“Trump announces planned DC site for sculpture garden / Raises questions on congressional approval needs.” Dan Diamond, Washington Post, 16 May 2026
Garden of Heroes
Donald Trump didn’t so much win the election for President as he did—from his point of view—acquire the United States of America for the Trump Organization.
Trump’s Supreme Court of the United States
He ensured that our laws only to serve his personal agenda by loading the Supreme Court with justices intent on pursuing a reactionary right-wing political agenda. He bullied the Republican party into lickspittle submission. He sees government property in the District of Columbia as his exclusive domain, and the ruin of its historic and symbolic structures as part of his revision of American history.
Trump’s Destruction of Historic Buildings
Trump Development
He is, after all, as he points out, “a developer.” “Developing properties is what I do,” he proclaims, as though developing our nation and its constitution into an instrument for personal aggrandizement and criminal enterprise is somehow fulfillment of his oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States” and “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”\
Trump’s Promises
That is not what he said he’d do as POTUS. He said he would reduce inflation, bring down the price of gasoline, secure our borders against “the worst of the worst,” end current conflicts and keep us out of wars in the future. Having persuaded a majority of voters to elect him—and abetted by the Electoral College—he has increased inflation through tariffs; increased the cost of gasoline by 50% in the last two months; set his Gestapo on decent, hardworking, law-abiding residents of our communities; initiated attacks around the world; and committed our treasure and military blood to Israel’s hostility toward the Iran and the Muslim Middle East.
Trump’s Throne Room
“What Are Those Gold Medallions Trump Keeps Adding to the Oval Office?”
How does he spend his presidential time? He encrusts the Oval Office with gilt in a vulgar effort to out-glitter Versailles. He brands American institutions with his own name. He razed the historic East Wing of the White House to erect his appalling “ballroom” and bunker. He destroyed the Rose Garden to install a dining area for his fast-food extravaganzas. He is converting Olmstead’s exquisite reflecting pool into a resort-style pool. He is breaking ground for a monument to his imperialist ambitions that will block the Voie Sacrée to Arlington National Cemetery.
Trump’s Brand
Trump’s Triumph and America’s Defeat
And now he wants a “sculpture garden” on some of the nation’s most precious ground, for “President Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes.” Trump really likes statues. I’m sure he will make sure that the “heroes” are of his own choosing. It would come as no surprise to me if he were to inaugurate such a collection with his own effigy in gold.
The Old Way of Democracy
I remember the complicated and contentious process of creating the Vietnam Veteran’s War Memorial, which was dedicated in 1982. I remember the arguments over the scale and placement of the World War II memorial opened in 2004. There was even a certain brouhaha over the FDR memorial in 1997. Voices were raised and voices were heard. Not everyone was satisfied with all the results, but congressional oversight and the rule of law prevailed.
This will never be the case in Trump’s MAGAmerica where his word and whim are law, and his taste for the grandiose, gargantuan, and grotesque is insatiable.
The Rose Garden: then and now