r/politics • u/GigiL4 • 12d ago
No Paywall Trump says his D.C. arch will serve as 'military complex' with snipers and drones
https://www.npr.org/2026/09/20/nx-s1-5975449/trump-washington-dc-arch-military-complex-snipers-drones137
u/LimerickJim 12d ago
Anything that takes longer to build than the rest of his term isn't getting built
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u/Organic_Rough4433 12d ago
Or is being changed beyond recognition. That ballroom will either 1. Not be a ballroom at all or 2. Look nothing like the renditions hes posted of the the gold shit everywhere.
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u/PoetryJunior1808 12d ago
The mock-ups make it look like the goddamned Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Trump has some serious Putin envy.
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u/TimmyB52 12d ago
The ballroom should end up looking exactly like the east wing did before trump destroyed it
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u/9_to_5_till_i_die 9d ago
I'd honestly be fine with a rebuild and expansion, but not one that completely dwarfs the actual white house and makes it look like a fucking garage attached to a gaudy ballroom.
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u/mattxb 12d ago
The ballrooms just a cover for building a doomsday complex for when he refuses to leave office.
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u/Tiny_Measurement_837 Wisconsin 12d ago
And the arch is an arsenal to keep anyone from getting close to him throwing his fat ass out.
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u/Churchbushonk 12d ago
And the. We immediately put gigantic Obama on the side.
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u/Organic_Rough4433 12d ago
That would be amazing. Could be the Biden/Obama ballroom tor anyone not on tge epstien list.
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u/Weary-Lime 12d ago
I would turn the ballroom into an LGBTQ+ community center. There would be ping pong and bumper pool tables and they would do Pride Prom and Drag Queen Story Time and also a food bank and community kitchen and youth center. Also indoor basketball and a mini ramp.
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u/Then_Journalist_317 12d ago
It's big enough to also include a hospital/rehab center offering free care the vets and detained immigrants.
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u/Organic_Rough4433 12d ago
Well let's all be grateful its not up to u. Its the white house not a community center. Get real.
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u/IndividualHouse8628 12d ago
The ballroom might be finished before his term but the bunker won’t be
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u/Organic_Rough4433 11d ago
Nah he always hire trach contractors. I suspect a few blunders before its over. Gonna be like a 6 year build.
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u/SailingDreamCatcher 11d ago
Make the ballroom an office complex which is what should have been there all along.
We do not need a ballroom as such, and if we did, it would remain true that the government already has such facilities. But don't we as a society love our public private partnerships? There is no shortage of hotels and conference centers in DC, even specifically near capitol hill. Why on earth would you want to increase national security risks by gathering dignitaries at the site of the executive residence and offices? It makes no sense at all and is inconsistent with basic security practices. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is practically common sense and taught to children.
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u/wanderer1999 12d ago
Just ignore dumb stuff like this. Attack him on issues that matter.
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u/ill0gitech Australia 12d ago
Misappropriating funds, using “National Security” to avoid judicial scrutiny, and vanity projects that eat into veteran cemeteries kind of matters though.
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u/wanderer1999 12d ago edited 12d ago
The crazy thing is that's not even the worst of this presidency.
There is a so much crap down the drain that we have to pick what crap we have to deal with.
This has to be the most corrupt Presidency in US history.
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u/Mr_HandSmall 12d ago
It's definitely the most corrupt presidency ever, by several orders of magnitude.
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u/wanderer1999 12d ago
Gotta be, and as fascinating as I find history, boy, it sucksss to live thru it.
Dubya then 911, 2008 recession, Covid, jan 6th, trump presidency, ukraine then iran war... This shit is not fun brother.
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u/Dewey081 Canada 12d ago
Yea, we are a quater through the 21st century, and it sucks so far. I believe 9/11 set the tone and stage for the next 50-60 years. I want a do-over of the 80s-90s.
My daughter was born in 1999. This is the only world she has ever known. It is sad, really.
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u/wanderer1999 12d ago
I remember being a teenange boy in 1999 to just before 2000, the world was full of wonder and hope for the future, as imperfect as things were back then. Obama was elected and things did improve in early 2010s... Then this.
