NPR84%
Critics say adding Trump's arch to D.C. would take something away: the view 34%
By Rachel Treisman0%
6/4/2026, 8:41:53 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 31 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Framing Effect, and Optimism Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 19.3% saturation with 275 hits. Analysis detected 2,602 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,427 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 42% and a BS Rank of 34% (14,084 of 21,173 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 66.50% of the article peer group.
A century ago, as lawmakers and architects mulled where to put a new memorial to the late President Abraham Lincoln, one location stood apart: the western edge of the National Mall, on what was then the marshy mudflats of the Potomac River.
The site stands on the same axis as the U.S.
Capitol and Washington Monument, forming a straight line between the government, the president who founded it and the president credited with saving it.
And it is directly across the river from Virginia's Arlington House, the former home of Confederate Gen.
Robert E.
Lee that sits on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.
None of that is a coincidence.
"It's not just the memorials themselves that have meaning, but the relationship spatially between different memorials carries symbolic meaning," says Neil Flanagan, an architect and public historian in D.C.
"The Potomac River was the border between the North and South, nominally, during the Civil War; It's literally crossing the border and trying to heal those wounds."
Smack-dab in the middle of this stretch, inside a traffic circle on the Virginia side of the bridge, is where President Trump wants to build his triumphal arch.
The proposed structure would be 250 feet tall, more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial.
That's concerning to preservationists and members of the public who have expressed opposition to the project at every turn — in large part because it would obstruct this significant line of sight.
"The connection of the Lincoln Memorial, representing Lincoln himself, to the home of the leader of the Confederate Army, Robert E.
Lee, was designed to help heal the wounds of the war that tore apart the nation … to disrupt this view would disrupt this reconciliation," said architectural historian Alison Hoagland, one of several concerned speakers at the Commission of Fine Arts' May meeting.
The commission, an independent federal agency that advises on plans for monuments, memorials and federal buildings, is packed with Trump appointees.
It speedily granted the design final approval at its last meeting, despite unanswered questions about its sculptural finishes, the administration's dismissal of some of the panel's recommendations, and considerable public pushback.
When asked about the arch obstructing the vista, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told NPR on Wednesday that it will be "one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world."
"It will enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike, serving as a visual reminder of the noble sacrifices borne by so many American heroes throughout our 250 year history so we can enjoy our freedoms today," Ingle wrote over email.
But the project still has more legal and procedural hurdles to clear — including a lawsuit by Vietnam War veterans who say it disrespects those buried at the cemetery and requires congressional authorization.
Democrats agree, though Trump has said, "We don't need anything from Congress."
The arch took another small step forward on Thursday, when the National Capital Planning Commission voted 9-1 to advance the proposal to the next stage of consideration.
The federal urban planning agency's three Trump-appointed members include Chair Will Scharf, who also serves as the president's staff secretary.
Thursday's meeting featured more than two hours of impassioned public comments from preservationists, veterans, architects and residents opposed to the arch.
They, like many of the nearly 1,700 who submitted written comments ahead of the meeting, cited a range of concerns, including public safety (for cars, pedestrians and incoming flights at Reagan Washington National Airport, just 3,000 feet away), the structure's scale, tone and proximity to the cemetery and the loss of the historic viewline.
"The National Mall, George Washington Memorial Parkway, and Arlington National Cemetery are among the most visited and most revered public landscapes in the United States," said Edward Stierli with the National Parks Conservation Association.
"They are the products of generations of deliberate planning, legal process, and public stewardship.
They deserve protection, not transformation."
Commission members made clear that they were voting in favor of starting a conversation, though several were openly skeptical.
All three trump appointees embraced the concept, while several other commission members seemed more skeptical.
Trump has framed the arch as a celebration of the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary, though he said in October that it was intended to honor "Me."
It's one of a number of physical changes he wants to make to D.C., alongside a new White House ballroom, a resurfaced reflecting pool and a renovated Kennedy Center.
On Thursday afternoon, while the commission was hearing about the arch, Trump announced a new project in the same area: a pedestrian bridge that would connect the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River.
"We're going to call the promenade — they want to call it the Trump Promenade, but I don't know if I want to do that.
It's going to be beautiful.
It's a beautiful project," he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office.
Thursday's meeting raised even more questions about the arch
On Thursday, commissioners thanked the public for their comments and seemed to share many of their questions about details large and small, from how the arch would be lit to whether it would interfere with the average 30 funeral processions the cemetery holds each day.
"I'm really struck by the width and depth of the comments that we heard, the number of people who are interested in this for all kinds of reasons — not just design, but functionality, appropriateness, all kinds of things," Commissioner Linda Argo said at the end of the discussion period.
One major unanswered question concerns the federal Height of Buildings Act, which generally caps structures at 130 feet on commercial streets.
The commission has historically applied the act to all federal projects, but Scharf opened the meeting by suggesting it might not apply to the arch.
"There's nothing about the presentation today, or the action requested of this commission today, that requires us to fully consider this weighty issue at this time, but I did want to preview that ... so by the time this project comes back to us, for [preliminary] and final approval, that we have more guidance on this issue," he said.
The commission's preliminary approval allows it to request more information — including the status of several historic preservation and environmental reviews that are required by federal law but had not yet been publicly announced.
The team working on the arch said one of those, the Section 106 review required by the National Historic Preservation Act, will begin on Friday.
The commission is asking the project team to come back with more specifics — including about stormwater management, lighting plans, site materials and views from additional vantage points — and data from studies it says it is undertaking with agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation.
The commission's next monthly meeting is scheduled for July 9, before it takes August off.
The vista has a purpose.
Critics say the arch does not
In the early 1900s, a Senate commission set out to improve the design and appearance of Washington, D.C.'s National Mall — which at that point was a patchwork of brick Victorian buildings and scattershot public parks, criss-crossed by train tracks from a nearby train station.
The McMillan Plan of 1902, named after the senator who spearheaded it, laid out a comprehensive vision for the monumental core and park system of the nation's capitol.
It included a return to the grand, tree-lined promenade conceptualized by architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant when he first designed the city's layout in 1791.
And it identified sites for some major additions, including the long-discussed Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Memorial Bridge.
When asked about criticisms of the arch, a spokesperson from the Department of the Interior told NPR that "great nations build beautiful structures and works of art that cultivate national pride and love of country."
Critics argue there are cheaper, better ways to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary than embarking on a structure that could take years to build and would permanently alter the city's landscape.
"You can do things that are people-oriented without building something," Yglesias said, pointing to commemorative coins and July 4th firework displays (Trump is planning both of those things).
"You can celebrate it without turning it into, as if the whole country is a cemetery that has to be littered with physical records of something that ignores all of our problems."
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