Construction on Donald Trump’s proposed Arc de Triomphe-style monument for Washington, D.C., could begin in a matter of months, according to the president, in the latest sign of the Republican leaving his aesthetic mark on the capital.
“It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it,” Trump told POLITICO. “They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch.”
The arch, which Trump first hinted at in October and has since displayed in model-form, would be located on the current site of Memorial Circle, a roundabout near the Arlington National Cemetery and across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial.
The project could cost as much as $100 million, sources told Axios.
“There’s a small arch. A middle arch. A large arch,” a source told the outlet of the plans. “And he likes the large one, of course, as long as it’s big and gold and white.”
The White House has provided few details about how the project will comply with the federal law surrounding the planning of new national monuments.
An early 2026 construction kickoff would put the project in motion at the same time as the president’s long-stated plans to host massive public celebrations for the U.S’s 250th anniversary. On July 4, 2026, the country will commemorate and celebrate the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Trump has paid a huge amount of attention to public monuments and on leaving his aesthetic touch in Washington, regardless of criticism and legal requirements.
He remains locked in a highly politicized battle over the name and future of Washington’s Kennedy Center, which a hand-picked board of Trump allies voted to rename the Trump-Kennedy Center, even though it’s not clear if this is legal.
The move, as well as the board’s earlier decision to name Trump as chair, has prompted a string of artists to cancel engagements at the flagship arts complex and memorial to the late President John F. Kennedy.
In response, the Trump administration has threatened legal action against one artist and accused media outlets, without proof, of encouraging more artists to boycott.
The president is also busy remaking the White House.
He has added heaps of gold trim to major offices and a mocking presidential “Walk of Fame” that trashes his Democratic predecessors. Most notably, he has demolished parts of the building to make way for a $400 million ballroom.
As The Independent has reported, the president’s aesthetic obsession has inspired a crypto entrepreneur to try to pitch the administration on building a giant monument to the mythological figure Prometheus on Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay in honor of American dynamism.