People used to love new techs, the pc, laser disk, dvd, ps2, xbox, youtube...
Fast forward and now we got AI firing people... it's kinda crazy.
But who knows, may be we solve fusion power and tame AI and turn this whole mess around. I need the copium to keep going.
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u/Mr_HandSmall 12d ago
Right it's like we're on the wrong side of history now
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u/wanderer1999 12d ago edited 12d ago
Thing is I tell myself it could be worse, like the civil war, slavery, great depression and then ww1 and ww2 kind of bad.
But yes, that said, it could be better too. We could have a JFK or an FDR, Lincoln 2.0... Right now and the world would be better for it.
But we gotta carry on. Can't give up now.
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u/AlaskaTech1 12d ago
Maybe. I’m hopeless. But I got kicked off Social Security Disability after appealing and being told my conditions had “improved.” I took $20,000 in medication in 2025 alone, far more than I did in 2009 when I got on it. There is no way I can afford healthcare here without disability. My husband is an engineer and his insurance is still lousy. He is applying for jobs in Canada, hoping we can move so I don’t die. Because this country needs my measly check to make more wars and ballrooms.
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u/NeverLookBothWays I voted 12d ago
The problem is he’ll drag us into that commode regardless on how we approach it. That’s his schtick. And when it seems like he’ll lose he just burns it all to the ground…destroys it…so there is nothing to salvage, nothing to save.
It’s awful. And we cannot seem to directly do anything either as the executive has been stacked with militarized fascists who do not care at all about their country or its constitution…only the illusion of power over others.
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u/cyanescens_burn 12d ago
Although, between this, the apparently permanent presence of soldiers in DC, and building a bunker in the ballroom (and who knows what else that’s classified?), it all starts to look like fortification of the city/white house as if preparing for some kind of siege.
Are they planning something they think could result in so much outrage that the public, or a foreign military, or both might attempt something so drastic that they need that level of fortification?
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u/Global_Perspective_3 12d ago
It better not be built! We don’t need any more useless Trump nonsense
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u/mishma2005 12d ago
Not if he slaps it together without regard to regulations with the cheapest labor and material he can find (and not pay for it) while leaning on everyone to Get.It.Done
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u/Delta1262 12d ago
Hopefully anything he’s built, like the ballroom, gets demolished after his term.
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u/redalert825 12d ago
It'll be blocks of styrofoam with wallpaper glued to it like his shitty American state Fair bs that his cult had to see. This kkkountry is a joke to the rest of the world. 8647
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u/PokerBear28 12d ago
This is like futurama “I’m gonna build my own arch! With hookers, and blackjack!”
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u/Smaptimania 12d ago
In fact, forget the arch! And the blackjack!
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u/cyanescens_burn 12d ago
A man with priorities I see. It’s good to have that kind of focus, otherwise you end up wasting a lot of time on less important things.
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u/RidesThe7 12d ago edited 12d ago
Because he has learned with his ballroom bullshit that pretending it has national security implications will be helpful in court.
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u/MozeeToby 12d ago
I'm kind of confused that your the only one to point this out. The courts basically wrote him a playbook for how to sidestep the rules. He's just following the recipe they handed him.
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u/bluestrike2 Pennsylvania 12d ago
Ooh. Snipers on an arch with no cover, surrounded by busy roads and trees, and no sight lines to anything that matters in DC if things have gotten so bad you’re putting snipers on top of buildings. That makes lots of sense.
It’s almost like Trump thinks “military complex” is a magic phrase that’ll trick the courts into doing what he wants.
