Shortly after President-elect Donald Trump announced his 2024 presidential bid, the former and now future president released some preliminary policy objectives. Among them, Trump promised that, if put back in office, his administration would undertake efforts to get rid of ugly public buildings and beautify American cities. This week on The Signal Sitdown, my guest was someone who can, and already has in the previous Trump administration, help the next president deliver on his promise to make America beautiful again.

Justin Shubow is the president of the National Civic Art Society, a nonprofit that promotes the revitalization of classical architecture and art in public works. Shubow previously served on Trump’s U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. In a recent op-ed for the Wall Street Journal by Intercollegiate Studies Institute President Johnny Burtka, Shubow was floated as someone who could play a big role in Trump’s beautification agenda.

While some conservatives wish the federal government would mostly get out of the architecture business, Shubow told me the construction of public buildings is not just inevitable but worthy of more conservative resources. “Great architecture can inspire people to be better people, to be patriots, to be better citizens,” Shubow said. When conservatives aren’t involved in this process, public architecture and art “can be subversive and be demoralizing.”

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