President Donald Trump walked through the Kennedy Center recently and spent time test-driving renovation chairs with Sen. Lindsey Graham, debating which seating options would best serve future audiences. It was a moment that captured something essential about where Trump's attention has landed as his second term hits turbulent waters.
With war erupting in Iran, inflation cresting at 4.2 percent, and his approval rating sinking to 42 percent, Trump is channeling energy into reshaping Washington itself. The president has become consumed by construction projects that span from a 250-foot arch near the Lincoln Memorial to a new ballroom at the White House to restored fountains across the capital. He speaks about these renovations with a fervor that noticeably dims when discussing military operations or economic pressures.
The contrast is stark. When asked about the Iran conflict that has cost 13 American lives and pushed gas prices over $4 a gallon, Trump deflected. "I don't define it at all. I don't think about it. I just do what I have to do," he told NBC News. Days later, Iran downed a U.S. Apache helicopter. When pressed on inflation frustrating consumers, Trump said simply, "I love the inflation," predicting it would drop once the war concludes. Democrats seized on the comment as evidence of a president disconnected from ordinary Americans struggling at the pump and grocery store.
Yet Trump's mood remains buoyant. People close to him describe a president upbeat about midterm prospects despite Republican lawmakers' growing anxiety. His preferred candidates recently toppled incumbent senators John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy, plus Rep. Thomas Massie, each viewed as insufficiently loyal to Trump's movement. A political aide close to the president said Trump "controls the Republican Party" and views the midterms with confidence even as fellow Republicans fret.
The fixation on D.C. beautification has become inescapable in his public schedule. During a June roundtable on farming in Wisconsin, Trump spent seven minutes of his 45-minute opening remarks showcasing Washington projects. He brought printouts and poster boards comparing the Reflecting Pool's size to famous skyscrapers. An announcement on coal opened with a laptop display of water surging into the newly refurbished pool. He showed the same size-comparison poster twice.
Republican lawmakers are growing restless. One House Republican said Trump wasn't doing enough to show supporters he's delivering on promised agenda. "It's an angry electorate out here, and time is running short," the lawmaker said. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota offered blunt geography. "Once you get past that river over there, no one gives a rat's pajamas about the infrastructure in Washington, D.C.," Cramer said, referring to the Potomac. "People out in North Dakota care about the price of gas."
During an Oval Office meeting about housing affordability, most time vanished as Trump discussed his arch and golf course projects, the reflecting pool renovation, and the ballroom. At one point, he took a speakerphone call with a golfer while others waited. The person in the room said Trump didn't appear upset, just determined to discuss his building plans.
For a former real estate developer, this obsession runs deep. Ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the projects Trump's form of "therapy." Newt Gingrich watched Trump halt a golf outing to summon a groundskeeper and spend five minutes explaining landscape changes he wanted made. Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and longtime Trump friend, reframed the impulse as restoration. "He was enraged by the disrepair of Washington, D.C., the heart of America," Barrack said. "'How can I receive the leaders of the world here?'"
Trump has demolished the White House East Wing, installed flagpoles, paved over the Rose Garden, added gold ornamentation to the Oval Office, and pushed forward with the Arc de Triomphe-inspired arch. He announced plans for a promenade extending from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Potomac. In a June social media post, he shared pictures of sculptures being "re-gilded" near the arch construction site.
The stock market is thriving and the nation added 172,000 jobs in May, yet only 38 percent of Americans believe the country's best years lie ahead. Most say America's golden age is behind it. Trump's approval sits at its second-term low as midterm elections loom. His party controls thin congressional majorities that political analysts worry Trump's focus on monumental architecture won't help preserve.
There is one small irony in Trump's architectural legacy. Last December, workers added his name to the Kennedy Center, giving him billing above the slain president the building was designed to honor. A federal judge ruled in May that the board lacked authority for the rename. On the eve of Trump's 80th birthday, workers began removing his name from the facade on Saturday night.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Trump's obsession with marble and monuments feels almost theatrical when Americans are worried about groceries and gas, and it may be exactly the kind of tone-deaf distraction that haunts the party come November."
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