Secret Trump Plot to Fast-Track His ‘Monstrosity’ Exposed

President Donald Trump has found a dubious new way to try to fast-track his latest $100 million vanity project despite an array of legal and historic preservation problems.

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The president is pushing to break ground as soon as possible on a 250-foot-tall “triumphal arch” topped with golden statues, even though it would exceed building height limits in the nation’s capital and has not received congressional approval as required by federal law.

But after advancing a series of questionable arguments about the building height and congressional approval requirements, the administration is now also looking to circumvent key aspects of the Section 106 review, according to a new report from The Atlantic.

Under Section 106, federal agencies in charge of new building projects must consult with preservation groups and other stakeholders to determine the project’s adverse effects on historic resources, and must create a legally binding plan to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the damage.

But the vice chair of Trump’s handpicked Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), which oversees the Section 106 review, has encouraged the other members to vote to weaken the rules governing the process.

Instead of prioritizing the avoidance of harm and accepting proposals for alternative designs or locations, officials would only need to create a plan to minimize adverse effects, The Atlantic reported.

The administration is also proposing to create the mitigation plan after the project is approved instead of before.

The practical outcome would be that Trump could quickly push through a plan to build the arch where and how he wants it.

Sara Bronin, a law professor at the George Washington University Law School, said the new rules would also narrow the types of projects governed by Section 106, limit the type of historic properties protected, and weaken consultation with tribal nations and the public.

“If adopted, these regulations will be challenged in court, and I doubt they will survive judicial scrutiny,” she said.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the ACHP for comment.

Reached for comment by the Daily Beast, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the arch 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,” he added.

The arch, however, has several obvious design flaws, starting with the fact that the federal Height of Buildings Act of 1910 limits most new building heights in Washington, D.C., to 130 feet.

The administration has argued that the rule only applies to private construction, even though nothing in the law suggests that federal buildings are exempt.

During a brief public comment period, critics called the proposed arch a “monstrosity,” a “garish tasteless eyesore,” and a “McMonument.”

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It would be built on Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, blocking each site’s views of the other.

Preservationists say the monument’s scale would overwhelm the cemetery’s solemn character and interrupt the architectural dialogue between the two places.

The National Park Service’s own assessment concluded the arch would adversely affect multiple historic properties by altering the character-defining views, settings, and spatial relationships that give the landscape surrounding the Washington Monument much of its significance, according to The Atlantic.

But no alternative designs or locations are being considered, an administration official told the Daily Beast.

The administration also hasn’t addressed the impact of years of loud construction on nearby military funerals, or the traffic congestion that would result from building in Memorial Circle at the same time that the neighboring Theodore Roosevelt Bridge is also slated to undergo a major rehabilitation.

Then there’s the issue of congressional approval.

The Memorial Circle falls within an area classified as “Area 1” by the Commemorative Works Act of 1966.

Proposals for new Area 1 monuments can be forwarded to Congress by the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission or can be directly authorized by lawmakers, but in any case, they’re supposed to be approved by Congress, according to The Atlantic.

The Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice have argued that the requirement is met, thanks to something completely unrelated that Congress greenlit more than a century ago.

When lawmakers approved the Arlington Memorial Bridge in 1925, the original design included two 166-foot columns on either side of what is now Memorial Circle, The Washington Post reported earlier this month.

President Herbert Hoover removed the columns from the bridge’s final plans, but the DOJ has claimed that, “Congress authorized the arch project when it approved” the design with the columns, the Post reported.

Like the congressionally approved bridge design, the columns on Trump’s arch would be 166 feet tall.

Unlike the bridge design, they would be topped by 84 feet of statuary—and would be part of a structure so wide it would blot out much of the skyline on the other side of the bridge.

The arch is deeply unpopular with Americans, who oppose the project by more than 2-to-1. A group of veterans has also sued to block the arch’s construction, arguing that the structure would block “historically significant reciprocal views” of Arlington National Cemetery and Memorial Bridge.