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Bill Kristol: We Should Be Appalled Trump Is Trying to Impose the Anti-American Arch Upon Us

Brett T.
Brett T.  |  9:00 PM on September 10, 2026

TDS-afflicted organizations have been filing lawsuits to halt the construction of the new White House ballroom, as well as to prevent the construction of the Triumphal Arch in Washington, D.C. We could take it or leave it, but if it were built, Democrats would no doubt be insisting that the next Democratic president take a wrecking ball to it. Some argue that the arch will obscure the view of Arlington Cemetery, while, as we recently reported, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts agreed that "aesthetic injury" to the senses was enough to give legal standing to opponents of these projects.

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Bill Kristol penned a piece in The Bulwark opposing the construction of our "Orange Napoleon's" big arch.

Kristol writes:

So here in Washington, D.C., we honor George Washington, not Napoleon. Washington was elected president of the new republic, governed constitutionally, and turned over the reins of government after two terms. Napoleon seized power, governed dictatorially, and kept power until he led his nation to bloody defeat in wars he launched.

We used to be proud that Washington was the father of our country. We used to be proud of American exceptionalism.

No more. Trump has Napoleon envy. Indeed, the Trump administration’s Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck would be 250 feet tall, 54 percent taller than Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe. We’ll have, as Burgum boasted, “the most spectacular and beautiful arch of them all!”

By the way, you might ask, what’s up with the “Military Observation Deck?” There aren’t any military activities around Memorial Bridge to observe. But the “Military Observation Deck” is there, I suppose, so that tourists can munch on their snacks and feel good about our Triumphal Greatness as they look down on Arlington cemetery. Or maybe it’s to paint the arch in a thin coating of National Security, for the benefit of the courts, so that they’re more inclined to let the administration do whatever it wants.

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The same people who want America to emulate the far more progressive Europe (socialized medicine, etc.) are complaining that America should distinguish itself from more than 70 cities around the world by not having an arch. "We don’t do Great Triumphal Arches," argues Kristol. But we do have a giant phallus to celebrate our first president.

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We don't do arches.

Democrats all think a Democrat is going to win the presidency in 2028 and undo everything Trump touched in Washington, D.C. They're going to knock down the ballroom and rebuild the East Wing, undo all of the renovations to the Kennedy Center, and put all of the graffiti back on the monuments.

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