CNN host Audie Cornish appeared taken aback on Friday by the latest confession from President Donald Trump, who told New York Magazine reporter Ben Terris that Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) is “right” about one big reason he is building numerous monuments to himself.
Terris appeared on “CNN This Morning” to discuss his latest deep dive into Trump’s fixation with creating new landmarks in Washington, D.C., including the controversial White House ballroom and triumphal arch.
During the discussion, Cornish alluded to an Ossoff quote from a May campaign rally in Atlanta, where the senator stated that Trump is “building a monument to himself … he’s doing these things now because no one will honor him when he’s gone… because he’s a failed president and a national disgrace.”
“Now, did I read right, that you put that exact quote to him?” Cornish asked Terris, who had spoken to the president for his story. That’s when Trump made his somewhat surprising admission.
Terris, noting that he paraphrased to Trump, explained, “I said, ‘Senator Jon Ossoff said that you’re building monuments to yourself because nobody’s going to do it when you’re gone. How do you respond to that?’ And he said, ‘He’s right. Nobody else would do it. I’m the only one who would do it once I’m gone.’”
“And so he, you know, he is thinking about what he leaves behind,” Terris added.
Cornish suggested Trump must be determined to make those marks before “leaving” the White House, but Terris argued that Trump seems to have the much bigger picture of his own mortality in mind.
“I think more that he’s thinking about how he’ll be around forever in certain ways,” said Terris.
Terris wrote in his article that Trump detailed some new plans during a recent reporter’s tour of the White House, including potentially slapping his name on the new ballroom and floating to “fix” the White House’s front columns with acanthus leaves for a more ornate appearance.
The president’s comment about Ossoff’s May remarks comes after another odd admission from March — when Trump said that the U.S. military is building a “massive complex” beneath the ballroom.
Cornish cited a CNN-SSRS poll conducted in July showing that 58% of 1,225 U.S. adults surveyed are “dissatisfied” or “angry” with Trump’s construction and renovation projects. She added that many other voters, meanwhile, don’t know why they should even “care.”
Terris noted that he has personally spoken to many people “who care deeply,” including Norm Eisen — a former White House ethics lawyer under then-President Barack Obama — who has regularly called out Trump for his apparent corruption.
“And he says it’s very important because it’s basically a metaphor for the way in which Donald Trump is acting as a president, in general,” said Terris. “He’s unbound: He’s not listening to the Constitution, … to the courts; the opposition party can’t do anything to stop him.
“And if you want kind of a physical manifestation of the way that he’s acting as president, you can see it in the way that he’s renovating Washington,” he concluded.