Did you know that President Trump is defiling the White House—indeed, all of Washington D.C.—by installing statues, cleaning up the reflecting pool, kicking homeless “campers” off the grounds of Union Station, and fixing fountains?
It’s appalling!
“All told, the statues dating to his second term are of negligible artistic value,” Maxwell Anderson, the former president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, wrote in an email. Anderson also drew comparisons between Trump’s preferences and what he said were similar…
— Jamie Gangel (@jamiegangel) July 20, 2026
“All told, the statues dating to his second term are of negligible artistic value,” Maxwell Anderson, the former president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, wrote in an email. Anderson also drew comparisons between Trump’s preferences and what he said were similar practices by dictators who led North Korea and the Soviet Union.”
@MaxAndersonUSA
Commenters on the Washington Post X feed jumped in with comments about Jefferson being a slaveholder; the story itself went into great depth about the donor of some of the statues, Harlan Crow, who collects statues and is a friend of Clarence Thomas; and most of all went into how Trump has bad taste in art.
The piece brings to five the number of sculptures Trump has installed in the Rose Garden, joining George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, as well as a sculpture called “Freedom’s Charge,” which honors Revolutionary War soldiers. The Franklin, Hamilton and “Freedom’s Charge” sculptures are on loan from Harlan Crow, a conservative art collector and political donor who had installed them on his Old Parkland corporate campus in Dallas, a spokesperson for Crow confirmed. The White House has not previously disclosed where the statues originated, saying only that they were on loan from “generous private American patriots.”
The White House declined to comment on Crow’s loan of the statues. A spokesman wrote in a statement that the president is pushing “to beautify and honor our Nation’s Capital during America’s historic 250 anniversary celebrations.”
Trump on Sunday posted a flurry of messages related to his Washington renovation projects to Truth Social, including photos of cleaned-up statues outside of the White House and Union Station. He has spent years calling for more statues that recognize prominent Americans, particularly the nation’s Founding Fathers, past U.S. presidents and other figures that Trump says deserve special recognition.
“The President enjoys showcasing American Excellence and those Americans who exemplify excellence,” Rodney Mims Cook Jr., a designer and Trump appointee who chairs the Commission of Fine Arts, wrote in a text message.
This effort makes Trump look more and more like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, you see, even though none of these statues is a 20-foot celebration of himself.
What he really should have done is focus on abstract art, and keep the Brutalist style of federal architecture alive.
Some art critics argue that Trump’s emphasis on memorializing specific people, rather than commissioning abstract works that evoke broader themes and feelings, is a lost opportunity.
“All told, the statues dating to his second term are of negligible artistic value,” Maxwell Anderson, the former president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, wrote in an email. Anderson also drew comparisons between Trump’s preferences and what he said were similar practices by dictators who led North Korea and the Soviet Union.
“President Trump’s embrace of an official classicizing style in art and architecture finds its closest equivalent in authoritarian regimes,” Anderson wrote.
The sculptures have given Trump an unusually direct way to reshape the White House grounds and the broader capital city — albeit with moves that can be more easily reversed than his construction projects, such as his White House ballroom addition. Trump has planned an expansive sculpture garden in West Potomac Park, where he hopes to feature 250 “American heroes,” ranging from athletes such as Muhammad Ali and Kobe Bryant to Canadian TV host Alex Trebek. The president is also overseeing the cleaning and renovation of existing statues in parks across Washington, and he has celebrated the regilding of several statues near the Lincoln Memorial.
One of the most bizarre aspects of the liberal mindset is the war against beauty, whether it is found in the human form or in great architecture. Socialist and communist countries are famous for their hideous architecture, and the modernist movement in architecture was explicitly driven by socialist values.
Ugly stuff like the FBI Headquarters in D.C. is the height of this movement.
The funny thing is…Americans strongly prefer classical architecture, famously abhor abstract art, and often say so loudly.
Harris did a poll and found overwhelming support that rejects the “elite’s” preferences:
According to the poll’s results:
An overwhelming majority of Americans – more than 7 in 10 (72%) – prefer traditional architecture for U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings.
Democrats (70%), Republicans (73%), and Independents (73%) all agree on their preference for traditional architecture.
Preference for traditional architecture unites majorities of Baby Boomers (age 65+) and Gen-Z (age 18-34). Traditional styles are the choice of 77% of those aged 65 or older, and 68% of those aged 18-34.
Women are more likely than men to prefer traditional architecture for a U.S. courthouse or federal office building – 77% vs. 67%, respectively.
Majorities of black (62%), Hispanic (65%), and white (75%) Americans prefer traditional architecture.
A preference for traditional architecture bridges regional divides: 73% prefer it in the Northeast, 73% in the South, 74% in the Midwest, and 69% in the West.
The typical markers of “elite” status – higher earning and education levels – do not diminish a preference for traditional architecture. It is the clear choice of Americans making a household income under $50,000 (73%) and those making a household income over $100,000 (70%); those with a high school degree or less (72%); and those with a bachelor’s degree or greater (72%).
Among the most preferred buildings were those with a neoclassical design. Among the least preferred were Brutalist structures. The traditional buildings that Americans prefer most among those shown are: National Archives Building (83%), Gene Snyder U.S. Courthouse and Custom House (81%), and William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building – EPA HQ (81%). The three modern style buildings that were at the bottom of the list of those Americans preferred are: Robert C. Weaver Federal Building – HUD HQ (19%), Hammond Federal Courthouse (19%), and Hubert H. Humphrey Building – HHS HQ (17%).
It’s not even close.
That, more than anything else, is what drives the cultural elite nuts.
The findings of the NCAS/The Harris poll are especially significant since under the government’s current program for choosing architects, only 6 of the 78 federal buildings constructed have been classical or traditional – or just 8%.
“At a time when Americans are deeply divided across so many areas, it’s heartening to see that the vast majority of us can at least agree on federal architecture,” says NCAS President Justin Shubow. “The results of this poll should hardly come as a surprise. Americans have long cherished classical and traditional architecture for their federal buildings both for their beauty and because they are widely accepted symbols of our democracy. Such dignified buildings connect us to our heritage, and are associated with continuity, equality, openness, and precedent. They are courthouses that look like courthouses, and public buildings that look public. The design of federal buildings should reflect the aesthetic and symbolic preferences of the people they are built to serve. Nonetheless, for over 60 years architectural elites, Modernist mandarins, and a coterie of critics have foisted their antithetical preferences on federal design.”
Just as the “trust the science” people think they have access to some secret knowledge and know better than everybody else, and the technocrats believe they know better, the people who design our public spaces spurn the opinions of the people for whom they are supposed to work.
Would I prefer less gilt in the Oval Office? Sure, but if I have to choose between Trump’s vision of the public square and the cultural elite’s, it’s not even a contest.
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