While The Nation is At vWar Trump Looks After 250ft Arch For 250th Anniversary in Washington, HeHides How Much$

The president has proposed the arch, which would rise on a Washington roundabout across from the Lincoln Memorial, as a way to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.

 

A rendering of an arch with the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in the background.

A rendering released by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts of plans for a 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington.Credit...U.S. Commission of Fine Arts

 

By Luke Broadwater

 New York Times

The Trump administration on Friday released its latest plan for a 250-foot triumphal arch that would stand off one end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge by the Potomac River, the president’s latest step to leave his permanent mark on Washington.

The drawings were submitted to the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal design panel that President Trump has stacked with allies. It will consider the project’s design at its meeting next week.

The president has proposed the arch, which would rise on a Washington roundabout near the border with Virginia, across the river from the Lincoln Memorial, as a way to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary and cement his legacy as president.

The renderings show the arch bearing two eagles and a golden, winged angel on top, somewhat resembling the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The words “One Nation Under God” appear above the arch on one side, and “Liberty and Justice for All” on the other, the only text visible in the design. The drawings of the arch were credited to Harrison Design, an architecture firm with an office in Washington. 

Mr. Trump displayed models of the proposed arch at a White House fund-raising dinner in October for another of his projects to reshape Washington’s map, the planned $400 million White House ballroom. The president said the angel on top of the models was Lady Liberty.

“Small, medium and large — whichever one, they look good,” Mr. Trump said at the dinner, holding out the models. “I happen to think the larger one looks, by far, the best.”

Mr. Trump has taken a number of actions to remake Washington in his image and remodel the White House, including covering the Oval Office in gold and paving the grass of the Rose Garden. The president is also planning a National Garden of American Heroes with 250 statues.

But the most dramatic step was his sudden demolition last fall of the White House’s East Wing to make way for his planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The unveiling of the arch design on Friday came as Democrats rebuked the president over the acceptance of foreign donations for the ballroom. A federal judge has ordered that project halted unless approved by Congress, and the Trump administration has appealed the ruling.

A group of Vietnam War veterans has sued to stop the arch’s construction as well, citing congressional authority and arguing the arch would obstruct the view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.