In the summer of 2026, as charges of “vandalism” were being thrown around repeatedly by President Donald Trump and others over “damages” that surfaced at one of his pet Washington, DC projects – the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool – some Donald Trump history is worth revisiting, providing a bit of perspective on both Trump and the Reflecting Pool controversy. Turns out, Donald Trump himself, appears to have engaged in a bit of charged vandalism in 1980 as he was making way for one of his prized New York real estate projects, Trump Tower. The short PBS Frontline video below tells the story succinctly with the help of former Trump employees and several Trump book authors:
Transcript
NARRATOR: Donald Trump was looking to make his mark in Manhattan real estate.
LOUISE SUNSHINE, VP. Trump Organization, 1973-1985
…And Donald came upon this site which had the Bonwit Teller building on it. It was kind of a landmark building….It was next door to Tiffany’s. He loved it.
NARRATOR: It was to be called Trump Tower, 58 stories of high-end retail and high-priced condominiums. But before he could begin construction, Trump had vowed to preserve two valuable sculptures.
MARIE BRENNER, writer,Vanity Fair: …And these were absolutely beautiful Art Deco sculptures that had been promised to the Metropolitan Museum.
TIM O’BRIEN, Author, Trump Nation
It was delaying Trump’s construction, so he brings in a gang of workers to just break the stuff up. And boom– dust! Gone forever.
NARRATOR: The press was all over him.
MARC FISHER, co-author, Trump Revealed, 2016 Trump biography“Trump suffers a major hit in his reputation in New York because people see this as an act of vandalism.”
– Marc Fisher
Trump suffers a major hit in his reputation in New York because people see this as an act of vandalism.
MARIE BRENNER: And everyone came down on his head. He was in a lot of trouble in the city. He was in the headlines every day.
NARRATOR: Donald Trump went underground.
ANONYMOUS READER, citing newspaper excerpts:
“… Repeated efforts over the last three days to reach Mr. Trump have been unavailing.
NARRATOR: But the press would hear from John Baron.
READER: John Baron, a vice president of the Trump Organization, said three independent appraisals of the sculptures had found them to be “without artistic merit.”
MICHAEL D’ANTONIO, author, The Truth About Trump: There was a Trump spokesman, John Baron, who called the press and explained why these things couldn’t be preserved.
READER: John Baron said, “The merit of these stones was not great enough to justify the effort to save them.”
D’ANTONIO: And it was his first employment of this fake persona.
NARRATOR: Trump had learned the tactic from his father, Fred Trump, who sometimes used the name “Mr. Green.”
June 6th, 1980 New York Times front-page story on Donald Trump and his destruction of the Bonwit Teller sculptures.
GWENDA BLAIR, author, The Trumps.
He was Mr. Green, Fred was, when he called up, and asked questions. He said, “This is Mr. Green.” And Donald was later John Baron.
BARBARA RES, VP, Trump Organization, 1980-1992
I don’t think Donald was necessarily evasive with the press when he used his alter ego “John Baron.” I think it gave him the opportunity to say things that he couldn’t say as Donald Trump.
NARRATOR: John Baron helped take the heat off Trump. The media moved on, and Trump Tower became his most iconic property.
FISHER: He saw this as a crowning achievement, and he was willing to take the PR hit because ultimately, Trump Tower would be this great monument to himself.
NARRATOR: For Donald Trump, the experience would shape his dealings with the news media for decades to come.
SUNSHINE: He doesn’t care. He simply doesn’t care.He simply thinks that bad publicity is good publicity and it’s certainly better than no publicity at all.
-End-
___________________________________________________
During the summer of 2026, social media was unforgiving of Donald Trump and his Reflecting Pool misadventures.
2025-2026
“Brown Grass,” etc.,
In August 2026, Trump also cited “vandalism” as the reason for “brown grass” at the White House Ellipse and National Mall – when actually his own July 4th festivities and construction projects, plus trampling visitors, were no doubt the primary cause.
Moreover, his destruction of the East Wing of the White House, defacing of the Kennedy Center, his “Mar-a-Logoed” make-over and ruin of the Rose Garden, his trashing of East Potomac Park and golf course, and his gold-leaf suffocation throughout the White House — all of these might also qualify as “Trump vandalism,” large and small, defacing history with carnival-level poor taste. He is a one-man wrecking crew.
More Trump graffiti and cultural ruin is likely ahead with other Trump projects yet to come. Meanwhile, timely congressional oversight on all of this has failed, coming, if at all, after the fact, as Trump simply bulls his way ahead, doing whatever he pleases.
The proposed 250 foot “Trump arch”.
2025-2026
“The Trump Arch”
Among Trump’s proposed D.C. projects that might also qualify as a kind of “vandalism” is the so-called “Trump Arch,” variously named The Triumphal Arch, or more recently, The Great Triumphal Arch.
Pushed by Trump to be built at the Memorial Circle area on the Virginia side of Memorial Bridge, near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, the proposed 250-foot structure would – according to various accounts and charges by historians, architects, members of Congress, veterans groups, and others – be taller than the Lincoln Memorial; destroy symbolic and historic sightlines from the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington Cemetery and Arlington House; and desecrate and dishonor war heroes buried at Arlington Cemetery. The arch project is also proceeding so far under the Trump Administration’s claim that Congressional approval is not required.
Among one historically important sightline that would be obscured, if not blocked altogether, for example, is that between the Lincoln Memorial and President John F. Kennedy’s gravesite on a hillside in Arlington National Cemetery below Arlington House, where the gravesite’s eternal flame is visible at certain times of the year by those driving or walking across Memorial Bridge in the direction of Arlington.
