Trump Corruption Inc., Part 6: Trump’s Megalomania Turns to Remaking the Nation’s Capital for Self-Glorification
See Trump Corruption Inc., Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, and Part 5 here.
There will be no edition of the Note or Report next week due to the July 4 holiday. We will be back on Thursday, July 9.
Donald Trump is playing out his megalomania fantasies by treating the nation’s capital as property he owns and is redesigning.
His vanity projects fit a pattern: Trump is working hard to turn public buildings, public ceremonies, public money, and public memory into acts of self-glorification. The projects, along with his effort to get out of his botched Iran war, appear to be Trump’s presidential priorities.
Authoritarian leaders and dictators have long used monuments, banners, architecture and public spaces to turn the state into a vehicle for self-glorification.
Trump’s narcissistic remake of Washington reportedly is scheduled to cost at least $1.2 billion. Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being used by Trump for his ego-driven vanity projects. Hundreds of millions more dollars are providing donors with the opportunity to buy influence with Trump in return for large contributions to help pay for his projects. And we know that Trump is a transactional kind of guy.
Trump’s vanity projects are a combination of obscene, tacky, tasteless, garish, and incompetent. These are my top six in reverse order.
- Trump’s huge banners picturing him that are plastered on government buildings
Giant banners of Trump’s picture are plastered over government buildings in the manner of dictators like China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Last year, huge banners of Trump were placed on the Agriculture Department building next to a huge banner of Abraham Lincoln and placed on the Labor Department building next to a huge banner of Teddy Roosevelt. This clumsy effort to equate himself with great presidents is ludicrous, especially since Trump is going down as our worst president.
In February 2026, a Trump banner was placed on the front of the Justice Department. This banner can only be seen as an oxymoron. The Justice Department’s mission includes upholding the rule of law. Trump is a convicted felon who also was held liable for sexual abuse, defamation, and business fraud.
- Trump’s effort to “fix” the Reflecting Pool, marked by sheer incompetence, no-bid contracts and cronyism
Trump wanted his own mark on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool by putting in an American flag-blue bottom. No-bid contracts were given totaling $16 million, including one to a Trump crony, who had been criminally convicted twice and was a Trump donor.
This quickly turned into a catastrophe. The pool with the flag-blue bottom turned green as algae took over. Then pieces of the blue polyurethane floor began to detach and float to the surface. The pool became a mess.
In classic Trump style, he charged that the pool had been vandalized and “given a 300-foot-long gash” and that “chemicals have been illegally” put in the water. However, according to ABC News, “The White House has yet to provide evidence that shows the alleged vandalism to the site.” Meanwhile a former three-time Olympic canoeist put his hand in the water to feel a loose piece of the blue flooring and absurdly was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors.
- Trump’s destruction of the East Wing and his attempt to build a huge ballroom
Trump wanted a ballroom, a very big ballroom. He said the ballroom would not interfere with the current White House. Then with little notice, he and his administration destroyed the East Wing of the White House to make room for his ballroom that would dwarf the rest of the building.
Trump initially said the ballroom would cost $200 million and would all be paid for by private contributions. Today, the estimated cost of the ballroom is as much as $600 million with taxpayers paying at least half of the total. The other $300 million is expected to come from big donors, many of whom likely have business before the government. In addition, there are estimates of $1 billion for the security features needed for the ballroom, also to be paid by taxpayers and private donors.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon, appointed by a Republican president, enjoined building the ballroom without congressional approval. A D.C. appeals court put the injunction on hold pending its reaching a decision.
- Trump’s grabbing complete control of the Kennedy Center and desecrating it by placing his name on the Center
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was established by Congress to honor President Kennedy. In 1963, following his assassination, Congress passed legislation renaming the National Cultural Center as a “living memorial” to Kennedy. The Kennedy Center has had a long and illustrious run as the home of performing arts in Washington – until now.
Trump took action to turn the Kennedy memorial into a monument to himself. After taking control of the Center, becoming its chairman, and filling the board with loyalists, Trump renamed the institution “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” But not for long.
U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Trump’s name to be removed from the Kennedy Center (it has), in a complete rebuke to Trump’s arrogance and hubris. Congress had made clear the name of the Center could not be changed except by Congress.
- Trump’s surreal 250-foot Triumphal Arch
Trump’s surreal 250-foot arch is in the grand tradition of autocrats and dictators. Its cost is estimated to be at least $100 million. It would be paid for by American taxpayers and big donors, many of whom again will likely have business pending before the government.
This is not a monument to wars won, to the military or to the American people. It is a monument to Trump himself, pure and simple.
According to reporting in the book Regime Change, one design proposed by Trump would put an enormous fist on top of the Arch to take account of his action in the unsuccessful assassination attempt against him during his 2024 campaign.
The arch is highly controversial. It is opposed by many, including preservation groups, parks advocates, and veterans’ organizations. Opponents argue that Trump cannot build the Arch without congressional approval, but Trump is proceeding anyway.
Vietnam veterans have filed a lawsuit to prevent the building of the Arch. And Jim Webb, a former senator and Secretary of the Navy, argued in an opinion piece that Congress must decide whether to build the Arch, not Trump.
- Trump’s decision that the 250th anniversary of the birth of the nation is about him, not the country
The 250th anniversary of our nation should be a celebration for the entire country. It should be one of the rare civic moments when Americans are asked to look beyond party or ideology and remember that the country belongs to all of us.
Instead, Trump has decided that the celebration should be about him. So he is honoring our country’s 250th birthday on July 4 by holding a partisan political rally featuring himself, a Make America Great Again rally.
Trump is choosing this historic moment to divide the country on a partisan basis when the country should be brought together to celebrate its founding. Instead, Trump is turning the nation’s momentous celebration into a celebration of himself.
Conclusion
Trump is not only doing everything he can to ruin an historic moment for our country. He is building monuments to himself and plastering his image every place he can think of, in a sustained effort to turn public property, public money, and public ceremonies into instruments of self-glorification. In the process, he is doing immense damage to the nation’s capital.
Trump’s delusional, ego-driven, narcissistic approach to serving as president is so far out of control that Congress has to start doing something about it. The next Congress needs to investigate the funding, donor lists, contracts, taxpayer costs, legal authority and approval process behind the Trump projects, starting in January 2027.
Trump does not own Washington. He does not own the White House, the Mall, the Kennedy Center, the Reflecting Pool, or the nation’s 250th birthday. These belong to the American people.
Trump is a menace to our nation and to the world. Lower court judges have been reining Trump in, and Congress must start doing the same.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears on Thursdays in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s newsletter, and other recent editions, here. And subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