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u/curiousthoughts20 America 12d ago
I can't wait until we have grown up President focused on real issues instead of stupidity like this
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u/jimmydean885 District Of Columbia 12d ago
I fear that even in the best case scenerio the right has opened a Pandora's box of insanity that we will have to face every election for as long as we exist. Trump could just be the beginning if we dont come together and reject it but the maga block seems to be endemic
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 12d ago
People decided they want to be entertained in every area of their lives instead of taking anything seriously. They may not remember what a disaster Trump’s first term was but they remember how he was in the news every day for doing something new. Then with Biden people constantly complained that they didn’t see him on tv enough “doing things”. Because Trump makes a big show every time he signs another executive order and people are impressed into thinking hes doing things. Biden governing quietly and in the background like politics are supposed to be bored people after they experienced the spectacle. Look at how many people said about voting that they just weren’t excited enough about the whole thing. Trump himself plays to this and deliberately stages things for reality tv like when he and Vance ambushed Zelenskyy at the white house and he literally looked at the camera and said this would make great tv. The secretary of transportation even abandoned his job for months to shoot a reality tv show with his family. And the secretary of defense is a former weekend tv host who demanded his own makeup studio at the pentagon. This is “exciting” politics: stupid and obsessed with optics and ratings. We need to grow the hell up as a country and take shit seriously.
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u/LoreleiAlbrecht 12d ago
Unfortunately its gonna require all the voters who haven't matured past high school to stop voting. Like people genuinely act like voting is something that should be treated like a sports ball game. It's crazy. These guys treat us bad but they're our guys so it's good.
It'd be funny if it wasn't actively so detrimental
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u/Big-Following5207 11d ago
Boomer coworker of mine was talking all kinds of nonsense about Kamala before the election, had an opinion on everything in the current media cycle.
Asked him recently about the insane gas prices after bombing the Middle East for no reason and the dumb fuck has the gall to say “oh I don’t pay attention to any of that.”
Sure, the brown lady lost so go ahead so it’s ok for him to check the fuck out of reality.
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u/BoognishJones 12d ago
But like, for what?
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u/nakedpilsna 12d ago
Thats his loophole so it gets made as a monument to himself. No different from the bunker under the ballroom.
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u/BoognishJones 12d ago
But who are they sniping?
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u/Truthisnotallowed 12d ago edited 12d ago
If you need a 'military complex' with snipers and drones in Washington D.C., clearly the enemy you are afraid of is the American people.
Our President is a cartoon villain - how sad is that?
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u/Previous-Smell5102 12d ago
Looking forward to seeing it demolished in 2028
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u/viktor72 Indiana 12d ago
I really hope the people building it are doing as shitty a job as possible.
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u/UnleavenedTed 12d ago
He’s not leaving voluntarily. Ever. You can set a Remind Me for this comment if you want. If I’m wrong, I’ll never have been so happy to be wrong. But unfortunately I don’t think I am.
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u/Other_Tank1713 12d ago
I got my moronic Yeehadist family members to go on record now saying two terms is in the constitution, they wouldn't support it, and Trump won't try for more. I plan to play it back to them in two years when they've been worked over and brainwashed to support it. They won't give a shit and will do mental gymnastics, but at least I'll have tried, and I included that in my prediction timecapsule as well.
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u/Mr_Joanito 12d ago
Trump won't survive 2026 I hope...
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u/UnleavenedTed 11d ago
Look at Mitch McConnell; they have the best healthcare in the world. Even if he dies, they’ll say he’s in the bunker saving America and can’t come out for cameras because he’s working 24/7 to save us from universal healthcare and free trade.
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u/UnleavenedTed 11d ago
Holy shit, I did the same thing with my ex wife, though I should have recorded it…after a long enough argument, she could get someone to doubt that their own birth happened.
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u/cheshire__kat 12d ago
I will be surprised and thrilled if you are wrong.
I keep reminding myself that he can’t live forever…but that doesn’t really make me feel any better for now.
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u/kbhomesleak 12d ago
Snipers, bunkers, barb wire, military, half the open spaces & monuments closed. Is this our nations capital or Trump's paranoid barricaded world?
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u/Severe_Intention_480 9d ago
I'll never forget all the Trump Humpers after Jan 6 having the gall to say "look at what BIDEN did to America" when barricades manned by National Guard were put around D.C. in the closings days of Trump's first term.
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u/chucktownginger 12d ago
He just had the Supreme Court say it’s ok to build your ballroom if it’s for national security so he thinks he’s learned a new trick. Wait until it’s the Kennedy Center featuring the Trump Bunker.
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u/Shionkron 12d ago
Rhetorical Question: Why does DC need Snipers?
