Former President Bill Clinton delivered a pointed critique of the current Trump administration during the opening of the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2026 summit in New York on Tuesday. Although he did not mention President Donald Trump by name, his remarks represented some of the sharpest public criticisms he has leveled against the president’s tenure in recent months.
Clinton specifically targeted the administration’s proposal for a triumphal arch in Washington, D.C., which will also serve as a facility for drones and snipers. “I suppose I could take my entire allotted time to discuss the self-evident wisdom of building an Arc de Triomphe in Washington to hold all our drones,” Clinton said. “Some of this stuff — it’s hard to make up.”
Addressing the nation’s 250th anniversary, Clinton argued against what he described as a rising “politics of brute force” and zero-sum thinking. He expressed frustration that those in power appear to create separate rules for themselves while using government institutions to punish opponents and silence free speech. He warned that treating the federal government as a profit center for allies violates the constitutional emolument clause.
“Some days I can hardly believe what is happening in this country that I love so much,” Clinton said. “The people in charge have created one set of rules for themselves and another set for everyone else.”
The former president also took aim at factions within his own Democratic Party. Noting the electoral gains made by democratic socialists and progressives, Clinton questioned the dueling visions of socialism emerging on both the left and right. He asked whether socialism should be inclusive for all or reserved only for the wealthy and well-connected.
Despite the criticism, Clinton highlighted two developments that offered hope: the public backlash in Minnesota following the shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal agents during immigration enforcement, and the Supreme Court’s recent decision to block the administration’s proposed mail-voting restrictions.
Clinton concluded by dismissing debates over Trump’s efforts to add his name to the Kennedy Center as trivial. He urged Americans to focus on substantive issues rather than symbolic disputes. “Do you really think a hundred years from now, anybody’s going to care very much about who’s names on what building?” he asked. “Isn’t it more important what happens in the building and what happens outside the building?”
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