ATLANTA — I could be wrong, but I am guessing that MAGA and Trump 2028 hats and merch in the White House gift shop may soon go on Clearance Sale.

Yet any sales momentum set backs are very unlikely to deter this President from seeking to emblazon his name on additional monuments and edifices intended to last long after he is gone from Washington, D.C.

The Trump White House Ballroom, Trump Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Trump-Kennedy Arts Center (court-ordered removal), and the newly christened National Monument Oval Office, now tastefully decorated in gilded Rococo, more appropriate for the Palaces at Versailles—you be the judge.

President Trump and the First Lady visited France on a prior Bastille Day, the National Day of France, celebrated on July 14th, in a fashion somewhat similar to our Fourth of July.

The President was greatly impressed by a French Military Procession and Parade, paying tribute to the President of France, as well as several nearby French monuments, particularly the Arc de Triomphe.

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris was inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome. Second only to the Eiffel Tower as a Parisian landmark, that arch is 162.5 feet tall (and quite imposing).

It was commissioned in 1806 but not completed until 1836, at a cost at that time of roughly $20-million francs, or roughly $75-million in 2020 dollars.

The proposed Trump Triumphal Arch would be just less than 100 feet taller, sitting in a large traffic circle just outside of Arlington National Cemetery.

Among the most impressive vistas in this nation, particularly if you have a patriotic heart and mind, is the view from our nation’s Capitol, looking down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, and beyond to the National Mall and monuments including the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial, as well as majestic monuments to the Veterans of World War II, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans.

These landmarks form the core memorials along the Mall and Tidal Basin, from the center of the Federal District, across the Potomac into Arlington, Virginia.

As Trump skyscrapers go, 250 feet sounds dwarfish, but the Washington, D.C. skyline is perpetually limited by federal statute to prevent blocking views of the Capitol dome and other major monuments.

The traffic circle, standing outside the cemetery but on the primary entrance to Arlington and a short walk from the Arlington Metro Station, would completely block views of the cemetery entrance, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and several other prominent memorials and edifices within the burial grounds.

And in reverse, from inside the cemetery, a massive arch would also block views back across the Potomac, of the National Mall, the Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, and on clear days...the U.S. Capitol Dome.

Adding to the precedent of a President unilaterally altering the National Mall without Congressional approval or moving through the standard operating procedures for designing and constructing historic monuments, the President later announced he would wrap his latest pet project into ‘needs of national security.’

This Arch will house a major military Armory, as well as a Drone Launching pad.

Although the Pentagon makes much more sense for both capabilities and lies only a few miles away, this new 250 foot structure also lies directly within multiple flight paths into and out of Ronald Reagan National D.C. Airport, which is also very close by. What could go wrong?

Multiple historic preservation groups, a federal judge and several veterans’ organizations have already come out in public opposition.

Final costs for the project are indeterminate, Trump originally promised private funding, but much like the Trump Ballroom’s ballooning costs, while there was private fundraising, more than a billion in public funding is expected to be needed to complete both the Presidential Bunker underground and the perhaps out of scale White House addition.

Come January of 2027, a Democratically controlled U.S. House, at least for the next couple of years, is expected to not be too charitably disposed to fund Trump pet projects.

And yet, on this Veterans Day week, I have little doubt that heavy machinery will be moving towards that Arlington traffic circle in the coming days.

President Trump may well never finish his latest monument to his own ego and hubris, but that doesn’t mean he won’t start.

If you hold veteran cemeteries as sacred, on this Veteran’s Day,...please loudly say NO to this Triumphal Trump-Full Arch.