President Trump declared Sunday that his planned 250-foot Triumphal Arch will double as a "top grade Military Complex" housing drones, snipers, and ammunition stores — an executive end-run around the lawsuit-and-delay crowd that has blocked construction of a monument first proposed after the Civil War.
The stakes are straightforward: either Washington finally gets the landmark every other major world capital already enjoys, or a Soros-backed lawsuit and a federal review commission keep the dirt unturned for another 125 years.
"At the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes, I have agreed to convert the magnificent Triumphal Arch, planned since the Civil War Era many years ago, at the Receptive Circle adjoining the Arlington Memorial Bridge, into a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage," Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump did not specify which military officials made the request, and the Pentagon did not respond to press inquiries, according to POLITICO. But the national security framing is the same playbook the administration used to push its White House ballroom past legal challenges — calling it an "integrated military complex" whose delay would undermine security. The Supreme Court let that project proceed last month.
The arch, situated between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, would commemorate the nation's 250th birthday — each foot representing one year since the Declaration of Independence. It would surpass Paris's Arc de Triomphe by nearly 90 feet.
The opposition is a familiar coalition. Public Citizen, the left-wing group partly funded by billionaire George Soros, filed suit in February. Plaintiffs include three Vietnam War veterans and architectural historian Calder Loth, who argue the project lacks congressional approval and would block the sightline between Arlington and the Lincoln Memorial — a view they say symbolizes post-Civil War unity.
The National Park Service warned in June of "adverse effects to historic properties" and called for additional planning, according to The Guardian. Democratic lawmakers have raised airspace concerns given the arch's proximity to Reagan National Airport. But the FAA determined Friday the structure poses no hazard to flights, the New York Post reported.
Then there is the National Capital Planning Commission, the federal panel that must give final approval. Trump has stacked it with his own people: Mark Paoletta, OMB general counsel and acting CFPB director, now chairs the commission after Trump's staff secretary William Scharf moved to White House counsel. Yet the project is not even on the NCPC's Oct. 1 agenda.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced Sept. 3 that excavation would begin within two weeks. Ground has not yet broken.
The Guardian framed the project as a "thinly veiled effort to promote his own legacy" and lumped it with the Kennedy Center renovation and reflecting pool refurbishment. International Business Times noted the military rationale "may have motivated" Trump to justify a structure facing legal headwinds. The Daily Caller, alone among the outlets, identified Public Citizen's Soros funding.
Follow the money: every month of delay costs nothing to the lawsuit industry and preserves the status quo for a permanent Washington class that talks about unity but can't build a monument to it. Trump's move puts the question to the bureaucrats — are you for building something in America, or not?
