President Donald Trump is flaunting plans for his next imprint on D.C.’s landscape: a gold-embossed arch at the entrance to Washington’s Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River.
“It’s going to be really beautiful. I think it’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said. “There’s a rendering of what it will look like. You have three sizes.”
“I happen to think the large one,” Trump added.
Trump showed off a scale model of the arc at a Wednesday night dinner where he hosted more than 100 wealthy corporate executives who helped fund the president’s new White House ballroom. One reporter dubbed it the “Arc de Trump,” though an official name has not been released.
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Trump told the donors Wednesday night that the arch was “fully” funded and that any remaining funds from the ballroom could go toward the new project.
On Trump’s desk in the Oval Office today was a plan for a triumphal arch on the other side of the river from the Lincoln Memorial pic.twitter.com/PyulIhlmHE
— Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp) October 9, 2025
Modeled after Paris’ 19th-century Arc de Triomphe, the miniature model Trump displayed Wednesday featured wide columns adorned with wreaths, eagles and a large golden winged figure.
The proposed monument would be located on the Virginia side of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, atop a traffic circle between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.
It is not immediately clear what the proposed timeline for the project is. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
A series of scale models were first spotted at the White House last week during a visit from Finland’s President Alexander Stubb. A Canadian official also posted a photo of Trump showing a model of the arch off during a visit earlier this month.
A source told CNN Trump “came up with the design and has been part of the process every step of the way.”
Trump has channeled his inner real estate developer throughout his second term, transforming the Rose Garden into a cement-covered patio and filling nearly every wall in the Oval Office with gold-embossed trimmings.
Along the West Wing Colonnade, Trump updated the historical presidential portrait gallery to feature ornate golden frames and replaced former President Joe Biden’s headshot with a photo of an autopen. Portraits of former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were moved to a back stairwell.
Asked by reporters on Wednesday who the arch was for, Trump pointed to himself.
“Me,” he said.
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