The demolition is a significant expansion of the ballroom construction project from what President Donald Trump said this summer.
“It won’t interfere with the current building,” Trump said on July 31. “It’ll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”
Let’s be honest: this is vandalism in a tacky blue suit. It’s obscene, really, destroying the most historic building in our country while pretending it’s some kind of modern-day expansion. They’re not “expanding,” they’re desecrating and those defending it will repeat the usual bullshit about “modernization” and “private funding,” when the entire country knows better. It’s the same escalating (pardon the pun) bullshit that we’ve watched in horror since June of 2015: the people with money make the decisions, history gets bulldozed, and the rest of us are told to stop overreacting. What’s happening at the White House right now isn’t just physical demolition, it’s moral decay wrapped in scaffolding.
The White House isn’t some tacky hotel lobby to be gutted whenever a narcissist wants to make up for his lack elsewhere. The East Wing has stood through wars, assassinations and decades of actual leadership and respect. It’s supposed to belong to the people, not to whoever holds the keys for four years. Now it’s been demolished because one man thinks being bigger makes him better. Watching it get torn up for a vanity ballroom feels like watching someone carve their initials into Mount Rushmore and then insist it’s “aesthetic improvement.”
Everyone – Democrats and Republicans alike – knew exactly what was happening, but they all decided it was easier to keep their mouths shut for money, safety or power. They all treat truth like it’s optional, history like it’s replaceable, and public outrage like background noise to bulldozers.
If this were happening anywhere else, we’d call it what it is: desecration of a national treasure by an egomaniac surrounded by sycophants too cowardly to say no. The worst part? They’ll wave flags and talk about “restoring greatness” while they quite literally destroy the symbol of our democracy’s endurance. It’s not just disrespect, it’s contempt. Contempt for history, for the truth, for the people watching in disbelief as they torch another piece of what’s supposed to unite us.
By the time I finished writing this I read the demolition of the East Wing had been completed. (Oct. 23, 2:27pm)