Time for a history lesson...
Albert Speer’s architectural style is widely considered the ultimate archetype and arguably a cliché for state hubris, megalomania, and authoritarian overreach. His work, often classified under Stripped Neoclassicism or “Totalitarian Classicism,” was explicitly engineered to subjugate the individual and project absolute state power.
While Speer’s work is the go-to reference for fascist megalomania, architectural historians point out a paradox: Stripped Classicism was not unique to Nazi Germany. During the 1930s, variations of this monumental, austere style were used by democratic governments globally including the United States (e.g., the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C.) and France—to project stability during the Great Depression.
The obsession with shmearing gold leaf over every surface is unique to the current administration.