Plans for gaudy Trump presidential library in Miami spark ridicule

In a city of respected art deco buildings, ridicule is being heaped on the latest structure proposed for Miami’s skyline: the Donald J Trump presidential library, unveiled in ambitious plans posted to social media on Monday night.A 1 minute 40 second video tour of the proposed gargantuan structure revealed it will be decked, almost inevitably, in Trump’s trademark gold, including a giant statue of him, and will feature Air Force One, the $400m Boeing “flying palace” gifted to him by Qatar, in its cavernous lobby.Its 50 storeys will tower above any structure surrounding it, including the adjacent Miami-freedom-tower" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="83045" data-entity-type="location">Miami Freedom Tower, a symbol of US rejection of oppression and tyranny for more than 100 years.“This landmark on the water in Miami, Florida will stand as a lasting testament to an amazing man, an amazing developer, and the greatest President our Nation has ever known,” Eric Trump, the president’s son and the co-chair of the non-profit foundation seeking donations to build the library, gushed on social media.The release came on the same day that Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a law renaming Palm Beach International Airport, near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, to the President Donald J Trump international airport.While many Trump supporters praised the video of the presidential library rendering in comments on social media, other posts were swift and more brutal.The press office of Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, posted photographs of giant shining effigies of other world leaders with the mocking words: “The gold statue in Trump’s new library (of himself) looks awfully familiar to a few others from around the world.”The author and media personality Rutger Bregman also seized on an AI-generated image of Trump’s statue on a stage in front of a large audience of supporters. “A golden statue in a temple where the faithful gather to worship their idol. But enough about the Book of Exodus – here’s Trump’s Presidential Library!” he wrote.The video was set entirely to music and gave no indication of a timeline for its construction after Trump is set to leave office in January 2029. But the valuable tract of waterfront land on which it will sit already belongs to Eric Trump’s foundation after it was gifted by Miami-Dade College (MDC) in a highly controversial transfer last year.A federal judge initially blocked the transaction after opponents argued the college did not give enough advance notice for a public meeting at which the deal was approved, but the ruling was later overturned and college trustees voted again to cede the land to the state of Florida, which in turn handed it on to Eric Trump.“It’s a land giveaway to the Trump Library Foundation,” Marvin Dunn, a local historian and retired MDC professor who brought the lawsuit, told CBS News at the time.“Who is the Trump Library Foundation? Eric Trump, his wife, and some dude lawyer.”Plans for the library also include an amphitheater, and re-creations of the Oval Office and the contentious new ballroom that Trump is building on the site of the demolished East Wing of the White House.“Miami deserves this building,” Eric Trump told the Miami Herald in a statement. “It will be a masterpiece, the likes of which have never been seen in Florida or really anywhere.”