Take Action Now

Representative Don Beyers from Northern Virginia already has 80 co-sponsors of House Resolution H.R. 9047 to stop the Arch.  Call your representative and ask her/him to sign on: 202-224-3121.

By U.S. Army Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright

Despite 9.5 hours of citizen testimony from 131 persons about construction of President Trump’s massive 250-foot EGO arch with 99.9% of the testimony to STOP the arch, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) voted 8 to 4 to allow construction.  The 8 who voted for the Arch are Trump loyalists and were appointed by Trump.

Over 100,000 written comments opposing the Arch have been sent to the NCPC. The plan to build it was rushed and skirted legal procedures and funding requirements under Title 40 U.S.C. § 8106.

Immediately after the vote that took place after 10pm on November 5, 2026, the Trump administration filed a notification with the federal court that construction would begin immediately.

That notification was followed within minutes by a 33-page injunction from U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to stop any construction for 14 days while the court continues to consider challenges to the legality of the monument.

Judge Chutkan wrote, “[T]he District and Virginia have offered
enough proof “indicating that the harm is certain to occur in the near future” to show irreparable harm.” She also wrote that “the most straightforward of Congress’s planning directives,” remains in force today. Now codified at 40 U.S.C. § 8106, the statute provides in full: “A building or structure shall not be erected on any reservation, park, or public grounds of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia without express authority of Congress.”

Reasons to Stop the Arch

More than 131 members of the public, including architects, historians and military veterans, demanded that the monument proposal be stopped as it would:

-Destroy the silence and solemnity of nearby Arlington National Cemetery,

-Be an affront due to Trump’s racist comments toward people and countries of color to the connections from Arlington House of the Confederacy through Memorial Circle, across Memorial Bridge to the Union’s Lincoln Memorial, an area that is the symbol of reunification of the United States after the Civil War to free African-American slaves from the horrific inhumanity of others (the history of which Trump is attempting to change in the Smithsonian Museum of American History),

-Be an affront to military members whom 5 times Vietnam draft deferment Trump has called “losers and suckers,”

-Would cost billions of dollars when the nation has dramatic human needs instead of a monument to the narcissism and ego of one President,

-Would be a hazard to aircraft approaching National airport no matter what the politicized current leadership of the FAA says (just ask the pilots on the next flight you take into National airport),

-Would disrupt rush-hour traffic into and out of Washington, DC for years (Over 27,000 vehicles, 1,100 cyclists, and 1,200 pedestrians pass by Memorial Circle on an average workday),

-Would become an unnecessary target in the nation’s capital as a well-publicized by Trump as storage depot for munitions and drones and,

-Would have snipers on the top of the monument, snipers who would decimate the flocks of geese that routinely fly into Memorial circle and would no doubt be considered by snipers as enemy drones approaching the monument, not to mention “suspect” citizens who may approach the monument.

We Need More Citizens Standing UP and Standing With US at Memorial Circle Each Day

4-6pm Vigil 

Each workday from 7-9am and 4-6pm, residents from Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia and Maryland come to Memorial Circle (Metro Blue line to Arlington Cemetery) to hold signs to “Stop the Arch.”

Please join us to see the beautiful sunrise over the Potomac in the 7am vigil and the colorful autumn colors of the trees along the Potomac in the sunset during the afternoon 4-6pm vigil.

Tens of thousands of our fellow residents travel through Memorial Circle in the morning and afternoon rush hour traffic—and you will be rewarded with thousands of honking horns showing support for Stopping the Arch!!!

Ask Your Congressional Representative to Sign Onto the Congressional Resolution Against the Arch

Representative Don Beyers from Northern Virginia already has 80 co-sponsors of House Resolution H.R. 9047 to stop the Arch.  Call your representative and ask her/him to sign on: 202-224-3121.

Link to 9.5 hours of testimony on November 5, 2026.

Excellent article and video about Stopping the ARCH.

About the Author: Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves.  She was also a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and resigned in 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq.

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