Fury as Trump's bizarre 'drones plus snipers' claim spurs uproar: 'MUST BE STOPPED'
Donald Trump holds a model of an arch during a ballroom dinner at the White House in Washington DC on 15 October. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

President Donald Trump's sudden announcement that he wants to top his controversial Washington, D.C. arch with snipers and pack it with drones caused an uproar Sunday morning.

Trump stunned when he wrote his triumphal arch D.C. project would "house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage."

”This is extremely dumb," replied Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. "It is in the middle of a traffic circle that’s barely a couple hundred feet across. This is a transparently stupid litigation ploy."

But Kyle Cheney, a legal affairs reporter for Politico, argued Trump had shown his savvy as a developer.

"President Trump knows that one way to gain advantage in the legal fight over a controversial construction project is to link it to a military need," he wrote.

This analysis did assuage the fears and frustrations of Americans such as Christopher Webb, a "lifelong Dem" with 160,000 followers, who expressed outrage that an enormous sniper-topped arch might tower over Arlington National Cemetery.

"WTF!" he wrote. "Apparently what should loom over the resting place of America’s war dead is snipers, drones and ammunition storage. No respect."

Political commentator Rogue POTUS staff told about a half million followers that Trump's new announcement stood as proof that the president should not be allowed to build the arch.

"There is only one purpose this can serve," the commentator said, "to launch attacks against the people. You're not repelling a Chinese invasion with snipers from here. This arch MUST BE STOPPED."