himself as something much larger: founder, savior, timeless hero, even the embodiment of the nation itself.”

The president frequently takes to social media to post AI-generated images of himself alongside the nation’s founders and symbols, and even of himself as Jesus. According to George, however, “Those AI images aren’t telling this story alone. The physical environment has been telling it for months. The oversized ballroom. The monumental arches. The endless gold. The portraits. The banners hanging from buildings.”

As George explains, “Architecture is a symbolic communication. Throughout history, rulers have understood that buildings tell stories long after speeches are forgotten.” Washington D.C. is full of such buildings and monuments, like the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, both of which were established to help craft the nation’s sense of history and identity — and both of which, argue critics, would be loomed over by Trump’s arch. George argues that Trump’s goal is precisely that: to impose his own “history” and “mythology” on the country.

“This isn’t about construction,” warns George. “They’re attempts to make mythology tangible. Trump doesn’t want to occupy history. Increasingly, he’s redesigning history to occupy him.”

George wasn’t the only one with such thoughts on his mind on Tuesday. Jim Geraghty, senior political correspondent for the highly conservative magazine the National Review, posted a quote from Maggie Haberman, whose recent bestseller Regime Change exposed a slew of embarrassing secrets about Trump and the White House.

"If you looked at, like, a chart of [Trump's] mind share,” said Haberman, “like 70 percent of it would be on his renovations."

“You don’t have to buy Haberman’s figure,” Geraghty responded, “but it’s undeniable that President Trump spends a lot of time thinking and talking about the White House ballroom project, the Reflecting Pool renovation, and his ‘independence arch.’ That possessive word is deliberate; in October, when a reporter asked whom the arch was for, Trump responded, ‘Me.’”

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Trump team now wants three massive arches built across Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump's "triumphal arch" is scheduled to be pitched officially at the Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday, but the project goes beyond that.

Trump's chairman, Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., who has been fighting for an arch for three decades, now wants to ensure three arches are built across Washington, D.C, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

In January 2026, Trump fired all of the members of the Commission and appointed his own loyalists, ensuring that all of his projects would be approved. The commission isn't the only decision-making body when it comes to building things around Washington, however.

The arch that Trump is proposing now is slated to stand between the Memorial Bridge and Arlington National Cemetery. It will not be on the cemetery's property; rather, it will stand in Virginia. Veterans groups are already opposing the arch, saying that it blocks the view of the cemetery.

But this is one of three that Cook has had his eye on crafting for at least 30 years.

“I think the president should do three,” Cook said, speaking to the press in Italy last week. The original architect of Washington, Pierre L'Enfant, wanted an arch in the District.

According to Cook, Trump “wants to complete the L’Enfant plan. No one has.”

The L'Enfant Plan had 15 plazas around the city, and each were to honor a state in the union, the original 13 with the two new, Kentucky and Vermont. Each would have a column or obelisk. Those didn't happen either. While there are squares, none of them honor the states. An old exhibit at the National Building Museum showcased "Unbuilt Washington," highlighting some of L'Enfant's ideas, including a canal along the National Mall and other never-built features.

Cook refused to answer when he was asked if he'd spoken to Trump about having three arches instead of just one.

"The president has publicly echoed Cook’s laments about Washington’s lack of an arch, vowing to build the world’s largest — an ambition that fits within his broader effort to reshape the capital’s civic landscape and align its monuments more closely with his vision of American power, patriotism and legacy," the report said.

The "triumphal Arch" was used by the Romans to commemorate military victory. A kind of self-congratulatory trophy to "winning."

One arch would loom over the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge and the other over the John Philip Sousa Bridge. They would be viewed as drivers who entered Washington from the South.

Axios estimated the cost of Trump's arch at about $100 million last year. The White House said it would be a mix of private and public funds spent. However, Trump's new budget requests $15 billion from Congress to fund the arch, according to a NOTUS report last week.

There were many versions of The L'Enfant Plan, and even more subsequent ideas for Washington in the centuries that followed.

The Facebook page for the National Mall and Memorial Parks said in 2021 that not even the National Mall came to fruition in the L'Enfant Plan until 1852.

Other proposed structures throughout the years included a pair of domed buildings at the base of Capitol Hill. There was also a massive pyramid suggested to honor Abraham Lincoln at one point. Memorial Bridge was once considered a place to honor Ulysses S. Grant with a medieval-style construction featuring massive towers, similar to London Bridge.

From the Memorial Circle, a viewer currently sees a large hill rising above the trees. On it are row upon row of uniform white marble headstones, honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the United States. Those soldiers who died beginning in the American Civil War are still honored there, and any soldier who dies during active duty is guaranteed the option to be buried on the land.

It's the main reason that veterans groups are suing to stop the arch. The sight of Arlington as one crosses the Memorial Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial to the cemetery is significant. Trump's arch would block off that view and be larger than almost all other monuments in the city.

