On Oct. 28, President Donald Trump fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency with an important but often overlooked job: To review construction projects in and around Washington, D.C., including government buildings, monuments and memorials. Established by Congress over a century ago, the commission would have reviewed plans for the elaborate ballroom Trump is erecting at the White House, as well as another project — his proposed triumphal arch.

The abrupt dismissal comes after Trump also removed all appointees named by former President Joe Biden from the National Planning Commission in July. Such a heavy-handed approach will make it easier for Trump to implement his personal aesthetic vision in the capital region. It will shock nobody to learn th

See Full Page