URGENT SCRIPT: Stop Trump’s Arch de Ego! National Park Services Comment Period Closes Jun 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM Mountain Time.
Tell the National Park Service what you really think about Trumps stupid ginormous ego arch. I got the deets and script to make this easy for you. Let’s go!!!
Hi!
Thanks to all y’all for making me aware of this. I was on a mini-vacation and missed this great opportunity to shut down another thoughtless Trump idea.
Trump is trying to remake Washington, D.C. in his own tacky, gold-plated strongman image with images of himself on our national buildings while destroying our history, reverence, and traffic.
He wants a 250-foot “Triumphal Arch” at busy AF Memorial Circle, right by Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington Memorial Bridge, National airport, and the Lincoln Memorial.
This is not harmless birthday decoration for America’s 250th.
It is another Trump vanity project: huge, permanent, expensive-looking, security-screened, and dropped into one of the most sacred landscapes in the country.
And yes — the public deserves to know who benefits.
💸Who gets the contracts?
💸Who gets the construction money?
💸Who gets the security money?
💸Who gets the café/gift shop/vendor revenue?
💸Who gets to turn public memory into private opportunity?
The National Park Service’s (NPS) own review* says the arch would harm historic properties, alter important viewsheds, disrupt traffic, and damage the designed landscape around Memorial Circle, Arlington Memorial Bridge, Arlington National Cemetery, Lady Bird Johnson Park, and the National Mall.
Public comments close June 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM Mountain Time.
Go here: parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=136973
Or email: ncr_planning@nps.gov
Suggested public copy/ paste comment:
I oppose the proposed 250-foot Triumphal Arch at Memorial Circle in Washington, DC.
This project is not a tribute to American independence. It is a massive, unnecessary vanity monument that would damage one of the most solemn and historically significant landscapes in the United States.
NPS’s own documents say the project would cause adverse effects to historic properties, viewsheds, circulation patterns, and designed landscape relationships connected to Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington Memorial Bridge, Memorial Avenue, Lady Bird Johnson Park, Arlington House, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, and the Washington Monument grounds.
That should be enough to stop it.
The transportation impacts are just as alarming. NPS describes two to three years of construction, work up to 20 hours per day, lane reductions, turn restrictions, detours, closure of the south side of Memorial Circle for much of construction, and 80–100 truck loads per day. This is already one of the most important choke points between Arlington, the Pentagon, Reagan National Airport, Arlington Memorial Bridge, I-395/Route 27, Route 50, and Washington, D.C.
Building a 250-foot monument in the middle of that road network is not planning. It is civic malpractice.
The project also includes airport-style security screening, timed entry, elevators, exhibit space, possible café/gift shop space, cameras, bollards, and major new infrastructure. That is not a simple commemorative arch. It is a giant federal building dressed up as a monument.
NPS also acknowledges that the area may contain buried archeological resources and that additional investigation may be needed. No project of this scale should move forward while basic questions about archeology, traffic, cost, maintenance, contractors, and long-term public impact remain unresolved.
Washington, D.C. does not belong to one president’s personal architectural fantasy. Memorial Circle does not need a 250-foot ego arch, a traffic nightmare, a gift shop, and years of construction disruption.
Public land is not a vanity project. Public memory is not a branding opportunity.
I urge NPS to reject the proposed Triumphal Arch.
*Summary of NPS’s effects of the Arch and building of it from various assessment documents.
Harms historic properties — NPS says the project would cause adverse direct and/or indirect effects to major historic landscapes and monuments.
Damages the Memorial Avenue Corridor — alters views, circulation, design continuity, and the ceremonial axis between Arlington Cemetery, Memorial Bridge, and the Lincoln Memorial.
Alters Arlington Memorial Bridge — changes its historic setting, views, and symbolic North/South connection between Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House.
Disrupts Lady Bird Johnson Park — obstructs views and may affect contributing vegetation through construction staging.
Impacts Arlington National Cemetery — partially obstructs or alters important views from Arlington House, Kennedy Gravesite, Memorial Amphitheater, Memorial Bridge, and Memorial Drive.
Affects Arlington House — changes its character-defining views toward Washington, D.C., the Potomac, Lincoln Memorial, and Memorial Bridge.
Hurts the Lincoln Memorial landscape — alters the reciprocal views between Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House, which NPS identifies as historically important.
Changes the National Mall viewshed — introduces a huge dissimilar structure into views across the Potomac and the monumental core.
Affects Washington Monument views — views from the top of the monument and views toward the monument would be altered or obstructed.
Creates years of construction disruption — NPS estimates a 2–3 year build, with work up to 20 hours a day, year-round.
Creates major traffic problems — lane reductions, turn restrictions, detours, and closure of the south side of Memorial Circle for much of construction.
Adds heavy truck traffic — 1,400 truckloads of soil removed, 400 truckloads of fill imported, and 80–100 truck loads per day.
Risks buried archeology — NPS says the site has moderate to high archeological sensitivity and may need more subsurface investigation.
Adds security-state infrastructure — magnetometers, x-ray equipment, explosive trace detection, cameras, access control, bollards, and timed entry.
Creates new stormwater burden — about 62,875 square feet of new impervious surface.
Potential Impact
It’s as if he hates us and is making a mess of everything sacred in DC. 😡
love & light, sunny🤗💛✨✌️