“When I look at this structure, I say to myself that maybe we will never take it down. » These are not the words of Gustave Eiffel, but those of Donald Trump. The structure in question is a gigantic arena, “The Claw”, installed in the gardens of the White House and which is to host a major MMA competition on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Sunday June 14 – the president’s 80th birthday – 5,000 people will take their place within this vast cage of 4,400 m2, or 2.5 times the White House. It will host several fights, including one between the Frenchman Ciryl Gane and the Brazilian Alex Pereira. An event whose cost is estimated at 60 million dollars, but Donald Trump assures that it will not come out of the pockets of taxpayers but of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and private funds.
The President of the United States already has big plans for the future. Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, why not keep this colossal arena in the garden of the White House which “is very popular”, assures Donald Trump? Once again, it is from France that the American president comes to draw ideas to install on the other side of the Atlantic and in a version as disproportionate as ostentatious an architecture to his own glory. A heritage from which he has already drawn inspiration in the past, with relative benevolence and admiration.
A military birthday parade
Precisely a year earlier, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American army at the same time as its 79th birthday, it was the French July 14 parade that Donald Trump took as an example. On June 14, 2025, a demonstration of force without equivalent since the Gulf War in 1990, in which some 6,600 soldiers participated, was held in Washington.
A whim of the president who thus resumes the French parade which is held each year on the Champs Élysée on the occasion of the National Day. “We will have to try to do better,” he commented after attending in 2017, at the invitation of Emmanuel Macron.
Trump dreams of an arch inspired by the Arc de Triomphe
Since last fall, Donald Trump has been dreaming of a monumental arch. A construction project that the American president would like to see take shape outside Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. Any resemblance to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile which rises in the center of Place Charles-de-Gaulle in Paris is obviously not accidental.
Built by decision of Napoleon I to commemorate the Battle of Austerlitz, and later the First World War, it is 50 meters high. Donald Trump’s arch must peak at 76 meters high and thus become “the largest arch in the world and higher than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris”, he maintains. A monument which will be topped with large golden statues representing an angel and eagles, and must be erected in honor of… Donald Trump himself, he told the press in October 2025.
An arena built without Congressional authorization
Contrary to what is required by procedure, Donald Trump did not ask Congress for authorization for the construction of this monument, assuring that he “did not need” it.
However, he obtained the unanimous agreement of the members of the commission of fine arts, created by Congress in 1910 and made up of architects and urban planners. She advises the government on architecture and the preservation of Washington’s buildings. Except that its board of directors was fired in 2025 and entirely replaced by the White House. Difficult to imagine that she will put up any resistance if Donald Trump decides not to dismantle his MMA arena, dreaming that she will not experience the same posterity as the Parisian Iron Lady.
