Federal officials are taking significant steps to start construction of President Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal arch. They hope to complete it by 2028.
According to the Washington Post, the president claims that the 250-foot arch will celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.
But one foot for each year is tall compared with most Washington monuments. The White House stands only about 70 feet tall. The Lincoln Memorial is 99 feet, and the Jefferson Memorial is 129 feet. Martin Luther King Jr. gets a piddling 30 feet. Trump’s arch would tower over them all.
The Capitol dome and the Washington Monument would still be taller than the arch. Ironically, so is the Old Post Office, now the Trump International Hotel. The founders of our constitutional republic viewed their own authority while in office and leadership as both temporary and limited. Most founders rejected the pomp and circumstance of European monarchies. When Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, John Adams, and George Washington looked at European History, they saw monarchies bankrolled by aristocrats and wars fought to protect the powerful. They wanted the new nation conceived in liberty to go in a different direction. Too many modern political leaders have disregarded those lessons of those who fought for our independence from England.
The incumbent in the White House is less interested in celebrating America than in remaking the nation’s capital as a tribute to his legacy, funded by taxpayers.
The administration recently released the National Endowment for the Humanities’ spending plan for the arch. It calls for $2 million in special initiative funds and $13 million in matching funds for the arch. The National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency, typically funds projects through a combination of federal taxpayer dollars and matching private contributions. According to estimates, the total cost of building the arch could reach $100 million.
Meanwhile, the issues facing the public are lost, ignored, and disrespected in the service of Trump’s vanity projects. We can afford an arch in tribute to Trump, but we cannot extend the Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies, which expired last year. We can spend $400 million on a White House ballroom but cannot provide housing for homeless citizens.
While Trump muses on the arch and ballroom, consumers are struggling to pay for gas and groceries. During the last presidential election, Trump campaigned heavily on food prices, promising that if elected, he would lower costs. Since his election, average orange juice prices have risen 23%, and ground beef prices are up 21% since January 2025. When asked about the rising cost of living, Trump dismissed the concept of an “affordability” crisis as a “hoax” pushed by the Democrats.
The efforts to build this arch are consistent with the president’s authoritarian impulses. When asked by a CBS reporter about what the new monument would honor, Trump replied, “Me.” Trump stated that his authority and power are constrained only by his own morality.
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Congress should act to limit or check Trump’s impulses. Despite the president’s behavior, Capitol Hill has not exercised its constitutional responsibility. Instead, Congress sits on the sidelines, providing support rather than oversight. Congressional Republicans have exhibited remarkable loyalty to Trump, even at the expense of their own power.
The people are slowly becoming pawns in this political power grab. Trump snatches power, and Republicans do not push back. Meanwhile, Trump will continue to develop his vanity projects to solidify his legacy. We need leadership that will serve Americans, not scheme to accumulate power. Divided government, in the form of electing Democrats to control Congress in November, may be the only short-term solution to slow Trump’s imperial impulses.
Donavan Wilson is a writer based in Washington. You can follow him on X.