commentary The president's grand plans for the nation's capital aren't just personal monuments. They are rooted in erasure Published May 7, 2026 9:45AM (EDT) President Donald Trump holds a model of his proposed triumphal arch (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) When I was an undergraduate student at The George Washington University in the early 2000s, I used to take a couple of textbooks and trek down 23rd Street — past the Watergate and the Kennedy Center in the distance on my right, and the State Department complex on my left — to the Lincoln Memorial. I had a study spot I considered my own that offered a respite from university life, as well as a reminder of the weight of history surrounding me in the city I was learning to call home.…