In 2017, President Trump went to France on an official state visit. Three bad things happened. First, Trump told France’s First Lady (who was then 64) that she had a really good body. Second, he saw a military parade on Bastille Day and decided that the United States needed one as well. Third, he saw the Arc de Triomphe and decided that we needed one of those as well.

Trump is extremely proud of his role as Commander in Chief of the military. He constantly brags that it is the finest military in the world and points to events like the kidnapping of President Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela as an example of the expertise of our military. He was sent to the New York Military Academy for his high school years and he clearly enjoys all the pomp and circumstance in reviewing troops as they march by the reviewing stand.

On more than one occasion, Trump has speculated that he could award himself the Medal of Honor. That Medal is the highest honor that can be given to a member of the military and is presented by the President. Some might say he was joking; some might say he wasn’t. He did indicate, when talking about himself and the Medal, that he had been “extremely brave” in going to Iraq to visit the troops in 2017. “I flew to Iraq. I was extremely brave. So brave that I wanted to give myself the Congressional Medal of Honor.”

It seems likely that calmer heads will prevail so he doesn’t award himself the Medal of Honor and even more likely that the Norwegians will never award him the Nobel Peace Prize despite his hissy fits about not receiving it.

The only thing that he doesn’t like about the military is serving in it which he managed to avoid during the Vietnam War because he had bone spurs. I had any number of classmates who went to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam because they never knew about the bone spur gimmick.

On June 14, 2025, Trump got his military parade on his birthday. The ostensible reason for the parade was the 250th anniversary of the Army. Americans are more accustomed to seeing such military parades in Russia and North Korea. It apparently was not a big hit because it is not being repeated this year, which is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Now he wants an Arch. The problem with an Arch is that they typically start as a monument to military victory. Trump certainly doesn’t have any military victories and seems to be chasing his tail with the Iranians.

For example, The Wellington Arch at Hyde Park in London commemorates the victories of Lord Wellington in the Napoleonic wars. It is approximately 118 feet high.

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris is about 165 feet high and commemorates victories by Napoleon and other French military victories and also houses the remains of the unknown soldier from World War I.

The Brandenburg Gate which is the most iconic symbol in Germany is 85 feet high and is in the center of Berlin. It started out as a memorial to Prussian victories but now represents the unity of Germany after the reunification of East and West Germany once the Berlin wall was dismantled.

The proposed Trump Arch is 250 feet high and certainly doesn’t commemorate any victories in any war. It will lead to the Lincoln Memorial which is 90 feet high so it will dwarf the Memorial.

The most visited military monument in Washington is the Vietnam Memorial Wall which relates to a war that was a military defeat and honors by name the 58,000 lives lost in it.

The fact is that America has not been successful in any wars since World War II and the Korean War in the early 1950s. Our war in Vietnam ended in defeat and the loss of 58,000 lives. Our war in Afghanistan ended in defeat as well. Our war in Iraq which we “won” ended up making Iraq a vassal state of Iran. Our war in Iran, initiated by President Trump, will probably end with a “deal.” Trump says that it will be a “great deal,” but I suspect it will be anything but “great” no matter the spin placed on it by the White House. It will probably involve reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which was already open before the war started. That Iranians now know that this is their ace card going forward.

American military involvement in the last 60 plus years has squandered this country’s once virtually unblemished reputation, in Ronald Reagan‘s words, of being “a shining city on the hill.”

Trump will likely get his golden Arch since the approving committee is stacked with his supporters. That is too bad.

It seems to me that the only golden arches that we need are the golden arches popularized by Ray Kroc when he took over and created the McDonald’s fast-food empire.