Beyer calls Trump’s arch ‘stupid and dangerous’
Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th District), who represents the Annandale/Mason District area in Congress, issued a statement on Sept. 22 blasting President Trump’s plan to use a proposed “gigantic arch” for military drones and snipers.
The proposed 250-foot-tall “triumphal arch” would be located between the end of Memorial Bridge and Arlington National Cemetery.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Sept. 20 that the arch would serve as a “top-grade military complex” that would be used to “house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.”
“Putting a drone-launching site directly in the landing path for DCA [Reagan National Airport] is a stupid, dangerous, and unworkable idea,” Beyer said. “But if Trump wants to pursue it, the FAA’s prior work over the past six months to rubber-stamp this proposal with a dubious safety study will be obsolete, and they will have to do it all over again.”
“Likewise, Trump’s notion to make his vanity arch an ammunition depot for ‘snipers’ in a location where snipers have never been needed would place a large weapons cache within feet of thousands of tourists, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers on major commuter traffic thoroughfares and Metro’s Blue Line,” Beyer said. “Such work would necessitate a redo of all prior impact studies, some of which remain unreleased if they were ever done at all.”
“Of course, Trump is not serious about any of this. He just wants this massive monument to his own ego built by any means available, and he has been told that he is likely to lose court challenges,” Beyer continued.
“He hopes to use national security as a ludicrous pretext to force construction through, just as he did with his wildly expensive White House ballroom boondoggle,” Beyer said. “The overwhelming local opposition to Trump’s illegal and disrespectful vanity arch will not be defeated by this chicanery. The Narcissist in Chief is not fooling anyone.”
Veterans’ organizations, historians, and other Democratic lawmakers oppose the arch, noting that it would block views of Arlington National Cemetery. The National Park Service found the arch would have substantial adverse effects on regional historic sites and sightlines, but approved it anyway.
On Sept. 18, the Federal Aviation Administration determined that the arch posed no hazard to air navigation, but that was before Trump announced the structure would be used as a launch pad for “large numbers of drones.”
Beyer is up for re-election in the Nov. 3 midterms. His opponents include Republican Tony Sabio, Tim Sharman, an independent; and Shelly Arnoldi, a libertarian and self-described “warrior mom,” who has posted Antisemitic tropes on social media, including a video that includes Hitler’s rants against Jews.
Early voting for the midterms is already underway at three locations. Voting at additional sites will start Oct. 22.