Even ‘Mr. Veto’ May Not Be Able to Save the Trump Arch

Some observers are wary of what else might happen from now to January. Notably, the administration is trying to water down historic-preservation rules that would apply to—and likely slow down—most of these building projects. Charles Birnbaum, the president and CEO of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, which is suing the government over Trump’s renovations to the Reflecting Pool, told me that he believes the next few weeks could bring a “tsunami” of activity from the White House to speed through as much construction as possible before January. He brought up the example of the D.C. golf course, where the administration has strained to convince a judge that recent tree removals were part of already-planned maintenance and not related to Trump’s redesign. “In the way that the administration went in and felled trees on the Columbus Day weekend, I think based on past performance, we should expect this to be a rough ride between now and the end of the year,” he said.