Former President Donald Trump is embarking on an ambitious project to transform Washington, D.C., reflecting his personal vision of America. Critics contend that many of Trump’s values, if ever progressive or modern, are out of touch with today’s progressive beliefs. These aspirations value faith in expertise, effective governance, the respect of work, city life, and modern innovation.
In his latest endeavor, Trump has submitted plans to the National Capital Planning Commission for a new ballroom, following concerns about the professional standing of the initial architect. The commission is chaired by Will Scharf, a former Trump lawyer. This new ballroom is just one piece of a larger effort to transform the District of Columbia. It reflects Trump’s very personal aesthetic and ideological preferences.
Trump’s vision appears rooted in nostalgia for an idealized classical era while projecting a future where he is immortalized through grand monuments. Signature initiatives include proposals to retroactively whiten the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Even more exciting, they’re planning to build their own version of the Arc de Triomphe at the Arlington Memorial Bridge traffic circle (aka military roundabout). This new monument is intended to be bigger than the Lincoln Monument, announcing to the world Trump’s desire to leave his own monumental legacy.
The last president’s unilateral approach was rightly condemned. Observers note that Trump’s plans denigrate both historical significance and future potential by prioritizing self-aggrandizement through cheesy monuments rather than preserving or honoring America’s collective heritage. His administration had moved earlier on proposing the transfer of 443 properties – cut down to 320 – a plan that was in the end abandoned after widespread bad press.
Trump’s creation of the new ballroom would deeply worry preservationists. They fear for the future of heritage art, and specifically the New Deal murals in the Social Security Administration main building. In discussing his projects, Trump has blamed his predecessor for the current state of affairs concerning the ballroom, which he aims to “fix,” alongside other notable sites like the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Read more about how critics have highlighted Trump’s interference with advisory bodies charged with controlling design and aesthetics in public spaces. So far in his administration, he has chosen to fire six out of seven members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. This recent switch was an obvious attempt to move from merit-based considerations to arbitrary preference.
Ada Louise Huxtable, an influential architecture critic, once remarked on the importance of quality design in public structures: “a handsome, functional structure that adds quality design and genuine 20th-century style to a city badly in need of both.” She further stated that society has “spent too many decades mistaking the superficial forms for the essential spirit and forfeiting the Capital’s greatness.”
Trump’s aesthetic dreams would be nothing short of “mingy” and self-centered. These traits are indicative of characteristics seen in fascist regimes that glorified monumentalism over modernism. This retroactive approach does beg the question of what these transformations mean for Washington D.C.’s cultural fabric.