A president who treats Washington like his chew toy

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/01/09/donald-trump-arch-oval-office/

It is incongruous that Donald Trump, who advertises his disdain for things European, wants to give us something that no one in his or her right mind wants: a knockoff of France’s Arc de Triomphe. Which is bad enough.

Given Trump’s gargantuan exercises of executive discretion regarding great matters of state, it might seem quaint to wonder why he cannot be stopped from treating Washington as his chew toy. This would be unworthy of our nation if he had exquisite taste. The fact that he revels in being a vulgarian takes a toll on the nation’s soul.

Trump’s Oval Office, stuffed to overflowing with gold bric-a-brac, might be beautiful to someone who is colorblind. Or to connoisseurs of high-end Gilded Age brothels. It would be nice if he would confine his ornamenting fidgets to Mar-a-Lago, about which we can say what a wit said of the State Department: It is like tundra — anything done to it would improve it. The Oval Office can be, as it were, visually fumigated quickly for the next occupant. Getting rid of an Arc de Trump would be resisted by curators of Trump’s legacy.

Trump has the terrible strength peculiar to people who are incapable of embarrassment, and cannot fathom that they look ridiculous. Recently, however, Republicans in the House of Representatives, hitherto impeccably obedient to him, seem to have become healthily embarrassed about their subservience. There have been silent insurrections.

Perhaps the Arc de Trump, its gold paint glistening when bathed by sunsets, will celebrate, in addition to its namesake, the triumph of U.S. forces in the Battle of Nuuk. With a population of less than 20,000, and boasting that its rush hour traffic lasts 15 minutes, Nuuk is the capital of, and largest city in, Greenland.