They’re throwing millions into gold-coated horse statues, fountains, marble work, and monument projects while national parks across the country keep getting squeezed.
A $5 million gold leaf contract around the Lincoln Memorial got rushed through with limited competition and almost no market comparison. Same administration still talking nonstop about government efficiency.
The timing looks insane. Trump White House is pushing prestige projects while debt interest eats 19% of federal revenue.
The money flow is getting harder to ignore. Visitor fees collected from parks nationwide are now heavily concentrated into D.C. “beautification” projects tied to the 250th anniversary push.
National parks dealing with staffing cuts and maintenance backlogs while Washington gets ornamental upgrades and fast tracked contracts.
This stopped looking like restoration work and started looking like presidential branding.
The Trump Administration Is Spending $5 Million to Coat Horse Statues in Gold
The Interior Department quickly gave nearly $100 million in contracts in a rush to beautify D.C.
Four massive bronze horses positioned along the roads surrounding the Lincoln Memorial still shine in the sun from their first restoration in the 1970s. But their gold-toned coating is faded and patchy, and their heavy stone bases are cracked and dirty.
The Trump administration wants them glittering with a fresh coat of gold in time for America’s 250th anniversary on July 4. So in mid-April, the National Park Service handed a $5 million contract to a gilding studio in Maryland to repair the statues and cover them with a thick layer of 23.75-karat gold leaf.
It awarded the project without a full competition, according to NPS documents reviewed by NOTUS.