Opinion | Donald Trump dreams of a beautiful police state – ms.now

Opinion | Donald Trump dreams of a beautiful police state  ms.now

In a social media post Sunday, President Donald Trump announced a major update to the “triumphal arch” he intends to build in Washington. The president declared that the 250-foot structure will now also be a “top grade military complex” that launches drones and houses snipers on its roof. That’s quite a shift from previous design plans, which imagined the arch as a tourist attraction with visitors able to purchase tickets to a planned observation deck. The surprise transformation of the proposed arch’s intended purpose is likely grounded less in military needs than in flailing legal stratagems. But combining a fixation on aesthetics with the threat of violence is nothing new for this president.

Trump’s vision of a utopia has become inseparable from the tropes of dystopia as he works to transform America into a beautiful police state. Combining a fixation on aesthetics with the threat of violence is nothing new for this president. None of the agencies working on the arch have confirmed Trump’s claim that the change comes at “the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes.” The president’s assertion, however, closely resembles the administration’s arguments in ongoing lawsuits attempting to halt construction of a massive White House ballroom. It’s not hard to see Trump pre-emptively shifting the supposed necessity for the arch now