Free Republic

With litigation threatening to derail President Trump’s plans for a 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington, two of his top aides on Wednesday submitted sworn statements to a federal court claiming that the arch was needed for national security purposes. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, contended that even though national security was never invoked in the initial proposal for the arch, the project was now needed to keep the United States safe from drone attacks. “The arch is a generational national defense opportunity to mitigate these evolving threats,” Mr. Hegseth told the court. He added...

Matthew Taylor, a conceptual artist and political strategist, made influential ads and documentaries produced by Steve Bannon. Now he’s assisting the White House.Matthew Taylor officially holds one role in the Trump administration as a senior adviser at the National Endowment for the Humanities, but he has quietly become a key player behind many of the president’s bold initiatives to transform Washington and its cultural legacy.This year, Mr. Trump appointed Mr. Taylor to the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency that reviews government construction in Washington, to rubber-stamp approvals for projects such as the White House ballroom and the world’s...

A remarkable two-month sprint higher for the major U.S. stock-market indexes encountered its first major hiccup on Friday, as the Nasdaq Composite plummeted more than 1,121 points — its biggest one-day point drop on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That translated to a 4.2% decline for the Nasdaq, the biggest in percentage-point terms since April 10, 2025, data showed. A 2.6% drop for the S&P 500 on Friday was its worst since Oct. 10.

Call it the Arc de Trump. President Trump posted an architect’s rendering of a huge triumphal arch to mark the nation’s 250th birthday – and his biggest change yet to the capital’s skyline. The stone arch would be constructed just across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial — soaring above that memorial’s 99-foot height — and add a major new element to DC’s public architecture. The online sketch depicts a massive monument that bears a strong resemblance to the Washington Square Park arch in Manhattan and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The stone monument features carved wreaths, two...