“We want to honor veterans; we’re glad that people are thinking about it, and we looked at the project,” Army veteran Jon Gunderson, said when speaking to MS NOW. “For one thing, it’s three times the size of the Lincoln Memorial. It’s bigger than the Statue of Liberty or the Arc de Triomphe, and it ruins the view. If you’ve ever been to Arlington Cemetery and you’ve seen the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, you see this beautiful sweep. You see the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Capitol, all the iconic parts of America … all of them had been cleared by Congress. And this ‘monument’ – I use that word loosely – would not only block the view, but it’s on a traffic circle, so visitors can’t get there.”

Now Trump's chairman of the board is talking about three of those.

"Among the most basic things is: We didn’t build skyscrapers. We’ve kept a very low-slung skyline. And one of Trump’s changes, which is this giant 250-foot-tall memorial arch, would actually be one of the very tallest buildings in Washington and would fundamentally change that skyline," wrote Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram for Vox in March.

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New administration memo argues Trump can destroy DC skyline if he wants to

Over the course of his second term, President Donald Trump has been focused on his wide-ranging vanity projects above almost anything else. While some of his efforts have encountered obstacles due to building regulations, his administration is now attempting a new argument to skirt one rule in particular, essentially asserting that, as the government, they can build whatever they want — even if it destroys the historic D.C. skyline.

As the Washington Post reports, “The Trump administration is arguing that new federal construction projects — including President Donald Trump’s controversial 250-foot arch — are not subject to a federal law that restricts most construction in Washington to a maximum height of 130 feet. An Interior Department memo posted Thursday offers a new interpretation of the Height of Buildings Act, which was enacted in 1910 to preserve the capital city’s historical views and character. The law has traditionally been applied to federal projects, helping preserve Washington’s distinctive skyline.”

In the memo, however, Interior officials argue that the Height Act should be considered a local zoning law focusing on private property that doesn’t impact federal construction.

“That interpretation would reverse a long-held stance by the National Capital Planning Commission, which is considering whether to approve Trump’s project,” explained the Post. “The administration’s new stance also would allow Trump — who has built skyscrapers across the world — to build any tall federal structure in Washington, too.”

Historians, architects, and Democratic lawmakers disagree.

“Congress, not the Executive, decided in 1910 that Washington would remain a horizontal city, and Congress has preserved that judgment ever since,” congressional Democrats wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Tuesday, warning him against building the arch.

The National Planning Capital Commission, which the Post notes Trump has “packed with allies,” is meeting on July 9th to potentially approve the arch. Career staff on the commission who were not appointed by Trump have argued that the Height Act should apply, reminding in a recent report that “NCPC has always applied the Height of Buildings Act to federal projects.” The president’s commission head appointee, Will Scharf, however, has suggested otherwise, and it was he who requested that the memo be drafted and distributed to the Interior Department.

According to the Post, “Most Americans oppose the planned arch, with 52 percent against it and 21 percent in favor, according to a Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll conducted in April. The project is also facing a lawsuit brought by several military veterans who say the towering structure would alter their visiting experience to nearby Arlington National Cemetery.”

Trump’s vanity projects have encountered a number of problems recently, such as his effort to restore the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Peeling paint and green algae blooms have marred the pool over the course of the project, amid accusations that Trump used no-bid contractors with ties to him politically, including his Mar-a-Lago neighbor.

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Trump promotes his triumphal arch as millions face massive storm

Americans in more than half the country are bracing for “hazardous ice, heavy snow and brutal cold” from a storm that a National Weather Service forecaster has predicted will be “crippling.” A potentially “catastrophic” ice storm is headed for the Southeast, and at least 14 states across the country have already declared a state of emergency.

The “potentially historic, massive winter storm will slam more than half of the United States today, moving east as it brings heavy snow, widespread ice accumulation and dangerous cold,” NBC News reported. “Up to a foot of snow is likely on the northern side of the system from Oklahoma to Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service.”

About 1,300 flights have already been canceled ahead of the storm that is expected to hit 40 states across the nation.

Business Insider reported, “Americans strip store shelves bare as millions brace for a potentially historic storm.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Friday morning took the opportunity to mock what he called “Environmental Insurrectionists,” as he asked, “whatever happened to global warming???”

Hours later, Trump posted to Truth Social artist’s renderings of his Triumphal Arch, which he wants built in Washington, D.C, near the Lincoln Memorial — with a start date of sometime in February. He wants it completed by Independence Day for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.

“It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it,” Trump told Politico in December. “They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch.”

Last month, President Trump revealed what the White House’s top domestic policy goal is. The president shared with attendees at a Sunday holiday party that the “primary thing” for the head of his Domestic Policy Council, Vince Haley, is building Trump’s dream arch in Washington, D.C.

“Vince is unbelievable on policy. And we have a policy thing that’s going to be unbelievable happening,” Trump said of the proposed arch, as The Daily Beast reported.

“It’s something that is so special. Uh, it will be like the one in, in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away. Blows it away in every way,” Trump said. “And Vince came in one day and his eyes were teeming. I mean, he couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. He saw it and he wanted to do that. That’s your primary thing.”

Critics slammed the president for focusing on his arch while ordinary Americans are struggling.

Patriot Takes, a social media account with nearly half a million followers, blasted the president, sarcastically saying he “is laser focused on things that matter to the American people.”

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