Architecture And Authoritarianism

 

There's an excellent article in The Conversation by archaeologist R. Grant Gilmore III about the relationship between architectural styles and authoritarian rule that points out several things that deranged narcissist the Malignant Fascist is doing with his makeover of Washington: the gaudy royal ballroom that the East Wing had to make way for, and the "Arc de Trump" at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.  Some excerpts from the article, with our emphasis added:

"In his first term as president, and even more so today, Donald Trump has pushed to an extreme legacy-building through architecture and heritage policy. He is remaking the White House physically and metaphorically in his image, consistent with his long record of putting his name on buildings as a developer.

In December 2020, Trump issued an executive order declaring classical and traditional architectural styles the “preferred” design for new federal buildings. The order derided Brutalist and modernist structures as inconsistent with national values.

Now, Trump is seeking to roll back inclusive historical narratives at U.S. parks and monuments. And he is reviving sanitized myths about America’s history of slavery, misogyny and Manifest Destiny, for use in museums, textbooks and public schools."

Dictators and authoritarians use architecture in building monuments to themselves, and the MF's massive neediness has meant the construction of temples to his own ego:

"Many leaders throughout history have built “temples to power” while erasing or overshadowing the memory of their predecessors – a practice known as damnatio memoriae, or condemnation to oblivion. [snip]

Albert Speer’s and Hermann Giesler’s monumental neoclassical designs in Nazi Germany, such as the party rally grounds in Nuremberg, were intended to overwhelm the individual and glorify the regime. And Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union suppressed avant-garde experimentation in favor of monumental “socialist realist” architecture, projecting permanence and centralized power.

Now, Trump has proposed building his own triumphal arch in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial, as a symbol to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence." 

Gilmore explains that the MF is using architecture to send a message of exclusion and dominance: 

"In remaking the White House and prescribing the style and content of many federal sites, Trump is targeting not just buildings but the stories they tell.

By challenging narratives that depart from white, Anglo-Saxon origin myths, Trump is using his power to roll back decades of work toward creating a more inclusive national history.

These actions ignore the fact that America’s strength lies in its identity as a nation of immigrants."

There's much more in Gilmore's article that's well worth the read.  It clarifies what the MF is intending to not only build, but to destroy in his wake.

(photo: The dictator and his ballroom / Aaron Schwartz, EPA,  Shutterstock)