There is François Mitterrand in Donald Trump. This same obsession with leaving an imprint in the concrete. This same desire to redefine the urban landscape under the guise of a state project. From Napoleon to Mitterrand, who built the Louvre pyramid, the new National Library and the Grande Arche de la Défense with public money, the temptation to mark the capital has always been very French. Trump made it a second term policy.
Unlike Paris, Washington does not lend itself well to this, however. The federal capital is often a city of quiet boredom: brutalist architecture, like the awful FBI headquarters, restaurants closed at 8 p.m., atmosphere of a giant sub-prefecture entirely devoted to administration. At the heart of this institutional languor, the 47th President of the United States is transforming the District of Columbia and, beyond, the entire country in his image and glory. With frenzy. Some would say with megalomania.
Trump has no qualms
In an America still steeped in a Protestant culture where ostentation is frowned upon, this display of construction sites and this desire to put one’s name everywhere is jarring. Gerald Ford refused to allow a courthouse in Grand Rapids, the city where he spent his childhood, to bear his name during his lifetime. Trump does not bother with these scruples. And too bad if it sounds vulgar.
The Kennedy Center, famous performance hall on the banks of the Potomac? From now on the Kennedy-Trump! The United States Institute of Peace, founded under Reagan, a stone’s throw from the Lincoln Memorial? The Donald J. Trump Peace Institute! Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia? A bill submitted to the House of Representatives suggests replacing the name of the man who served as Eisenhower’s secretary of state with the surname of the current president. Unlikely that change will take place.
In Florida, on the other hand, Ron DeSantis validated the principle of naming the Palm Beach airport “Donald Trump”. A way of anchoring the president in a territory that he has already made his own around Mar-a-Lago. In New York, according to the New York Times, Trump even discussed a deal with Chuck Schumer, leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate: billions to modernize the rail connection with New Jersey in exchange for an agreement to rename Penn Station, the most important station in the country, close to the Empire State Building, into “Trump Station”.
The ambitions in terms of heritage heritage do not stop with these name changes. On March 30, Trump unveiled a two-minute video presenting the first images of his future presidential library. A skyscraper bearing his name in giant letters dominating the Miami skyline. Inside, visitors enter through an arch adorned with the presidential seal. Military planes sit alongside a golden escalator – a replica of the one that Trump descended in 2015 at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy – and, in the lobby, a 747 Air Force One, of which we do not know whether it will be a copy or an authentic aircraft destined for retirement soon. Usually, these libraries serve as both archives and museums for history buffs and are rather simple. Trump’s flamboyant project contrasts with Barack Obama’s very academic project. The Democrat’s presidential library will be inaugurated in June in Chicago. Its detractors, first and foremost Trump, compare its austere architecture to “an office trash can”.
“I build myself a monument because no one else will”
The most visible symbol of this building rage is at the very heart of the White House. Since last summer, the lawns have been gutted. The wing was partly demolished to make way for a large ballroom. Estimated cost: $400 million, financed by private donations, particularly from tech. Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, marveled at the first shovels: “ The president has an extraordinary eye for detail. » Trump talks about it constantly, sometimes sketches in hand. “I build myself a monument because no one else will”he blurted.
In January, during a meeting with leaders of the oil industry, he interrupted the session, stood up, approached the window. “Look at that!” What a view! » he says, contemplating the rubble. Around him, JD Vance and Marco Rubio exchange a smile. The project does not stop at aesthetics. Under the future ballroom, a secure complex, between a bunker and a command center, is under construction… Patatras! A week ago, a federal judge ordered the immediate suspension of the construction site, considering that this extensive work, undertaken without formal approval from Congress, contravened the rules governing modifications to the presidential residence.
It is not enough to renovate the White House: we must also reinvent Washington. In October 2025, Trump presented his guests with models of a triumphal arch that he wanted to erect facing the Lincoln Memorial, on the other side of the Potomac, for the 250th anniversary of independence. Oversight of the project is entrusted to Vince Haley, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. It was immediately nicknamed by the press the “Trump Arc”. Trump laughs: “It will be like that of Paris. » Before changing your mind: “Frankly, it will outshine him in every way. »
Behind these projects lies something more childish, an almost touching candor in the aspiration for eternity. Trump’s dream has always been to have his face on Mount Rushmore. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who oversees the National Park Service, said there was “surely room” alongside Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.
Ambition goes beyond simple vanity. There is a real philosophy of the monument. François Mitterrand, designing his “Grands Travaux”, knew he was doomed by illness. Donald Trump knows that the political calendar is numbered. He only has a little over two years left to write his name in stone. So he builds quickly. A lot. Everywhere.
