A lust for
supersizing … the plan for Trump’s triumphal arch. Photograph: US
Commission on Fine Arts/Reuters
Oliver
Wainwright, The Guardian - When
you have a developer as US president, you might expect some zhooshing up of the
capital. A few buildings renovated, maybe some parks replanted. But when you
have a megalomaniac builder in charge, things can get out of hand. A decade
ago, when Donald Trump was first elected, I asked what it might mean for the US
to be led by a real estate tycoon whose career had left a trail of broken
promises, angry buyers and endless lawsuits, with rules flouted, heritage
trampled and the world pockmarked by a fleet of aspirational towers clad with a
flimsy veneer of luxury. The answer is worse than I could have imagined.
With the air of a nightmarish
Hollywood sequel, Trump 2 has seen the president’s true architectural ambitions
unleashed: As America’s self-styled decorator-in-chief, Trump has not only
overseen the gilded mutilation of the White House, but embarked on the
Mar-a-Lagofication of Washington DC itself, applying his gold paintbrush to
statuary, daubing ponds with flaking pool liner, and brewing plans for a
colossal triumphal arch – all procured in a blizzard of no-bid contracts…..
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