Make D.C. Mar-a-Lago: A Mad King’s Blueprint
How Trump's unhinged vision of greatness is slipping out of sight
It’s a scene from a movie: Trump looks out his White House window at Washington D.C., shaking his head because something isn’t right. People are walking around in business suits, next to homeless people with shopping carts, next to protesters holding a mess of homemade, cardboard signs.
The greenery, though landscaped, is uneven and varied, marked by a four-season climate and uncontrolled street-savvy wildlife. And the mishmash architecture of antiquated office buildings, diners, housing, and government buildings is so disturbingly uneven.
This is nothing like the pristine environment of Mar-a-Lago.
Ahh… Mar-a-Lago! Lush, manicured lawns, perfectly spaced palm trees, and pristine beaches. As far as the eye can see, only Spanish Revival mansions, Palm Beach zoning-approved perfection here. No glance of intruders, no sign of poverty—just country club people riding around predictably on golf carts. An occasional flock of seagulls spotting the horizon.
And suddenly, Trump has an idea. He’s now the richest, most powerful man alive…why can’t he make D.C. into Mar-a-Lago?
Out with the old, flawed grass, in with the golf course greens! Out with the boring old pauper walls, in with gold-plated accents. Out with the homeless, in with the National Guard. Out with the dissenters and off with their heads!
Piece by piece, it could be possible—Trump could turn this city around.
Every architect has a vision of what they think is beautiful, whether they’re sketching a garden, a park, a home, or a skyscraper. Often, ideas of what is ideal come out of a sort of leaning of the profession at the time. This is why we have, for instance, recognizable eras of Art Deco, Colonial, Victorian, and Modern design. Additionally, each creator takes their experience, preferences, and inspirations, and turns out a unique product.
The same is true for eras of governance, we tend to step with the trends and ideas of the time. Though personal ideas and experiences shine through, we are marked by our connection to the world around us. Unless, somehow, we manage to completely disconnect from it.
When that happens, I think a vision is ultimately doomed.
Trump’s is an old, uncreative style, stuck in impossible visions of control and hopelessly stereotypical ideas of beauty. They weave in and out of his political maneuvers and tangible surroundings, and lately they seem to be kind of looped together in a double knot.
Beauty is shiny, expensive things. Pass tax breaks for billionaires and starve out the unsightly poor from the budget. Build a presidential ballroom, adorn the office with gold, and redo the shabby lawns. Evict the homeless from the city.
Beauty is order. Demand complete loyalty from federal workers and agencies. Pave over the rose garden (that is impractical for high heels) with a paved plaza. Install “the best you can get” flagpole that eliminates noise from the wind. Send out National Guard to D.C.
Beauty is uniformity. Deport immigrants from the US, breaking apart vibrant, diverse communities. Fill Presidential Cabinet with loyalist, wealthy white people. Balance gobs of golden frames and trinkets uniformly throughout White House. Target D.C.’s Black and Hispanic neighborhoods with stifling law enforcement presence.
His vision is certainly ambitious, but it’s also been done before. And it fails miserably every time.
The US has long been fighting back against ideological leaders and overstepping experts when it comes to community management. Including diverse perspectives, lived experiences, and local knowledge is a cornerstone of today’s best practices in almost any planning or governance profession.
In fact, seeing a multitude of communities and their unique organization and problem solving is considered beautiful to many people, in this day and age.
It’s a landmark of freedom and collective power.
Trump’s standards of beauty in interior design are similarly detached from the current American ethos. Not only has the gaudy, gold-plated palace fallen firmly into the tasteless category, its symbolism is fraught with problematic overtones. To feel the distinct out-of-touchness of Trump’s White House makeover, we don’t necessarily need to know the backstory of how gold-adorned castles and gilded objects were made popular and obsessed over by power-hungry royalty of the past.
But it sure is interesting, given the way that Trump is making the people’s house his own.
The way he’s claiming rights to the city around it is also quite mad-king-esque. In the local vernacular he sees filth, not culture. In streets full of protest and expression, he sees crime. Not recognizing the organized chaos as part of discourse and democracy, he views our capital city as a “shithouse”, and he seems to be insulted that he’s associated with it.
Does it stir something in you? I feel a rising in my chest. I sense a clenching of my fist. I feel the stirrings from centuries ago, the splash of barrels of tea hitting the water. The pounding of horse hooves as they race across the land to unite citizens against invading soldiers. The indignant who do you think you are? and who do you think we are? of the American fight for independence.
Every move Trump makes screams of his yearning to be royalty. His entitled tantrums and myopic all-caps proclamations are drifting further away from a reality anchored in democracy. He’s quickly losing the recognition that he is accountable to anyone, and is doubling down on the idea that he can manifest a reality in which voters don’t matter.
At the same time, citizens are growing more and more aware of our role in standing up against tyranny. We’re connected more than ever to the US’s glory days of fighting for freedom. We’re scoffing at the idea of loyalty and obedience to leaders, to parties, and to a political system capable of selling out its people for a few wealthy billionaires.
Down with the crown. Down with a king for a day, or what’s now turning into a term. Down with oppression. Right now, red hats might as well be red coats.
Trump’s loyal soldiers are almost as out of touch as their wannabe monarch. They can’t read the signs of revolution as people crowd the street, challenge their authority, and demand answers of why they have stopped representing the interests of their constituents.
The whole Republican playbook is now founded on allegiance to wealthy benefactors. The GOP is bent on eliminating the power of voters…or, if you will, taxation without representation. The classic American blunder.
But with every abusive, disillusioned move they make, our historical roles and responsibilities become clearer. We’re ready to revolutionize, desperate to reinvent fair representation, and needing to repair what we see now are critical flaws.
We still have freedom. And we’re not about to let it slip away.
With love and hope for the future,
Stephanie
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What does the No Kings movement stir in you? Is it just me, or are you all revisiting Hamilton?
Just like this post, the movement has me fired up!
Great piece, per usual. Thanks for doing what you do!