On Tuesday, President Donald Trump unveiled the first renderings of his planned presidential library. It would be the tallest structure in Miami, with a cavernous lobby so large that it could fit the Air Force One given to him by Qatar, several fighter jets, and some number of military helicopters.
It will also have a reproduction of the golden escalator from Trump’s original 2015 campaign announcement, not to mention a giant theater that includes a golden statue of the retired leader. And, in a very Trumpian break with tradition, it will also “most likely” be a hotel, the president told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
The Trump announcement comes as former president Barack Obama prepares to open his long-delayed library in Chicago on Juneteenth. The Obama Presidential Center has already received mixed reviews from architectural critics, including Trump, an erstwhile real-estate mogul who has called it “a disaster” due to “woke” people building it.
Trump’s plans for a tower in Miami, and Obama’s monstrosity in Chicago, had Free Press editors wondering: Are presidential libraries really necessary? Or should we scrap the whole idea?