The John F. Kennedy gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery was intentionally located on a sightline to the Lincoln Memorial, located on a hillside in Arlington National Cemetery just below Arlington House. The eternal flame at the JFK gravesite, can be seen from Memorial Bridge at certain times of the year, especially at night. The Trump arch would likely block or obscure this sightline.
Some critics have simply called the Triumphal Arch a “Trump vanity project” that has no place among the historic configuration of Washington and Arlington landmarks and monuments. Yet, with legal action pending as of mid-September 2026, the Department of the Interior has scheduled construction to begin.
More Trump. See also at this website, additional history on Donald Trump, including: “Trump on Film: A Partial Listing, 1990-2024,” covering some 30 Trump films. More magazine treatments of Trump at this website include:, “The Trump Dump: New York Magazine, 2016,” profiling a special issue of that magazine, and also, “Trump Send-Ups, Spy Magazine, 1980s-1990s,” reviewing Trump spoofs and satire in that magazine. Other stories at tis website mentioning Trump include: “Political Science: Randy Newman Music,” regarding nuclear weapons; “I Won’t Back Down” about the use of Tom Petty song in political campaigns; and “Shields, Brooks, Trump,” regarding some press reaction to earlier Trump remarks in 2017.
Thanks for visiting – and if you like what you find here, please make a donation to help support the research, writing, and continued publication of this website. Thank you. – Jack Doyle
|
Please Support Thank You |
____________________________________
Date Posted: 17 August 2026
Last Update: 10 September 2026
Comments to: jackdoyle47@gmail.com
Article Citation:
Jack Doyle, “Trump Vandalism?” – NY & DC: 1980
& 2026,” PopHistoryDig.com, August 17, 2026.
Twitter: JackDoyle/PopHistoryDig
BlueSky: jackdoyle.bsky.social
____________________________________
Related Trump-Era Books at Amazon.com…
 M. Haberman & J. Swan, “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presi-dency of Donald Trump,” 2026, Simon & Schuster, 496pp. Click for Amazon. |
 Andrew Weissmann, “Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America,,” 2026, Little, Brown & Co., 240 pp. Click for Amazon. |
 Barbara McQuade, “Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabo-taging America,” 2024, Seven Stories Press, 384pp. Click for Amazon. |
Sources, Links & Additional Information
Robert D. Mcfadden, “Developer Scraps Bonwit Sculptures; Builder Orders Bonwit Art Deco Sculptures Destroyed,” New York Times, June 6, 1980, p. 1,
Robert D. McFadden, “Builder Says Costs Forced Scrapping of Bonwit Art; Three-Week Delay,” New York Times, June 9, 1980, p. M-3.
Michael Leccese, “New York City Trumped: Developer Smashes Panels,” Preservation News, July 1, 1980.
“The Bonwit Teller Art Destruction: Trump Promised Art Deco Treasures to the Metropolitan Museum, Then Had Them Jackhammered,” TheLedger.org, Civil-024.
“Donald Trump Hasn’t Changed One Bit since His First Media Fued in 1980,” The Washington Post, March 18, 2016.
Michael Lisicky, “How Donald Trump Took Down Bonwit Teller, A Fifth Avenue Landmark,” Forbes.com, October 3, 2020.
“What Happened at Bonwit Teller?,” GeraldStiebel.com, November 15, 2020.
Brian Boucher, Margaret Carrigan & Adam Schroder, “What the Arts Endured During Donald Trump’s First 100 Days; a Day-by-Day Breakdown of How Trump’s Executive Orders and Policy Changes Have Upended the Arts Sector,” ArtNet.com, April 30, 2025.
Stefan Koldehoff & Tobias Timm, Books, “Donald Trump Has a History of Pulverizing Historic Buildings,” em>ArtNet.com, October 23, 2025.
Associated Press, “Trump Blames Vandals for Damaged Grass in the Same Spot Where He Held His Big July 4 Celebration; Says Vandals Are to Blame for Large Swaths of Dead Grass on the National Mall Near the World War Ii Memorial,” ABCNews.com, August 16, 2026,
Ashleigh Fields, “Trump: Vandals to Blame for Damaged Grass at July 4 Celebration Site,” TheHill.com, August 17, 2026
“Trump Blames Vandals for Dead Grass on Lawn Where He Held Fourth of July Event; Similarly Damaged Grass Was Seen at the White House Ellipse,” Washington Post, August 17, 2026.
Erin Keller, “Trump’s Latest Potential DC Makeover Raises Eyebrows in Late-Night Post: ‘Stands to disrupt … Lincoln Memorial’,” YahooNews.com / The Independent, October 11, 2025.
Luke Broadwater and Emily Badger, “Trump to Break Ground on Arch Before Getting Approval,” New York Times, September 3, 2026.
“Retired General Calls Trump’s Proposed Arch Near Arlington a ‘Sacrilege’,” PBS News Hour / PBS.org, September 4, 2026
Sunlen Serfaty, Tierney Sneed, CNN Newsource, “Trump Administration Defends Authority to Start Work on Massive Dc Arch; The Trump Administration Plans to Begin Excavation on a Controversial ‘Triumphal Arch’ near Arlington Despite Lawsuits, Pending Reviews and Political Backlash,” ScrippsNews.com, September 4, 2026.
“John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame,” Wikipedia.org.
_____________________________________
Related Trump Books & Film at Amazon.com…
 New book, Sept 2024 > How Trump Squandered a Fortune & Created the Illusion of Success. Click for Amazon. |
 “The Accidental President,” 2021 documentary film on how Donald Trump won the 2016 election. Click for film, |
 Charles J. Sykes’ book, “How the Right Lost Its Mind,” w/George Will blurb, 2018 edition, Click for Amazon. |