Trump Is Already Breaking Ground on His Next Vanity Project

Excavation work has already begun at the proposed site of Donald Trump’s 250-foot “Triumphal Arch.”

Construction crews were spotted at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island Thursday morning, surrounded by fences and accompanied by a small drilling rig, according to photographs captured by a local resident and published by Popville.

The work did not begin without warning. Earlier this month, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared on X that the agency was “preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck.”

“Over 70 major cities/capitals around the world, from London, Paris and Rome to Madrid, Athens and New Delhi, all showcase beautiful arches. Interestingly, Washington, DC, is the only major Western capital without an arch,” Burgum said in a separate post. “Now after 125 years of waiting, the most powerful capital in the world will be home of the most spectacular and beautiful arch of them all!”

The Trump administration has claimed that it doesn’t need congressional approval to begin the $250 million undertaking because of a broad project authorization provided in 1925 to build the nearby Arlington Memorial Bridge and its surrounding features.

But that plan did not include a towering arch. Instead, historical records obtained by The Washington Post in July revealed that the original design for the bridge included smaller columns on either side of the bridge.

Opponents to the arch’s construction, including a coalition of prominent Democrats, have argued that the administration needs to obtain new congressional approval before starting construction, lest the executive office tread on Congress’s authority.

“This is a straightforward issue of who’s in charge,” Maine Senator Angus King (who is an independent but caucuses with Democrats) told the Post in March.

If it moves forward, the arch will physically situate Trump’s legacy between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, interrupting a hallowed symbolic conversation between the president who ended slavery and the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in order to do so.

Trump has obsessed over his legacy throughout his second term, a fixation easily illustrated by the long list of vanity projects he’s cooked up instead of fulfilling the difficult job of steering the nation.

Beyond the arch, Trump has razed the White House East Wing, started construction on a $600 million ballroom (the price of which keeps growing), gutted the Lincoln bathroom, transformed the Palm Room from a lush green foyer into a sterile lobby, and mowed down Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s famous Rose Garden.

The administration also spent more than $16 million on an unsuccessful and rushed renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, took a sledgehammer to the Harry S. Truman Bowling Alley, indiscriminately axed trees in the Washington area, and destroyed the Kennedy Center.

Republicans are literally running away from questions about Mitch McConnell.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul refused to acknowledge RawStory’s Adam Nichols when the digital site’s editor in chief asked about McConnell’s ability to remain in office, rushing into an elevator while he avoided eye contact. Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker ran the same playbook, simply muttering, “Oh man,” while he walked away from Nichols. As the elevator doors closed, Wicker relented and said that McConnell is a “great guy.”

Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer responded—sort of. She glared at Nichols when he inquired about McConnell’s ability to serve out the rest of his term.

“I think he is, yes,” Fischer said.

“He hasn’t been speaking at all in the media, hasn’t done a 10- or 15-second video—” continued Nichols.

“Does he need to? I don’t think he needs to,” retorted Fischer before ducking into an elevator. “You know he was here for a Farm Bill vote, and he voted. People are saying he didn’t respond—no, he voted. And he was very quiet to begin with.”

McConnell suddenly reappeared at the Senate last week after an unexplained three-month absence. But his grand return also faced enormous backlash, as the American public witnessed—for the first time since the 84-year-old Kentuckian fell unconscious in June—just how sick he is.

Throughout the week, McConnell was confused, disoriented, and quiet. At one point during a Senate Agriculture Committee meeting on the Farm Bill, McConnell even groggily sided with the Democrats before his allies told him how to vote. His participation was the deciding factor that advanced the bill, which passed by a vote of 12–11.

Only North Dakota Senator John Hoeven was brave enough to actually go on the record about McConnell. Hoeven was seated beside McConnell during the Farm Bill fiasco—but his recounting of the vote differed from video footage of the gaffe. Hoeven claimed that he had initially misdirected McConnell, wrongly informing him about which portion of the vote they were on.

