Ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday, President Donald Trump has made it clear he wants to make some serious improvements to America’s capital while he’s there.
A number of his plans, from a White House ballroom to a massive triumphal arch, are eye-catching projects with an impact likely to stretch generations into the future.
Others are more subtle, but still go along with the general trend of beautifying and preserving the unique history of DC.
The Hill provided coverage of one such recent announcement by the Interior Department:
The Interior Department on Thursday said it would regild the four gold-plated Arts of War and Arts of Peace equestrian statues near the Lincoln Memorial.
Each of the statues were sent as a gift to the U.S. from Italy about 75 years ago.
The new regilding project is slated to cost $5.1 million and marks the latest million-dollar effort to renovate or update existing architecture in the nation’s capital. Most recently, President Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have touted updates to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“We’re auramaxxing Washington, D.C. ahead of America’s 250th birthday,” the department wrote in a post on social platform X, embracing a Gen Z lifestyle term focused on maximizing your “aura.”
The administration said preparations for America’s 250th birthday celebrations are accelerating, resulting in the first regilding of the four statues since 1971. The effort was first reported by NOTUS.
The project soon began to attract attention on social media:
So you mean selling a 2 bed q bath house in California can make our capital look 100 times better?
— JoeyGu (@JoeyGu2001) June 5, 2026
Under Biden, DC turned into an utter shithole, and Democrats like it that way.
— Populo Iratus (@astronomy89) June 4, 2026
Here’s some additional coverage from ABC News about plans for a related project:
Wonderful great leaders through out history were builders. Because of them we have the Roman Coliseum the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge , Interstate Freeway system Left wants to act like there is something bad about POTUS a builder building things
— Sierra (@SierraChris160) June 4, 2026
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced his administration intends to build a “promenade” to connect the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River.
“It’s called the promenade, will be the promenade. They want to call it the ‘Trump Promenade’ but I don’t know if I want to do that, but it’s going to be beautiful,” Trump said at an event in the Oval Office.
It would be the latest project in Trump’s effort to remake Washington, D.C., in his second term.
And here’s some additional coverage of his remarks:
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