Donald Trump made it clear he wants his monument to dwarf anything Paris has to offer. As it turns out, the real measure of his latest vanity project is less about how tall it stands and more about how far it reaches. The project is a proposed 250-foot “Triumphal Arch” that Trump wants to build at Memorial Circle, the busy roundabout where Arlington Memorial Bridge meets the Virginia shore. It’s just steps from the gates of Arlington National Cemetery. Donald Trump’s planned 250-foot arch near Arlington National Cemetery would cast its shadow over more than 75,000 graves in a single year, according to a new analysis. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) In a desperate attempt to save the project, Trump’s Cabinet members are pushing a wild theory about why it’s needed. The White House has spent months pitching the arch as a centerpiece of America’s 250th birthday celebrations, and Trump’s latest renderings have made the design even more extravagant. ‘Imagine the Damage’: Leaked Documents Expose What Trump’s 250-Foot Arch Will Do to Arlington — as He Ignores His Own Team ‘What Is He Trying to Hide?’: Trump Scrambles as Missing Messages Threaten to Blow the Kennedy Center Scandal Wide Open as the Tarps Remain Up But when reporters recreated the arch down to scale, they discovered its footprint doesn’t end at the base. At certain times of day, the arch would cast a long shadow across some of the nation’s most sacred ground, and the list of what it touches reads like a roll call of American sacrifice. Over the course of a single year, the shadow would fall on more than 75,000 graves at Arlington. That’s according to a to-scale 3D model created by The Washington Post. Their report found that the proposed arch’s shadow would reach burial sites at Arlington on 284 days a year. Graves of veterans who served in the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam could all fall within its shadow. The shadow could cover the graves of veterans who served in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam. It could also reach the headstones of formerly enslaved people. That adds another painful dimension to the proposal. The cemetery once housed Freedman’s Village, a settlement for Black people who escaped slavery during the Civil War. The Post found the shadow would cross John F. Kennedy’s eternal flame 18 days a year. It would darken his memorial on 50 days and reach the Military Women’s Memorial on 109 days. At dusk, the shadow would stretch across the bridge toward the National Mall. It would reach the Lincoln Memorial in fall and winter. It would also cover parts of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and Reflecting Pool more than 30 days a year. Then there’s the flame. The proposed arch would have its own eternal flame, creating a striking contrast on certain days. On July 28, Jacqueline Kennedy’s birthday, the arch’s shadow could fall over John F. Kennedy’s gravesite while its own flame burns. After her husband’s 1963 assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy insisted workers install an eternal flame at his grave. She later explained, “I care about that flame.” Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, whose parents are buried at Arlington, didn’t mince words, calling the arch “a sacrilege.” The administration, of course, sees it differently. White House spokesman Davis Ingle insisted the arch would “enhance the visitor experience” at the cemetery. Meanwhile, an Interior Department spokesperson dismissed the Post’s analysis as “flawed,” according to The Daily Beast. The department claimed its modeling showed the arch’s shadow would touch a small part of the cemetery for fewer than two weeks in March. But Raw Story noted Interior’s 23 pages of simulations lacked methodology and largely matched The Post’s analysis. Online, many people didn’t buy the spin. “Every single group of people he hates/has extreme disdain for in one swoop: BIPOC people, women, soldiers and vets,” one Threads user wrote. Another suspected the darkness was the whole point. “That feels like it’s being done on purpose lol,” they wrote. “He’s trying to overshadow all that?!” “Im pretty sure thats why he wants it so big gaudy,” a third chimed in. Someone else added, “This is meant as a monument to himself.” One more person simply pleaded, “Stop the insanity!” Trump has never hidden his desire for a bigger monument. He has boasted that he “had to have it a little bit larger” than Paris’ 164-foot Arc de Triomphe. The plans have only grown more elaborate since. In September, he announced that the proposed arch would double as a military complex, with snipers, drones and storage for large quantities of ammunition. The project still faces legal hurdles. In February, three Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian sued the administration, arguing that Trump bypassed the congressional approval required to build new monuments in the nation’s capital. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is weighing their request to halt the project, has already ordered the administration to give 48 hours’ notice before any work begins at the site. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin are urging a judge to save Trump’s proposed 250-foot vanity arch. Both men argued in sworn declarations filed Wednesday that it could defend the capital against enemy drones. They portrayed the monument as a military installation despite official blueprints lacking those provisions. Still, the clock is ticking. The National Capital Planning Commission, now stacked with Trump allies, is scheduled to vote on the final plans on Nov. 5, with groundbreaking possible soon after. For families visiting those 75,000 graves, the president’s shadow could arrive long before a judge’s ruling. View on Threads Trump’s Massive 250-Foot Victory Arch Has One Problem Nobody Saw Coming, and It Lands Right on Top of Over 75,000 Graves at Arlington National Cemetery ...read more read less