Trumpiana: Break, baby, break; build, baby build!

The Don talks big in a constant endeavour to cut others to sizeSize matters for Donald Trump. He likes to break things — be it historic buildings at home or deep relationships abroad— to build bigger beautiful edifices matching his colossal ego.True to the pattern, forgetting the heady days of ‘Howdy Modi’ and ‘Namaste Trump,’ he cold-shouldered once best friend Modi for months for not acknowledging his role in ending the India Pakistan conflict, with punitive tariffs for buying Russian oil to boot.But days after New Delhi reached “the mother of all deals“ with the European Union, Trump announced an initial India U.S. trade deal lowering reciprocal U.S. tariffs from 25% to 18% “out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi.”“He is one of my greatest friends and a Powerful and Respected Leader of his Country,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Modi and I are two people that GET THINGS DONE, something that cannot be said for most.”To drive home the point, he posted the India Today cover of Newsmakers of the Year 2025 with back to back pictures of the two leaders titled – ‘The Mover & The Shaker.’He also posted a photo of India Gate, a prominent World War I memorial in New Delhi, calling it “India’s beautiful Triumphal Arch,” but couldn’t resist the temptation of boasting, “Ours will be the greatest of them all!”The former real estate mogul, who says “I have a construction job” in addition to being President, is now fixated on his proposed “Independence Arch” soaring 250 feet tall, more than twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial and towering over the 70 feet high White House.

Smaller versions of the arch, including 165-foot and 123-foot designs that he shared with supporters at a dinner last year just wouldn’t do for Trump, who often cites “250 for 250” to justify the height as a tribute to the nation’s milestone anniversary, according to a Washington Post fly on the wall account.Funding for the project is expected to come from leftover private donations from Trump’s White House ballroom project, which too has grown bigger with a $400 million price tag.Doubling down on the bigger size, Trump released a rendering of the ballroom that will replace the historic East Wing he tore down to make way for it, saying it will be the same “height and scale” as the main building.“This beautiful building will be, when complete, the much anticipated White House Ballroom — The Greatest of its kind ever built!” Trump wrote after booting the first architect who reportedly disagreed with his wish to make it taller than the White House.Trump, according to another Post report, is also planning to install a statue of Christopher Columbus on the south side of the White House grounds. The statue would be a reconstruction of one in Baltimore that protesters threw into the city’s harbor in 2020.He has next set sights on Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington that he rebranded as Trump-Kennedy Center only to see many performers cancelling planned shows and ticket sales plunging.In pique, Trump announced out of the blue that the Center will close on July 4 for two years for renovations to make it “the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World.”A closure was the “fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur,” he argued suggesting it was “tired, broken and dilapidated” and needed “Complete Rebuilding.”The closure decision came just three days after the premiere there for ‘Melania,’ described by critics as ‘Amazon’s trumped-up documentary’ for which it paid the First Lady $75 million, giving a field day to late night comedians over its surprise runaway success at the box office.Then as the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein returned with the release of another tranche of ‘Epstein files,’ Trump, proclaiming he wasn’t “friendly” with the convicted sex offender, blamed “a SLEAZEBAG lying ‘author’ named Michael Wolff, (who) conspired in order to damage me and/or my Presidency.”Threatening to sue some of “the Radical Left,” he insisted “unlike so many people that like to ‘talk’ trash, I never went to the infested Epstein island but, almost all of these Crooked Democrats, and their Donors, did.”Trump also threatened to sue Trevor Noah over a joke at the Grammy Awards, saying on Truth Social that the comedian’s crack claiming he visited Epstein’s island was “false and defamatory.”But a question in the Oval Office about Epstein files from CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins, “What would you say to survivors…?” rattled him. Quickly cutting her, Trump labeled Collins as “the worst reporter” who never “smiles.”As Collins tried to repeat her question, Trump interrupted again, saying, “You know why you’re not smiling? Because you know you’re not telling the truth, and you’re a very dishonest organization, and they should be ashamed of you.”In December too, Trump had called Collins “stupid and nasty” for asking him about the cost of the new White House ballroom.Trump capped the week with a racist video that depicted Barack and

Michelle Obama

as apes. Though he later removed it after an outcry from members of his own party, he declined to apologize insisting “I didn’t make a mistake.”The clip, set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” was spliced near the end of a 62-second video that promoted conspiracy theories about anomalies in the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost to

Joe Biden

.Just hours earlier his press secretary had vigorously defended the video saying “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King.”“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” she stated — like the greatness of her boss!(By arrangement with The American Bazaar)