Trump is Building His Vanity Arch. Tell Congress to Stop It.

Crews just brought a drilling rig to the gates of Arlington National Cemetery. They're preparing the site for Donald Trump's 250-foot monument to himself. And he's rushing to build it before anyone can stop him.

This is pure vanity. According to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Trump privately asked confidants whether to top the arch with a giant replica of his "Fight, fight, fight!" fist. First, it was the gilded Oval Office. Then, the demolished East Wing. Then, a $600 million ballroom. And now this.

The arch would stand more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial. It would sit at the cemetery's entrance and cut into the view built to symbolize the nation's healing after the Civil War. We can't let this continue.

Tell Congress: Stop Trump's vanity arch. Sign now.

Congress never approved Trump's arch. Trump's only excuse is a 1925 bridge plan that called for small columns, not a 250-foot arch. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the digging anyway.

Vietnam veterans are suing to stop it. A retired Army general called it "a sacrilege." The Justice Department asked the judge to throw out her order requiring advance notice before any arch-related work. She refused.

So Trump invented a new excuse. He now says the arch will be a "military complex" with drones and snipers. But military construction generally needs Congress's approval too.

If this construction continues, we'll all pay for it. Up to $15 million in taxpayer money is already set aside, and total estimates are as high as $250 million.

But Congress controls the money. It should write a ban on arch funding into the next spending bill and make clear it never authorized this monument. Sen. Angus King, who has joined the court fight, calls the arch "stone cold illegal."

Add your name and demand Congress stop Trump vanity arch at Arlington.

The petition to Congress reads:

"Stop Trump's arch. Block all federal funding for the arch or any military complex at Memorial Circle unless Congress explicitly votes to approve it."