President Donald Trump on Sunday announced that his proposed Triumphal Arch would double as a military complex — and critics say he made the change to avoid going to court over another Washington, D.C., “beautification” project.
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Trump, in a Truth Social post, wrote that he agreed to “convert” the “magnificent” 250-foot structure into a “top grade” military facility for national security purposes after what he said was a “strong request” from the U.S. military.
He added that the arch would “house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones.” Snipers, he continued, would be both on the roof and in the plaza, and “large quantities of sniper ammunition” would also be stored there.
The proposed arch — planned for a traffic circle by Arlington National Cemetery — has been met with pushback in the nation’s capital, including from a group of Vietnam War veterans who sued to block it in February.
Veterans have noted that tourists in the planned arch’s observation deck would look west out to private funerals and soldiers’ grieving families, and if it instead faced east, they’d have their backs turned to the cemetery, per The New York Times.
The National Park Service, in its assessment of the plan, pointed to views at dozens of D.C. historic sites that’d be “adversely affected” by the arch.
Earlier this month, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced excavation work would begin at the site in the coming weeks and seemingly spoiled Trump’s announcement, calling it the “Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck” in a post to X.
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Critics on X swiftly bashed Trump’s announcement, including journalist Aaron Rupar who called it “beyond parody”, and Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch Network, who likened the arch’s newly-announced purpose to that of Trump planning a military complex for his White House ballroom project.
“Just like with the ballroom, another scam by Trump to turn this into a ‘military complex’ to prevent the courts from intervening by using ‘national security’ as his excuse for vanity projects,” he wrote.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the D.C.-based American Immigration Council, broke down “how stupid” Trump’s idea is for non-D.C. residents.
“The arch is planned for a traffic circle within spitting distance of the PENTAGON,” he wrote alongside a screenshot of a map.
“The idea of storing ammunition and drones there, and not the PENTAGON, which is a three minute drive away, is beyond dumb.”
Reichlin-Melnick, when asked why the military would store ammo in an office building, turned his attention to nearby Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, a military base adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery.
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