Trump’s beautification of Washington, D.C. infuriates Democrats

Democrats held power for decades in Washington, D.C., and went on a spendathon, which, among other things, raised the Interior department’s budget .

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Yet in the strangest of ironies, they nevertheless managed to turn Washington, D.C. — a city whose land is mostly owned by the federal government — and its famed monuments, into a complete shambles, with bums, graffiti, trash, and general filth marring stately design heritage of the capital.

It was bureaucratic obstacles, for sure, but it also was more or less a metaphor for how they felt about America.

Then President Trump came along, and among other things, restored the capital to its intended beauty of design, through National Park Service funding from the Recreational Enhancement Fee Program, for about $20 million for two large projects and another $40-plus million for other projects, including graffiti cleaning and homeless camp rollups; the New York Times reported that it was $67 million, which would be a Somali fraudster’s pocket change.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum confirmed that 22 fountains and 48 monuments and statues had been cleaned up and restored to their former glory, and by any measure, the city is starting to gleam and sparkle.

Which is striking compared to what was the order of the day earlier, when Democrats ruled the roost and controlled the purse-strings.

Additional before and after tweets are here.

It’s astonishing, really. Democrats had oodles of money to play around with yet did nothing to maintain the capital they lived in, even with a supercharged budget of $14 billion, spending it all on bureaucrat-hiring and global warming projects, along with the usual fraud and special interest dole-outs.

With all that extra cash to work with, they couldn’t cough up a few million from that cash horde to make the capital look decent?

Now President Trump has picked up that crown lying in the gutter and made it good again.

How are Democrats responding? Not by offering praise, or even saying he ought to do that and nothing else. They’re having a cow.

It wasn’t just the wan little complaints that funding to clean up grossly neglected Washington takes money away from other National Parks operations, as if Washington’s number is never supposed to come up.

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Nor is it the agenbite of inwit felt by some:

They’ve turned to their weapon of choice, lawfare, presideded over by a corrupt, partisan judiciary, and initiated lawsuits against several of Trump’s beautifications, including howls about claimed ‘no-bid contracts’; as if that ever bothered them in the past. Some White House sources denied that, by the way, but the bottom line is, the projects came in ahead of time and under budget, which only a Democrat could find a corrupt process.

So here we are:

This list is from Google ai:

Democrats and preservation groups are actively suing to halt multiple components of President Trump’s sweeping Washington, D.C., renovation and beautification projects, alleging his administration bypassed required historic reviews and congressional approval.

Ongoing legal and legislative challenges target several key projects:

• White House Ballroom: The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit challenging the demolition of the East Wing and the construction of a privately-funded, 90,000-square-foot state ballroom. Preservationists and congressional Democrats argue the project violates the Administrative Procedures Act by fast-tracking construction without Congress’s express consent. [1, 2, 3]
• Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool: The Cultural Landscape Foundation sued the Department of the Interior to stop the repainting of the pool with an “American flag blue” coating, arguing it alters a historic landscape without competitive bidding or congressionally mandated preservation reviews. [1, 2, 3]
• Independence Arch: Preservationists and lawmakers are pushing to block construction of a proposed 250-foot-tall triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. Congressional Democrats introduced legislation and filed legal briefs arguing that any large commemorative structure on federal parkland must be approved by Congress. [1, 2, 3]
• Kennedy Center Renovations: Architecture groups filed a lawsuit to stop what they describe as “hastily” executed renovations, including repainting the building’s columns white and replacing the exterior signage. [1, 2]

So if Trump does it, it’s better to go back to the bums, graffiti, and filth; they won’t stand for beautification if the elected president of our republic does it.

Yet it’s something he’s been doing for a long time, not just the 250th anniversary of the United States which was the impetus of this new wave of restoration.

As I wrote here in 2024, commenting on a Washington Post piece with a buried lede indicating that Trump listened to the Georgetown locals in their requests to get rid of architectural eyesores, while Joe Biden didn’t:

Trump, though, listens, and not only listens, but has his minions at the Park Service take an interest in aesthetics and liveability for those who live under their particular rule.

On the one hand, that’s not surprising, given that Trump was and is a real estate magnate who understands well how location, location, location affect real estate and quality of life.

What better way to make the value of real estate go up than to make it attractive and liveable, the kind of place people would like to live in? It’s natural.

But that is to scratch the surface.

Deep down, Trump has a certain capacity for leadership — not unlike that of Roman emperors Trajan or Hadrian actually, both of whom were known for all the beautiful monuments and landmarks that they left behind in Rome, many of which are still there.

Trump understands in an elemental way why external appearances are important for conveying the majesty and beauty and grandness because of their capacity to inspire. He has always had this leaderly “Roman emperor” sense of place and space, and obviously, it extended into his presidency.

It’s well known that he commands visual landmarks specifically to inspire. 

During his presidency, he commanded all federal buildings to follow the beautiful federalist style of architecture, as if building a “brand” of greatness. Leftists scoffed, but he was right. Ugly buildings don’t inspire. They provoke graffiti and contempt. Beautiful buildings remind people of who they are. Trump wanted beautiful buildings.

Joe Biden got rid of that, and he has no interest in aesthetics or appearances. He’s a vulgar man who not only restores the world of ugly things for people even in places like Georgetown, all in the name of government power. Worse still, he also fails to listen, with the Parks Service under his leadership a nasty closed door to the locals.

It’s the same deal with the Washington monuments, statues, and fountains restoration — the people want it and the people love it. What better than to have a capital that is not a national embarrassment, a sludge of blue-city politics and monstrous federal neglect? 

Only a Democrat could be against this, and if god forbid they ever retake power, they will make sure the shambles are restored to the Capital as their rightful natural wasteland habitat.

Do they ever think to steal thunder, as in, doing something better? Never. They just think about rewarding cronies, which is why nothing is ever done with which they can point to with pride.

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Image: X screenshot