On April 10, the Trump team submitted a design proposal to the Federal Council of Fine Arts — in the heart of Washington, according to the Daily Beast, a 250-foot“Freestanding arch” will be built between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
The gilded, winged angels and White Eagles look like renderings of the Arc de Triomphe in front of a Las Vegas casino or a warm-up for a 21st-century emperor building his own mausoleum.
It is 150 feet taller than the Lincoln Memorial, far taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and euphemistically called“A tribute to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the nation”.
Can you believe it? I don’t.
What’s more, the poll shows only 21 percent support it, with more than half shouting“Call it quits.”.
The architectural community called it a breach of the visual order, conservation groups said it was a desecration of cultural heritage, and veterans sued directly because the arch would block views of Arlington National Cemetery.
What do you call it when you build an arch to block the view of the martyred officers and men?
“Build it for me, it’ll be beautiful,” Trump said
This is not a national memorial, this is to put gold on my own face, while sticking an imperial coordinate in the heart of democracy.
The real estate business brain circuit, how long on the National Memorial?
If you think about it, what is trump best at in his life? Not Governing, building. … Trump Tower, Trump Hotel, Trump golf course…
His logic has always been: landmarks, brands, leverage. This“Real estate three-pronged attack” is now hitting the axis of Washington’s memorial.
Landmark monopoly: when Trump Tower was built, it had to rely on height, gold-plated to create visual hegemony.
Now? A 250-foot arch wedged between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. You’re not here to honor the country. You’re here to get c.
Brand output: he said, “Built for me”, and he said when selling real estate, “Exclusive custom” what is the difference?
It’s about packaging your reputation as a national symbol so that everyone who walks by looks up-no, up to him.
Leverage: trying to embezzle $2 million set aside by the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as White House project funds. To put it bluntly, you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, using public money as your own personal ATM.
In the past, when Presidents left office to build libraries, they at least kept the boundaries of“Personal Remembrance.”. This one, on the other hand, dared to break ground on a national shrine while in office. The logic of power is simple: the state is me, and I am the state.
What’s more, he had allies at the Federal Board of Fine Arts long ago, and the approval process was non-existent.
“Deliberation” is a formality. You’re telling me the procedure? I’ll tell you about connections.
In the Holy Land of democracy, you build an altar to the emperor?
Washington’s memorial axis was supposed to be an elaborate“Grammar of democratic space.”. From the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, every place says: this is the country of the people, by the people, for the people.
But with Trump’s arch, the grammar is all over the place.
Its location was too sensitive-it was stuck on a traffic circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. On one side are the heroes of freedom, on the other the spiritual totems of democracy.
At 250 feet, Arlington National Cemetery’s view of the Lincoln Memorial will be blocked. Think About It: When you go to the cemetery to remember the victims, you can see the Lincoln Memorial, which is the spiritual connection between sacrifice and redemption.
Now, the first thing you see is the gilded archway, which is engraved with Trump.
A democratic space? No, a cult of personality.
What, ironically, is the Arc de Triomphe? It is the product of the first Roman and Napoleonic empires, symbolizing conquest and hegemony.
You’re using this imperial architecture to commemorate the anti-monarchical, anti-imperialist declaration of Independence? This is like using the emperor’s Robes to celebrate the birthday of the republic, either stupid, or deliberately disgusting people.
Trump replaced“Get rid of the monarch” with“Build a new monarch” and“For the people” with“For me”. In the heart of democracy, an imperial altar has been carved out.
Some joked: why not put up another statue of Trump in front of the White House, change his suit every day and put on a light show? Laugh all you want, but when you think about it, it’s pretty scary.
No mandate, no money, no support, you build a lonely?
Building an arch might seem simple, but it would take three legal trips around Washington. But the trump team wants to“Skip the process” and play the illegal operation to the fullest.
Site violations: the land is under strict federal protection, without congressional authorization, and is not even eligible for ground-breaking.
There are at least 24 steps in the process, and Congressional approval alone takes a year to begin.
But Trump hasn’t even formally submitted his proposal to Congress yet, daring to shout, “We’ll start work in two months.”. As of April, the site wasn’t even a brick? Unless he’s magic.
Money in doubt: officials say“Private donations” one minute, and then reveal the misappropriation of public funds the next.
The $2m National Endowment for the humanities and the $13m matching grant are all taxpayer money.
What’s the difference between using public money to build a private memorial and using it for private purposes? The architectural historian can’t stand it. He calls it a“Vanity project.”.
Absence of public opinion: the memorial project was supposed to be a national effort, but Trump didn’t even ask for public opinion.
More than half the public opposed it, professional groups boycotted it, and veterans took legal action. How can such an arch without authorization, funding or public opinion be called a“National Memorial Project”?
To put it bluntly, this is a farce of power in the guise of a gift. Why do you ask? On the basis of“I am so capricious”.
What do you think?
First, the logic of power completely crushes the public logic.
Trump put the real estate“Landmark, brand, leverage” three axes, forcefully set into the field of national memorial.
He didn’t care about history, he didn’t care about public aesthetics, he didn’t care about the legal process, he only cared about one thing — making his mark on the world.
In his mind, national remembrance was not a collective memory, but a gilded instrument of individual power. Build personal totems with public space, personal brands with taxpayers’ money, and turn the Holy Land of democracy into a showplace of power.
Secondly, the double tearing of historical narrative and spatial order.
From the perspective of history, the core of the declaration of independence is“Anti-monarchy and anti-personality cult”. But what is the Arc de Triomphe? It is an empire, a conquest, an embodiment of the cult of personality.
Trump’s use of imperial architecture to commemorate anti-imperialist history is the equivalent of celebrating the birth of democracy with a statue of a dictator — stupid or bad.
He replaced“The people by the people and for the people” with“The people by the people and for the people.”. From the spatial dimension, the Washington memorial axis is the visual grammar of the Democratic Spirit, and the super-high volume of the arch abruptly breaks the visual balance between the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and the White House.
Even the dignity of the victims of Arlington National Cemetery has been trampled by the arch. Isn’t the image of a fallen soldier with a monument to the former president’s narcissism in front of his grave ridiculous?
Finally, there is the collapse of procedural justice and the early warning of a democratic crisis.
A legal national memorial project must meet four core requirements: legal authorization, financial compliance, public support and due process.
But what about Trump’s arch? All four elements are flawed. There is no congressional authorization, funding is in doubt, public opinion is overwhelmingly against it, and the approval process is out of order.
This lack of process is not an isolated case, but a microcosm of the political crisis in the United States. When those in power are free to trample on the law, ignore the will of the people and put the will of the individual above public rules, the foundations of democracy are slowly hollowed out.
The unbuilt arch is more like a shining mirror of the contradictions in American politics: the rampant cult of personality, the failure of procedural justice, and the privatization of public space.
Trump’s 250-foot Arc de Triomphe was never a“250th anniversary tribute” but a calculated show of power.
In the name of“Memorial”, it practices personality worship; in the guise of“Dedication”, it tramples on law and public opinion; in the packaging of“National Landmarks”, it pours individual altars in the Holy Land of democracy.
When those in power indulge in“Self-glorification” and ignore the public interest and democratic rules, no matter how sacred the spiritual axis is, it will be reduced to a show of personal vanity.
The Future of America should not be a Trumpian triumphal arch.
The most meaningful tribute to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic is to preserve the bottom line of democracy, return public space to its public nature, and return historical commemorations to collective memory.
Homepage image from the Internet