Architecture Critic Analyzes Trump's Washington Aesthetic Plans and Historical Parallels

Paul Goldberger, writing in The New York Times on March 13, 2026, examines how Donald Trump is reshaping Washington, D.C.'s architectural character. Goldberger discusses Trump's proposed 250th anniversary arch and compares his approach to historical figures like Mussolini and Hitler, who used monumental architecture to project power and legacy. The article references Mussolini's Foro Italico in Rome, built between 1928 and 1938, as an example of fascist architecture that remains intact today. Goldberger suggests Trump views Washington as insufficiently grand and seeks to remake it according to his aesthetic preferences, drawing parallels to authoritarian leaders' use of built environments for self-glorification.