Hoeven’s soft recounting would suggest, however, that lawmakers don’t need to be intellectually independent in order to work for the American people.

Hoeven added that McConnell is widely available for public comment, and encouraged Nichols to find McConnell in the hall.

But it has been tremendously difficult to get one word out of the Kentuckian. Last week, McConnell couldn’t even manage to give reporters a thumbs-up when asked if he was feeling good.

Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez, the food delivery driver shot by ICE in Austin, Texas on Sunday, still has a bullet lodged in his body and his wound is still bleeding.

Garcés Perez’s lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, posted on X that her client was visited by Representative Greg Casar Wednesday at ICE’s detention center in Pearsall, Texas. She said Garcés Perez still does not have full mobility on his left side, only receiving an injection for pain just one hour before the congressman arrived. The wound with the bullet hole is still bleeding, she added.

On Tuesday, a federal judge paused Garcés Perez’s deportation. But that came after ICE took him out of the hospital with a bullet still in his back to interrogate him. Perez was shot on Sunday while making a DoorDash delivery, and his wife and attorney didn’t have access to him for hours after he was detained and then moved to a detention center.

At a press conference after visiting Garcés Perez Wednesday, Casar railed against the federal government for shooting him in the back and arresting people like him without a criminal record.

“If you check the overall federal government stats about San Antonio-Austin area, the overwhelming majority of people by ICE’s own admission are people with no criminal history at all,” Casar said.

Lincoln-Goldfinch maintains that Garcés Perez was in the country legally with a work permit.

Are Republicans at risk of losing their seats in the upcoming midterm elections about to start changing their tune on President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration operations?

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall issued a rare rebuke of ICE on Wednesday after local leaders and law enforcement were surprised by an increased ICE presence in Dodge City, Garden City, Liberal, and Scott City, leading to protests and business closures.

“When ICE operates in Kansas, it needs to coordinate with our local law enforcement. Our sheriffs and police know these communities better than anyone, and working together keeps officers and residents safe,” Marshall wrote on X.

“I’m closely following what’s happening in SW Kansas and have been in direct contact with Secretary Mullin and local law enforcement as ICE executes warrants in order to keep Kansans safe.”

Marshall’s sudden change of heart comes just one day after the Cook Political Report shifted its analysis of his Senate race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican,” indicating the senator’s weakening chances against Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton.

Online, Marshall’s true motive appeared to be obvious. “The polls are so bad that Roger suddenly thinks what ice is doing is wrong,” journalist Molly Jong-Fast wrote on X.

“Kansas is in play,” Fox News’s Jessica Tarlov observed.

Marshall has been among the majority of Republicans who have spent months blocking even the most modest reforms for ICE. Only now as ICE’s operations arrive at his front door can he begin to see what mayhem and tragedy this agency has wrought—and how that might cost him on Election Day.

Senator Jerry Moran, the senior Republican from Kansas, also published a statement that was critical of ICE’s activities.

“I am hearing from Kansans about the increased federal law enforcement presence in southwest Kansas as ICE agents carry out warrants in the area. I visited with Secretary Mullin, stressing the importance of DHS working with our local law enforcement to safely execute these warrants,” he wrote on X.

“Secretary Mullin assured me these warrants are only for the purpose of arresting individuals who have been charged with criminal activities. I will remain engaged with federal and local authorities and community leaders.”

President Trump could barely keep his eyes open during a press conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday.

The president looked completely out of it at multiple points during Xi’s speech—eyes heavy and fluttering, body hunched forward. This is the second time this month that the 80-year-old president has appeared drowsy during an important televised meeting, the most recent one being the 9/11 memorial event at the Pentagon marking 25 years since the attack.

This is a very bad look, regardless of what excuse his team and supporters spin up. The president of another major world power, and often U.S. rival, is speaking, and the guy in charge of our country can’t even try to look like he’s present and paying attention. We all deserve better.