Trump’s Monumental Obsession

The president fantasizes about a capital city full of memorials—to himself.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters September 20, 2026, 1:17 PM ET Share Save Donald Trump is facing multiple challenges. The United States is losing to one of its worst enemies in a war that has left the American economy mired in the sludge of growing inflation and rising energy prices. His popularity is now hovering around second-term George W. Bush levels, and may even be headed for end-stage Richard Nixon numbers. His party faces the prospect of a crushing defeat in midterm elections that are only six weeks away. (In some places, early voting has already begun.) The country, and the 47th president’s administration, are in trouble on every front.