Politics

Trump plans yet another facelift for Washington with giant statue of this president

Trump plans yet another facelift for Washington with giant statue of this president

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

‘He is easily America’s Greatest Hero,’ Trump wrote. ‘Without him, our Country and our Freedoms wouldn’t exist’

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice

President Donald Trump called for a towering statue of George Washington to be erected outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the latest in a series of efforts to reshape the nation’s capital and the institutions that tell its history.

The proposal was one of several changes Trump urged the Smithsonian Institution to make ahead of the first president’s 300th birthday in 2032.

In Truth Social posts on Friday evening, the Republican president called on the Smithsonian — an institution he has derided as “woke” and threatened to cut funding from — to install a 30-foot “Colossus statue” of Washington outside the museum.

Trump said the statue should replace “Infinity,” a three-dimensional interpretation of the infinity symbol that now stands there.

“That strange modernist sculpture tells visitors nothing about America, inspires no one, and honors none of our Great American Heroes,” the 80-year-old president wrote. “George Washington does. He is easily America’s Greatest Hero. Without him, our Country and our Freedoms wouldn’t exist.”

Trump also called for an 11-foot statue of Washington to be installed in the museum’s Flag Hall and dedicated Sept. 17, Constitution Day.

He further urged the museum to immediately create a five-year exhibition on Washington’s “Life and Legacy.”