As Trump's proposed arch looms over D.C., protesters pin their hopes on the midterms

Veterans, Democrats protest Trump's arch as midterms near Democratic lawmakers, veterans and concerned citizens gathered in Memorial Circle to protest the arch Trump wants to build there. Their hopes lie primarily in a lawsuit and next month's midterms.

Demonstrators gathered Thursday morning to protest Trump's proposed arch, which would stand in a traffic circle on the bridge connecting the National Mall to Arlington National Cemetery.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dozens of activists gathered at Memorial Circle in Washington, D.C., at rush hour Thursday to protest the 250-foot-tall arch that President Trump wants to build there.

Veterans, retirees and lawmakers spoke out — against its scale, its cost, its lack of Congressional approval, its gaudiness, its intrusion on nearby Arlington National Cemetery and more — next to a mockup made of tarp. The real arch, they said, would be 32 times taller.

Trump aims to leave a physical legacy in D.C., bulldozing norms along the way

"It's the wrong monument, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, dedicated to the wrong man," said Jon Gundersen, a retired Army veteran and former Foreign Service officer who is one of the Vietnam War veterans suing the Trump administration over the arch.

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