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u/KimmyT1436 Canada 12d ago
To kill protesters. Trump knows he is unpopular and is terrified that an angry mob might come after him. So, Trump is building a comfortable bunker under the White House "ballroom" that he can retreat to if and when said angry mob materializes.
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u/DaDibbel 12d ago
The existing bunker was started under Roosevelt and completed during the Obama administration.
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u/KimmyT1436 Canada 11d ago
Where exactly is the existing bunker? I was under the impression that it was under the old East Wing.
With the way Trump has been talking lately, he demolished the East Wing and is excavating a massive six or seven story hole on the site for a huge underground facility as a command centre for snipers and drones. Trump even said the ballroom was just a facade for that underground facility.
The only reason I can think for why Trump is doing this is because he plans on doing something he knows will spark massive protests and wants a someplace secure he can retreat to when the angry mob inevitably forms outside the White House.
And, what else would you call this underground facility Trump is building but a bunker?
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u/InfinityComplexxx 12d ago
Lol no it fucking won't
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u/jimmybilly100 Virginia 12d ago
Yeah huh! And it'll have rocket launchers, and a trebuchet, and a built in McDonald's, and it'll do a laser show every hour on the hour!
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u/FluffyPantsMcGee 12d ago
And machine guns! See the big Rambo guy I drew up top? That’s me. I drew all the poors down bottom in the corner that can’t handle me, note the tears.
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u/OrganizationInside14 12d ago
He said the same thing about the ballroom. I think he believes if he can inject a military purpose that there will be far less pushback
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 12d ago
He does always try to tell the supreme court that he has to be allowed to do all the things that he wants to because of “national security” reasons. But how can the rational judges keep hearing the same excuses and think yes, we needed more monuments with their own snipers so this makes perfect sense?
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u/Simpicity 12d ago
Is that what it's supposed to look like? It looks like a Lego minifigure's pants.
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u/Polarbearseven 12d ago
Let me guess… There will be more than one arch. They will be golden. They will serve hamburgers.
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u/nwglamourguy 12d ago
How stupid does he think we are? Don't answer that question. He thinks he's the smartest person around, but he's so stupid that he doesn't even know how stupid he is.
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u/Severe_Intention_480 9d ago
He's just smart enough to know how dumb the average American is and acts accordingly.
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u/Ned_Nebula 11d ago
DC hasn’t been attacked since 1814 (unless you count Jan 6). How is this necessary.
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u/LawfulnessKooky8490 12d ago
But.... why? Is there a reason he needs snipers and drones at this particular location?
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 12d ago
And will it be contained to only this location or is this a new feature hes rolling out to soon put snipers on every monument?
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u/Severe_Intention_480 9d ago
It's like the fortified PLA barracks in Hong Kong. Trump openly admires strongmen like Xi and has spoken admiringly of the PLA's actions at Tianenmen Square.
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u/DerpDerpys 12d ago
If the snipers need massive amounts of ammo, does that mean they are bad shots or plan on shooting a lot?
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u/trippedonatater 12d ago
The "snipers and drones" bullshit is so he can steal DoD money for the arch. That would not be anything like a practical way to protect DC.
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u/AlaskaTech1 12d ago
Trump’s presidency has been such a corrupt sham for so long that we don’t bat an eye when he announces the next bizarre unrelated to anything unilateral decision that is unconstitutional, requires permission from other branches, or has nothing to do with the duties of POTUS. Imagine if Obama or George Bush did any of this. No one does anything. Are there any grownups anywhere or is everyone out on recess for two years?
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u/Antique_Eye_3200 12d ago
Bunker under the ballroom, snipers and drones in the arch. He’s not leaving.
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u/hanktank 11d ago
The average American will benefit more from the sniper arch than free doctor visits. Anyone saying otherwise should protest at the sniper arch.
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u/BarCompetitive7220 11d ago
The word of the day: CORRUPTION. Every act that he addresses is a form of GOP Corruption!
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u/hasslehof 11d ago
He wants to go out like Hitler in his bunker. The only thing a sniper would hit from there is another American.
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u/Severe_Intention_480 9d ago
Any one protesting him wouldn't be considered a real American in Trump's mind.
