On Wednesday, President Donald Trump revealed plans for two upcoming projects set to launch in the new year.
During a phone interview with Politico, Trump disclosed that work on the ‘Triumphal Arch,’ informally dubbed the ‘Arc de Trump,’ is slated to commence soon.
“Construction hasn’t started yet, but it will kick off within the next couple of months. It’s going to be fantastic, and everyone is excited about it,” the president shared from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
He further remarked, “People adore the ballroom, but they’re really enthusiastic about the Triumphal Arch.”
This new monument, designed to echo Paris’s famous Arc de Triomphe, will be erected in the middle of a traffic circle on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.
Unlike Trump’s ballroom, which has been mired in legal disputes with the National Trust for Historic Preservation after the unauthorized demolition of the White House’s East Wing, the arch project has encountered fewer bureaucratic hurdles.
The ‘Triumphal Arch’ will be constructed to mark the country’s 250th birthday, with festivities kicking off in Washington, D.C., Wednesday night with a light show projected onto all four sides of the Washington Monument.
Another way Trump plans to mark the country’s Semiquincentennial is with Ultimate Fighting Championship fights on the White House’s South Lawn. That event will mark his birthday, too.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday divulged more details about the UFC fight he planned to host at the White House and the ‘Triumph Arch’ being constructed in Washington. He attended a UFC fight in November 2024 (left) and held up models of the arch in October (right)
A model of the ‘Triumphal Arch,’ which has also been nicknamed the ‘Arc de Trump’ was captured sitting on the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office in October
He told Politico the date of the UFC fights will be June 14th – the day he turns 80.
He said ‘many matches, like 10,’ will take place on the White House grounds.
Trump said it would be up to his longtime friend, UFC President Dana White, who would be picking who’s fighting.
‘Well, Dana’s picking them. He’s the best fight-picker there is, right?’ Trump said. ‘He’s going to pick all of the top fighters. Going to be all championship matches. It’ll be the best ever, I think. Really incredible.’
Trump’s hands-on approach to projects like planning the UFC fight and the ‘Triumphal Arch’ is atypical for presidents, who are usually swamped with more policy-heavy agenda items.
But the White House has argued that the president can do it all – the same argument they made when Trump was pushing in the first term for an Air Force One redesign.
He’s since been gifted a Qatari jet that is expected to boast his desired red, white and blue color scheme.
Among the president’s more colorful projects, his White House ballroom has commanded the most attention.
President Donald Trump presented imagery of the Triumph Arch to a group who was donating to his White House ballroom project in mid-October
That’s because the White House did not initially say that the entire East Wing would be torn down to make way for the new construction.
When construction equipment started tearing through the East Wing’s facade in late October, the move was met with criticism from veterans of both Democratic and Republican administrations, particularly those who worked in the first ladies’ offices – which were historically housed there.
Trump has argued that the ballroom – and the archway – are his attempt to further beautify Washington, D.C.
When hosting ballroom donors in the East Room in mid-October, he touted the arch as well.
‘Every time somebody rides over that beautiful bridge to the Lincoln Memorial, they literally say something is supposed to be here,’ he said. ‘We have versions of it … this is a mockup.’
He pointed out the Arlington Memorial Bridge and the vacant traffic circle.
‘In 1902, they were going to put a statue of Robert E. Lee up,’ he added. ‘Would have been OK with me – would have been OK with a lot of people in this room.’
