President Trump is looking to make his mark on the White House and Washington, D.C., and not just politically.
The longtime real estate developer has either announced or embarked on a number of construction and renovation projects across the nation’s capital.
“I have two jobs,” Trump said in late 2025, the presidency being just one of them. “I have a construction job, which is really like relaxation for me because I have been doing it my entire life.”
Some of those changes are seemingly temporary, like the huge banners of Trump’s face hanging from the Justice Department, Department of Agriculture and other federal buildings. Several concern the decor and aesthetics of the White House, like the paved-over Rose Garden and gilded Oval Office. Others are matters of nomenclature, like the addition of Trump’s name to the signs on the Kennedy Center and U.S. Institute of Peace buildings.
Neil Flanagan, an architect and public historian in D.C., says while Trump had aesthetic ambitions during his first term, his “insistence on making it so much about his own style and his own brand and wearing this glory of America’s past is distinct to this term.” Many of his initiatives are connected to the country’s upcoming 250th anniversary in July.
“They all sort of declare the glory of America rather than actually building any kind of growth or future for America,” Flanagan says. “If you’re trying to slash the science budget … at the same [as you’re] building these grand monuments, you’re not building a creative America, you’re wearing a great American past as a costume.”
Flanagan says that compared to previous presidents, Trump is displaying less “deference to producing an outcome that matched with … previous plans and then also some level of subjective expertise.”
Many of Trump’s proposals have sparked backlash and legal challenges, even as federal planning agencies packed with administration allies move them forward. Congress could intervene, Flanagan says, but is unlikely to do so as long as both chambers are controlled by Republicans.
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