President Donald Trump has agreed with a criticism leveled by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) that Trump is building monuments to himself because no one will honor him after he is gone. The president made the admission in an interview with New York Magazine reporter Ben Terris.
Terris appeared on CNN This Morning to discuss his article, which delves into Trump's fixation with creating new landmarks. During the conversation, CNN host Audie Cornish asked Terris if he had presented Trump with Ossoff's prior statement. Ossoff had said at a May rally that Trump was "building a monument to himself... he’s doing these things now because no one will honor him when he’s gone… because he’s a failed president and a national disgrace."
Terris recounted his exchange with Trump, stating, "I said, ‘Senator Jon Ossoff said that you’re building monuments to yourself because nobody’s going to do it when you’re gone. How do you respond to that?’ And he said, ‘He’s right. Nobody else would do it. I’m the only one who would do it once I’m gone.’"
Terris suggested that Trump is contemplating his legacy and what he will leave behind. He added that the president seems to be considering his own mortality, stating, "I think more that he’s thinking about how he’ll be around forever in certain ways."
During a recent tour of the White House, Trump detailed some new plans, including potentially naming the new ballroom and altering the White House's front columns with acanthus leaves. Earlier in March, Trump also stated that the U.S. military is constructing a "massive complex" beneath the ballroom.
Citing a CNN-SSRS poll from July that surveyed 1,225 U.S. adults, Cornish noted that 58% expressed dissatisfaction or anger with Trump's construction and renovation projects. Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics lawyer under President Barack Obama, has described these renovations as a metaphor for Trump's presidency, suggesting it reflects an "unbound" approach that disregards the Constitution and courts.