Trump Focuses on DC Projects Amid Shift in Congressional Power

WASHINGTON: In his first public appearance after , US President Donald Trump turned to a topic both familiar and, given the context, surprising: not his policies or politics, but his efforts to remake pieces of the city that is the backdrop to his presidency. Despite Trump's affinity for project management, though, with Democrats taking control of Congress, the work the administration is doing to change the physical face of the District of Columbia is sure to face far more roadblocks than it did for the first two years of his second term. From the to remaking a public golf course and (30.48 meters) taller than the Statue of Liberty without its pedestal, the president has been deeply involved in how DC looks. Democrats have voiced opposition but, in terms of power, have been in the wilderness. The potential collision point between an oppositional oversight from Democrats and the president's preoccupation with the projects was evident in his last message to the American public before the election — and in his first afterward, too. Both focused to some degree on his projects. On Monday, it was the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial; on Wednesday, it was a tour of the under-construction White House ballroom, where he talked columns and steel beams and Corinthian designs.