As Trump’s Proposed Arch Looms Over D.C., Protesters Pin Hopes on the Midterms

Dozens of veterans, retirees, activists and Democratic lawmakers gathered at Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C., at rush hour Thursday to protest President Trump’s proposed 250-foot “Triumphal Arch,” a monument they say would desecrate the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery and proceed without the congressional authorization federal law requires, according to NPR.

With the project hurtling toward final federal approval and an unresolved lawsuit in federal court, opponents are increasingly pinning their hopes on the November 2026 midterm elections — betting that a shift in the balance of power in Congress could halt construction before it begins.

A Monument in Dispute

The arch is proposed for Memorial Circle, a traffic island on the Arlington Memorial Bridge connecting the National Mall to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where more than 400,000 service members, veterans and family members are buried. At 250 feet, the structure would be 86 feet taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; organizers at Thursday’s protest stood beside a tarp mockup they said the real arch would dwarf 32 times over.

Its purpose has shifted repeatedly. Trump first described the arch in October 2025 as a monument to “me.” The administration later cast it as a tribute to the nation’s 250th anniversary and a tourist attraction, then, in September 2026, as a “top grade Military Complex” equipped with drones, snipers, ammunition storage and an observation deck.

“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 veterans suing the administration, according to NPR.

Veterans Lead the Opposition

The protest, billed “Vets over Vanity,” was organized in part by Public Citizen, the consumer-advocacy group leading the lawsuit on behalf of three Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian. The suit, filed in February 2026, hinges on the Commemorative Works Act and Title 40 of the U.S. Code, which require congressional authorization for new memorials on federal land in Washington.

“The starting point for a monument like this is an act of Congress saying, ‘Hey, we need to build a monument,’” Public Citizen attorney Nicolas Sansone told NPR. The administration argues Congress already approved the project through a 1925 law authorizing a pair of 166-foot columns at the same location that were never built.

The site’s symbolic role is central to the case. Memorial Circle was designed to create a visual connection between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, a sightline critics say the arch would obstruct. As Newsweek reported, organizers distributed a statement arguing the arch would “impede the symbolic line-of-sight between the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. and Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.”

Gundersen, who traveled from South Carolina to speak at the rally, put it more bluntly: “Imagine tourists coming up to this arch looking at the 24 to 27 funerals up there in Arlington. It’s not only wrong and inappropriate, it’s obscene.”

A Vexed Approval Process

The arch has cleared a series of federal hurdles with unusual speed. The Commission of Fine Arts, packed with Trump appointees, gave final design approval in May 2026. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) granted preliminary approval in June, with Evan Cash casting the sole no vote. Final NCPC approval is expected at its meeting in early November.

In the last week of September, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation abruptly terminated its review after only two meetings, announcing it would send recommendations directly to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum by Oct. 7. Charles Birnbaum, who participated in the process as head of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, told NPR he was appalled, describing the decision as “whiplash-inducing.”

“Projects go to the advisory council when there is a stalemate that people have tried to negotiate … and there is an authenticity to that process,” Birnbaum said. “They’re going to force this upon the process and they’re going to nullify outside voices.”

The military-complex framing has added another layer of complication. As NPR reported, the White House, Interior Department and National Park Service did not respond to questions about plans to submit new proposals for review, and the Federal Aviation Administration referred questions to the White House.

Harold Hongju Koh, a former State Department legal advisor at Yale Law School, called the national-security justification “laughable and pretextual.” “Immigration is for national security. Terrorists are for national security. Building a border wall is for national security. Building a ballroom is for national security,” he said.

Aviation and Legal Risk

The arch would stand roughly two aeronautical miles from the main runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), one of the busiest in the country. Planes pass over the site every 45 to 60 seconds until 11 p.m.

After a months-long study, the FAA released an eight-page determination in September concluding the arch “would not be a hazard to air navigation,” provided it is continuously lit with a “non-standard eternal flame” on top and three floodlights at the base. The determination becomes final in late October unless a petition is filed by Oct. 18 — and the review did not account for military drones.

Aviation experts cited by NPR said the arch itself likely would not pose a significant risk to most aircraft, but added another variable to an already crowded, complex airspace — one still shadowed by the January 2025 midair collision near DCA that killed 67 people.

“This is just adding another hazard,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired accident investigator. “Granted, it might not be significant, but still, it’s yet another … opportunity for exposure to something bad happening.”

In early September, Burgum announced excavation would soon begin. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan intervened, ordering the administration to give 48 hours’ notice before any work activity on the site.

A Political Reckoning

Congressional Democrats have tried and failed to block the project. Earlier in the week, a single Republican senator blocked efforts to stop construction of the arch and 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,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois told NPR.

Opposition is not uniformly partisan. Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, a senior appropriator, said in September he would not support using Pentagon funds for the arch. And a group of six lawmakers — five Democrats and one Independent — wrote to Burgum demanding a halt, questioning its legality and citing the administration’s own findings about negative impacts on nearby historic sites.

Protesters, meanwhile, vowed not to let the arch proceed without a fight. “We have to continue to call in to our senators, our congresspeople, and let them say no to this arch,” said Julius D. “JD” Spain Sr., a member of the Arlington County Board, per WTOP. “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.”

Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, whose district includes Arlington, told NPR there is a “huge body of people ready to protest the moment they see a shovel.”

What to Watch

The coming weeks will be decisive. The Advisory Council is due to deliver recommendations to Burgum by Oct. 7; the FAA petition deadline is Oct. 18; and the NCPC is expected to weigh final approval in early November — the same month as the midterms.

Koh and other critics believe the administration is rushing construction specifically to beat the election, which could bring the arch to a halt when a new Congress convenes in January 2027.

Whether the project is stopped by the courts, by Congress, or by the ballot box remains an open question. What is clear, as Gundersen told the crowd at Memorial Circle, is that a broad coalition of veterans and preservationists intends to keep fighting — and that the midterms now loom as their most consequential lever.