{"id":1500,"date":"2026-06-12T12:10:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=1500"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:10:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:10:04","slug":"wannabe-roman-emperor-holds-blood-soaked-spectacle-and-america-is-paying-the-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=1500","title":{"rendered":"Wannabe Roman Emperor holds blood-soaked spectacle \u2014 and America is paying the price"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Today\u2019s South Lawn of the White House features a huge, brightly lit metal cage<\/u> called \u201cthe Claw.\u201d It is a stage erected to showcase men beating each other bloody, Caligula style<\/u>, to entertain a wannabe Roman Emperor<\/u> on his 80th birthday. <\/p>\n

Read more DOJ officials on \u2018pins and needles\u2019 as Trump moves threatens \u2018catastrophe\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

After musical performers refused to sing<\/u> at the nation\u2019s 250th birthday party Trump made about himself, the UFC cage match<\/u> has taken top entertainment billing. The Claw complements golden Trump<\/u> statues, illegally-minted<\/u> gold coins<\/u> bearing Trump\u2019s likeness, commemorative passports featuring Trump\u2019s photo<\/u>, and huge Nazi chic banners<\/u> of Trump draped on the edifices of the DOJ, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Agriculture buildings. <\/p>\n

A former FBI Director called the banners \u2018sickening\u2019<\/u> for their authoritarian symbolism.<\/p>\n

An arch for one<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monument by revered monument, Trump is painstakingly desecrating the U.S. capital. Last week, Trump said that the 250 foot arch<\/u> he is demanding as a monument to himself would be, \u201calong with the White House Ballroom, the Greatest Structure in Washington.<\/u>\u201d His drive to overshadow national monuments to Presidents Washington and Lincoln reflects a level of delusion best described by the DSM<\/u>: \u201cGrandiosity presents an exaggerated sense of self-importance, entitlement, a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy \u2026\u201d It also presents profound disrespect for our nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s \u2018Triumphal Arch\u2019 would obstruct the historically significant sightline<\/u> between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery. Historical preservationists emphasize that the Lincoln Monument was designed<\/u> so that it would forever gaze at the final resting place of over 400,000 veterans, a somber reflection on the cost of freedom. The sightline also connects Lincoln to the Robert E. Lee Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery<\/u> to symbolize national unity, the post-Civil War reconciliation between North and South. <\/p>\n

The massive scale of the arch, which will be more than double the height of the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial<\/u>, would block the views along the Memorial Avenue Corridor and across the Arlington Memorial Bridge. When viewed from <\/u>the Arlington House, the arch would obscure much of Lincoln\u2019s Memorial, like someone walking in front of a movie screen and just… standing there.<\/p>\n

To Trump, historical symbolism is noise. According to recent National Park Service documents<\/u>, Trump is planning year-round, 20-hours-per-day construction on his arch, for projected completion within three years<\/u>. Several years of construction all day and night, diverted traffic, and marred sightlines is extremely aggressive; one intuits that the completed arch will take less time to tear down. <\/p>\n

Branding a nation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s handiwork on Lincoln\u2019s Memorial Reflecting Pool isn\u2019t much better. Trump posted a video on Truth Social<\/u> showing workers draining and cleaning it, as Trump\u2019s voice<\/u> talks about \u201cBiden filth and incompetence.\u201d The Reflecting Pool, built in 1922<\/u> and restored in 2012<\/u>, has nothing to do with Biden, who clearly competes with Trump in the rent-free occupation of Trump\u2019s own head.<\/p>\n

Read more Expert dismantles Trump\u2019s futile obsession with undoing his biggest humiliations<\/a><\/p>\n

The Reflecting Pool was originally designed with a reflective surface intentionally subordinate and solemn<\/u>, a dignified spatial connection between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Trump had it repainted in circus blue<\/u>, again missing the historical significance of solemnity. <\/p>\n

The work was also performed by another of Trump\u2019s overpaid<\/u> no-bid contractors. Trump said he handpicked Atlantic Industrial Coatings because they had done work on his personal swimming pool at the Trump National Golf Club<\/u> in Sterling, Virginia. Shortly thereafter, perhaps realizing that \u2018I hired my pool guy\u2019 was not the best justification, Trump did an about-face and claimed he had never used the firm’s services<\/u> before. After the contract was awarded<\/u>, bypassing standard competitive bidding channels, the cost ballooned from initial estimates of under $2 million to $13.1 million.<\/p>\n

What will the future say?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump lawyers recently argued in federal court that they could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty<\/u> and the courts couldn\u2019t do anything to stop them. A man who slapped his name on steaks, vodka, a fake university, candles, soaps, NFTs, casinos, and an airline that went bankrupt<\/u> has now upgraded to more durable media on the public dime: marble, federally funded, and gold, omnipresent. Trump has redecorated the Oval Office with heavy gold filigree<\/u>, including gold cherubs, gold trim, and gold furniture. His gold overkill aesthetic, reminiscent of Versailles<\/u> just before the French monarchs were beheaded<\/u>, proves that Trump\u2019s historical ignorance isn\u2019t confined to American history. <\/p>\n

Congress, not the president, controls federal property<\/u>, but Trump doesn\u2019t want to work with Congress, preferring to rebrand DC in his own personal, bawdy image. The National Trust has sued, arguing that the White House grounds, a designated national park, cannot be updated without congressional approval<\/u> and that the park, like Yellowstone, can\u2019t simply be repurposed at one man\u2019s whim. That suit is pending<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Future generations will study this era and learn many things. They will learn about the fragility of democracy, and the extraordinary load-bearing capacity of our capital\u2019s foundation, now bearing the weight of history, the republic and<\/em><\/em> Trump’s self-regard.<\/p>\n

E Pluribus Unum.<\/em><\/em> Out of many, one. And that one would really<\/em><\/em> like his own monument.<\/p>\n

Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more This group Trump is trying to silence could hammer him in the South: report<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s South Lawn of the White House features a huge, brightly lit metal cage called \u201cthe Claw.\u201d It is a stage erected to showcase men beating each other bloody, Caligula style, to entertain a wannabe Roman Emperor on his 80th birthday. 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