Throughout his second term President Trump has been preoccupied with creating a suitable legacy to leave behind for posterity. He was not willing to underplay his presidency like so many who served before him and whose names most of us can barely remember (such as Polk, Buchanan, Harrison or Arthur). He has even imagined himself as an additional chiseled portrait atop Mt. Rushmore joining Washington Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt!
He set about trying to win a Nobel Peace Prize, like four of our previous US presidents (including his nemesis, Barack Obama). But rather than work diligently for peace, he engaged actively as a partisan in seven wars (none of which turned out very well). He campaigned for the Prize as if it were a political contest and when he didn’t win he complained to the Prime Minister of Norway (who had nothing to do with the award) about not being chosen.
Trump became interested in the nineteenth century Monroe Doctrine which fitted well with his own America First opinions. Before long he was telling people that he needed to “take” Greenland! But even devoted subordinates realized that his assertion was politically ill-considered, his tactless aggression causing a furor over much of the world and a rift between the US and the rest of NATO.
While the takeover of Venezuela kept alive Trump’s international attempts at becoming historically significant, his unsuccessful war in Iran has caused him to turn his mind to more local accomplishments, specifically several in the nation’s capital. This started with redecorating most of the White House complex and its surrounding landscape and has grown to tearing down the entire East Wing and replacing it with a giant future ballroom way out of scale with the White House. The demolished remains of the former East Wing Trump had dumped in a huge pile in the middle of a popular public park that he intends to convert into a championship golf course for professional play.
Several new and renovated monuments are in the works, most recently the repaired Reflecting Pool extending from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. A massive “triumphal” arch at least twice the size of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris is anticipated between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery . A National Garden of American Heroes featuring statues of 250 individuals chosen by Trump for special memorialization is to be located in West Pontiac Park.
He took over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, replaced most of the board and made himself Chairman.
Every one of President Trump’s vanity projects has proceeded without legal authorization, a requirement in nearly every case. Despite several pending lawsuits, it seems doubtful that any of these projects will be stopped by the courts.
All of Trump’s attempts to increase his legacy have been very self-centered, not the sort of efforts that might bring him greater popularity or admiration. He is not likely to be remembered fondly for his war against Iran that has cost American taxpayers to date well over $200 billion dollars.
Historians will continue to look disdainfully at Trump’s Ballroom and Triumphal Arch as aesthetic eyesores pathologically obsessed with size.
And then there’s the money. The original estimate of $1.5 million for the Reflecting Pool is currently expected to cost at least $16 million; the Ballroom budget, originally $200 million (of private money) is now estimated at more than $600 million now and likely much more (mostly taxpayer funding). All told, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the final bill for all the vanity projects will total at least $3 billion.
Judging by his continuing low poll numbers Trump’s efforts to improve his standing for posterity have not been at all successful.
President Trump might look at how several of the late 19th century Robber barons became more public spirited in their later years. John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt and even Henry Ford gave enormous amounts to charitable foundations to do work in the public interest. This definitely put them in a much more favorable place in history. Perhaps were Trump to start making some moves in the public interest, his legacy might change for the better. A substantial, no strings gift to Washington, DC might be a good beginning in view of the damage his vanity projects have already caused the city.
Architect G. Mackenzie Gordon, A.I.A., lives in Lakeville.
Madeline Hartwell, left, visits Tom Hall’s vendor tent along the Harlem Valley Rail Trail during The Voice of Art’s Fine Art Festival in Millerton.Photo by Nathan Miller