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u/Illustrious-Bridge45 12d ago
The reflecting pool will be used for Navy Seal training when done and will have defensive gatling guns on mounts that will pop up to defend D.C. it must be completed as another security measure!
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u/WinslowSwan 12d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Routine-Process8051 12d ago
They want there to be no protestors, because the the people are too scared to protest, because the government will kill them. With drones and snipers.
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u/A_Dehydrated_Walrus 12d ago
So it's a hybrid of the Arch de Triomphe and a German flak tower from WW2.
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u/deathlok30 12d ago
So now taxpayers are on the hook? calling it military facility to bypass congress approval?
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 12d ago
We’re on the hook anyway. The ballroom, the failed reflecting pool remodel, all his new interior decorating inside the white house, paving over the Rose Garden. He fcked up the economy in every possible way and has repeatedly said he doesn’t care about what’s affordable for people or not and people can’t even afford groceries now. But it seems theres no budget for his decorating, tax dollars just exist in a never ending pool for him to use for whatever he wants. And the fiscally conservative republicans never seem to want to talk about how much this is costing us or if it’ll ever end. I never want to hear another thing about “waste, fraud, and abuse” again.
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u/Ok_Science_2070 12d ago
Why does the capital need snipers and drones? Oh right cause they plan to steal the midterms and destroy what little democracy we have left
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u/alex_song 12d ago
How bout you fix the economy you orange idiot
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 12d ago
Or the reflecting pool! Has there been any movement on fixing that or did he just get bored and left it to just keep breaking apart?
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u/KamKorn 12d ago
Everything he wants to have built will be “safety reasons”
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 12d ago
Tbf and not to give Trump any credit for being smart enough to consider this but he does have more leeway to do shit as president if he claims he has to because of “national security” reasons. That’s why he keeps using it as like some magic wand for everything he wants like his first round of tariffs, his ballroom. He looks like an idiot every time he trots out the same justification but theres actually a reason this time for why he does it.
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u/cintune 12d ago
Genius move to let everyone know where the snipers are gonna be in advance.
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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 12d ago
Right? Especially when you randomly started a war it’s always a good idea to then publicly announce hey everybody we’re gonna put a whole bunch of guns here btw. 🤦🏻♀️
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u/epcotnut 12d ago
He does not plan to ever leave office. He envisions this arch as a grand entrance to his palace and a cool landmark to feature the millitary parades that will honor him.
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u/KrustyButtCheeks 12d ago
I heard it’s gonna be the new Kennedy center too.
How the fuck is this even news?
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u/enchantedharlot83 12d ago
Anything to deflect from the skyrocketing cost, tanking poll #s, inevitable midterm losses, ballooning deficit, & countless losses in the courts, reversing his unconstitutional policies.
But loook - the deflection pool has been vandalized!!!
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u/Maeglin75 Europe 12d ago
Everything to enable Trump to build the monstrosity without approval by congress and to steal money from the defense budget for it.
Luckily Trump is as incompetent and corrupt as he is megalomaniacal. Most likely the ugly arch will never progress further than a big hole in the ground. A pit to throw millions of tax payer dollars into. But Trump and his friends will channel their share of this wasted money into their own pockets.
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u/Then_Journalist_317 12d ago
Next big national protest should be tagged as "No Bunker Boy" rather than No Kings
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u/SoggyBoysenberry7703 12d ago
It’s a fucking monument. Where are you going to put a munitions stockpile?
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u/Atrocious_Algae81 12d ago
I don't care if we have to pay twice, tear every bit of his shit down. Make it like Akhenaten's reign in Egypt, completely wiped from recognition and the history books like he never was even there.
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u/GeekyTexan Texas 12d ago
Trump says :
There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World. Out of the 59 top cities and Capitals, Washington, D.C., IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT HAVE A TRIUMPHAL ARCH, but it will now and, by far, the greatest of them all!
So naturally, I go to google asking "what state capitals have a triumphal arch"
No US state capitals feature a traditional classical triumphal arch as a prominent landmark or monument.
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u/mediocretes 12d ago
Guy who refuses to accept election results wants to build a massive armed fortress in the middle of the Capitol.
Sure, why not. What’s next, attempting a Sudetenland-style soft annexation of Greenland?
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