WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dozens of activists gathered at Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C., at rush hour Thursday to protest the 250-foot-tall arch that President Trump wants to build there.
Veterans, retirees and lawmakers spoke out — against its scale, its cost, its lack of Congressional approval, its gaudiness, its intrusion on nearby Arlington National Cemetery and more — next to a mockup made of tarp. The real arch, they said, would be 32 times taller.
"It's the wrong monument, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, dedicated to the wrong man," said Jon Gundersen, a retired Army veteran and former Foreign Service officer who is one of the Vietnam War veterans suing the Trump administration over the arch.
Gundersen traveled from South Carolina to speak at Thursday's protest, which was billed as "Vets over Vanity. It was organized in part by Public Citizen, the group leading that lawsuit. He told NPR that it was "heartening" to see so much support for their cause.
"Anyone I talk to, whether Republican or Democrat, they say it's a waste of money and it's not how you honor vets," he said.
Many speakers were especially concerned about the impact of an arch towering over nearby Arlington National Cemetery, and criticized the lack of input from veterans and gold star families in the process.
"I am pissed that the five-time draft dodging coward of a commander-in-chief sitting over there in the White House dares to dishonor the men and women of this country who have put on her collars and sacrificed and served and now lay at rest in the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery," said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who said she and her husband will join them one day.
The White House has told NPR that the arch will "enhance the visitor experience" at the cemetery and serve "as a visual reminder of the noble sacrifices borne by so many American heroes." But Duckworth and others say a better way to honor veterans would be to spend money on improving services for them, not on a triumphal arch with an observation deck.
"Imagine tourists coming up to this arch looking at the 24 to 27 funerals up there in Arlington," Gundersen said. "It's not only wrong and inappropriate, it's obscene and should never [be] done."
During the half-hour of rapid-fire speeches, the crowd burst into loud applause, sporadic chants of "no arch!" and, at one point, a coordinated rendition of We Shall Overcome. Cyclists and commuters passing by offered supportive waves and honks.
Planes flew overhead every few minutes, a constant reminder that the arch would stand along the approach of one of the nation's busiest airport runways. Several of the speakers addressed the aviation safety concerns raised by the arch and by Trump's recent announcement that the structure will house military drones and snipers.
"Who are the snipers going to shoot — the families at the graves or the tourists at the Lincoln Memorial?" Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said from the podium. "The real explanation is Trump thinks he's going to lose in court, and maybe if he shouts national security, the Supreme Court will care."
The White House, Department of Interior and Federal Aviation Administration have not responded to NPR's questions about the military complex. The Trump administration has not elaborated publicly on what rebranding the structure could mean for the ongoing federal approval process, despite mounting confusion.
But it did drop hints in a meeting earlier this week.
Administration officials told historic preservation groups in a Tuesday Zoom call that they were unaware of any new submissions and planned to move forward with the original arch proposal, according to a transcript and recording later shared with NPR.
And — despite the public pushback, an ongoing lawsuit and many unanswered questions — that proposal is hurtling towards final federal approval.
Chisels and votes: How critics are fighting the arch
The arch is widely expected to come before the National Capital Planning Commission at its next meeting in early November.
As part of the required federal review process, the National Park Service had been in conversation with outside groups to negotiate how to build the arch while doing the least harm to the dozens of nearby protected landmarks. The park service had already dismissed experts' suggestions to build the arch elsewhere.
Then, the last week of September — just days after Trump's military complex announcement — the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation terminated the review process altogether. That was announced in an email to historic preservation groups, reviewed by NPR.
Charles Birnbaum, who participated in the process as the head of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, said he was appalled that the council cut the review short after only two meetings. He recalled this happening only twice in the 15 years he previously spent working for the National Park Service.
"Projects go to the advisory council when there is a stalemate that people have tried to negotiate with state preservation officers, with stakeholders, and there is an authenticity to that process," Birnbaum said.
Instead, the advisory council now says it will give its recommendations directly to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum by Oct. 7.
"They're going to force this upon the process and they're going to nullify outside voices. And what this is symbolic of is where the administration is taking the nation," said Birnbaum, referring to the same council's efforts to roll back protections for historic sites nationwide. Separately, a bipartisan permitting reform bill gaining traction in Congress would also weaken those protections.
Protesters on Thursday vowed not to let the arch proceed — but braced for the possibility that it might.
"We have to continue to call in to our senators, our congresspeople, and let them say no to this arc," said Julius D. "JD" Spain Sr., a member of the Arlington County Board. "And if it is built, if somehow it is built, I will get my chisel and I'll be right over there with everybody tearing it down."
That prompted some of the loudest applause of the morning. Beyer, whose district includes Arlington, told NPR afterward that there is a "huge body of people ready to protest the moment they see a shovel."
"I don't know how this will play out, whether we end up with tents or hunger strikes, but I know that the American people are ready to protest in any way they can," he said.
There is another possibility, at least in theory: Congress could stop the arch by blocking federal funding from going towards the project. Earlier this week, a single Republican senator blocked Democrats' attempts to stop the construction of the arch as well as the demolition of the Kennedy Center.
"We could stop this today if the Republican majority stepped up and grew a backbone and would oppose Trump," Duckworth told NPR in a phone interview Wednesday.
Next month's midterm elections could change the balance of power in Congress — and, if Democrats prevail, spell bad news for the arch starting in January.
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