adminPresident Trump’s White House made a decisive move this week, firing all six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts — the decades-old body that has been the self-appointed tastemaker for Washington’s monuments and federal buildings. The ousted commissioners, all appointed by Joe Biden, were informed by email that their appointments were “terminated, effective immediately,” and the White House says it will install new members who will support an America First vision for the capital.
Conservative critics rightly smelled the stench of cultural gatekeeping: a small, insular group of elites had been blocking or delaying projects that celebrate American greatness while imposing their woke preferences on our national landscape. Those same Biden appointees were expected to review the president’s announced plans — including a donor-funded expansion of the White House’s event space and a proposed triumphal arch — which made their swift removal politically and practically inevitable.
Let’s be blunt: the White House ballroom under discussion is reported to be an ambitious, privately financed expansion, and the “Independence Arch” — derided by the media as the so‑called Arc de Trump — is meant to mark the 250th anniversary of our founding as a lasting, patriotic monument. Americans who love their country shouldn’t apologize for wanting monuments that celebrate our history and inspire pride; donors are stepping up to fund projects the bureaucratic class never would.
For years the architecture and arts bureaucracy has operated as if it were above democratic accountability, swapping one set of politically-appointed aesthetes for another when administrations change. That history cuts both ways — presidents have removed commissioners before, and the capital’s visual destiny has long been shaped by political choices as much as by taste — so reclaiming that authority for the people’s agenda is not radical, it’s responsible.
Predictably, the same media and left-wing pundits scream “politicization” when conservatives assert control over cultural institutions, but their indignation rings hollow when they cheered Biden’s purges of prior appointees in 2021. Americans should be skeptical of self-styled cultural guardians who treat public space like a private museum curated by ideology rather than a commons that belongs to all citizens.
This was also a moment for conservative commentators like Carl Higbie to call out the double standard and to demand accountability from the people who think they can dictate what honors our heroes and how our capital looks. We should celebrate leaders who will turn back the woke takeover of our public monuments and who will trust American taste over the tasteless diktats of coastal elites.
Hardworking patriots know that beauty and patriotism aren’t partisan — they’re the soil from which national pride grows. If the next slate of commissioners respects tradition, celebrates our founders, and defends monuments to liberty, then this firing will be remembered as a restoration of common sense and respect for the nation’s cultural heritage.
