Draft Dodger's Vanity Arch Will Cast Shadow Over Arlington National Cemetery

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist 

On May 13, 1864, Private William Christman of the Union Army became thte first person to be buried on land seized from the family of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.   One month and two days later Secretary of War Edwin Stanton approved the establishment of Arlington National Cemetery on 200 acres of that same land.  Today more than 400,000 individuals are buried at Arlington, along with thousands more arriving each year.   Two US Presidents (one of whom was a genuine war hero), fourteen justices of the US Supreme Court, and many past members of Congress are interred tere.   More than four hundred Medal of Honor recipients are buried or represented at Arlington National Cemetery.

Now, more than 160 years after young William Christman was laid to rest in the first grave at Arlington National Cemetery, US President Donald J. Trump, a man who went to great lengths to NOT serve in the US military, is planning to begin excavation work for a 250-foot tall Triumphal Arch" to be erected on property adjacent to the cemetery.    The enormous structure will distort views of many of the city's famed monuments, and cast a long, cold shadow over the cemetery itself.  

Even the grave of President John F. Kennedy, a man for whom Trump seems to harbor particular animus, will be in the shadow of Trump's arch.  (As a young US Naval lieutenant during World War II, Kennedy commanded a motor torpedo boat called the PT-109 in the South Pacific that was cut in half and sank when it was rammed by a Japanese destroyer.  Two crew members were killed on the spot, but Kennedy led the ten other survivors (11 including himself) in a swim across three miles of shark-infested waters to safety - including one wounded sailor whom Kennedy pulled (by biting into the man's life jacket strap) as he swam.

John F. Kennedy, like Trump, grew up in wealth and privilege, but that is where their similarities end.

Yesterday, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a Trump appointee, announced that excavation would would begin for the foundations of the massive arch within two weeks.  The project will commence without any approval from Congress and even without the final approval of the Trump-appointed-and-controlled "National Capital Planning Commission."   

There are lawsuits pending from Veteran's organizations to stop the project.

What's the big rush to get things rolling even before Trump's puppet committee issues its final approval?  Except for Natalie, who could possibly know the wandering mind of Donald Trump?

Here's one scenario:

Trump had the East Wing of the White House knocked down, basically in secret, without seeking anyone's approval.  Once it was down, something had to be done to cover the hole in the ground, so why not build a ballroom?  Trump initially announced that his rich friends would pay for the new ballroom, but as he kept demanding more square footage, marble, and gold, the cost rose significantly and now it looks as though taxpayers will pay for the brunt f Trump's vanity ballroom -  lucky us - and Trump's pet Congress is too afraid of his wrath to oppose him on anything.  

But the days of having a pet Congress may be numbered with some political prognosticators predicting that Republicans could lose control of both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections.  

As of yet the Trump administration has not asked Congress for either permission or money to build his vanity arch - the one that would look down on the Lincoln Memorial as well as the gravesite of John F. Kennedy, firmly establishing, in Trump's mind at least, his ultimate superiority over those particular presidential predecessors.    Trump claims permission from Congress is not necessary because the project falls under the management of the Department of the Interior.  (And that is the basis for some of the Veteran's lawsuits which claim Congressional permission must be sought and granted for the eyesore to be erected - and that certain federal reviews must be completed ahead of the project.)   Trump claims that arch will be built with private contributions and money already within the budget that will be "repurposed" for the construction of the arch.

So he has a plan, similar to the charade that was involved in constructing his ballroom, and he has to get started - get some earth moved and some cement poured - BEFORE the November elections, elections which could very well reveal that a majority Democratic Congress will be seated in January - a Congress that will not play nearly as nice as the one Trump has bullied for the past twso years.

The new Congress might have enough backbone to bring the arch, and maybe even the ballroom, to an abrupt halt - and Trump is fixated on getting both to the point where they will be hard to take down.

And the upcoming elections aren't the only clocks that Donald Trump is fighting.  There is a scary old man wearing a hooded robe and carrying a scythe who is calmly and relentlessly working his way toward each of us - regardless of how much crypto we own.