Donald Trump has revealed the White House’s domestic priority, and it’s not bringing down costs or addressing the looming healthcare crisis.
Speaking at a holiday party on Sunday, the president described his aspirations for a triumphal arch in Washington, D.C., as White House Domestic Policy Council head Vince Haley’s “primary thing.”
“It’s something that is so special. Uh, it will be like the one in, in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away. Blows it away in every way,” Trump said. “And Vince came in one day and his eyes were teeming. I mean, he couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. He saw it and he wanted to do that. That’s your primary thing.”
Haley previously served as a speechwriter for Trump and as a longtime aide for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
“Vince is unbelievable on policy. And we have a policy thing that’s going to be unbelievable happening,” he said of the proposed arch.
Trump has spent months attempting to remake D.C. in his MAGAfied image, including paving over the White House Rose Garden, demolishing the East Wing, breaking ground on a $300 million ballroom, and announcing plans for other new construction around the nation’s capital—none of which has undergone the necessary legal reviews.
In October, he announced he wanted to build a knock-off of the Arc de Triomphe that would rival the Lincoln Memorial in scale. Sources say Trump has been presented with three different designs, but unsurprisingly he is reportedly most excited about a $100 million white-and-gold monstrosity.
“We’re building an arc, like the Arc de Triomphe, and we’re building it, uh, by the Arlington Bridge, the Arlington Cemetery, uh, opposite the Lincoln Memorial. You could say Jefferson, Washington, everything, ’cause they’re all right there,” Trump described the project on Sunday.
The president has solicited private donations for the project, which would ostensibly commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, and has doubled down on the idea even as his approval ratings have cratered over his administration’s failure to rein in the cost of living.
The president’s own voters increasingly blame him for high prices, and last week, Trump launched a national tour to try to convince voters his economic policies are working—despite the fact that many Americans are cutting back on buying gifts this holiday season.
Then there’s the fact that Republicans still don’t have a plan for bringing down healthcare costs after the latest GOP spending bill cut nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending and failed to extend health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
Healthcare premiums for about 22 million Americans will skyrocket next year after the ACA credits expire, with the average recipient seeing their premiums double.
But to Trump, the more pressing issue is apparently that Washington is “the only city in the world that’s of great importance that doesn’t have a triumphal arch,” he said Sunday.
“This one is gonna blow ‘em all away. The one that people know mostly is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. And, uh, we’re gonna top it by I think a lot,” he said.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
