Donald Trump had already decided to pave the Rose Garden. And add gold finishes to just about everything in the Oval Office. And install a needlessly large flagpole. And rip apart the Lincoln bedroom’s bathroom.
But when the president approved the destruction of the East Wing’s facade, despite earlier promises that his ballroom project wouldn’t “interfere” with the existing mansion, it took the Republican’s campaign to remake the White House to a breathtaking new level.
As the controversy surrounding the demolition project was growing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that she believed the outrage to be “fake,” because nearly every president has made “modernizations and renovations” during his tenure. But we’re not just talking about modest alterations. Rather, in this instance, we’re talking about bulldozers.
While the news on Monday afternoon indicated that crews had torn down the entrance way to the White House’s East Wing, it became clear a day later that the facade wasn’t the only part of the structure affected. The Washington Post reported:
A demolition job that began Monday with the disappearance of the White House’s eastern entrance advanced Tuesday with the destruction of much of the East Wing, according to a photograph obtained by The Washington Post and two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the scene.
By Tuesday afternoon, it appeared obvious that a significant portion of the East Wing has been demolished, Trump’s earlier vows notwithstanding.
As images of the destruction circulated, Reuters reported that White House officials had agreed to “submit plans” for Trump’s project “to a body that oversees federal building construction.”
The report was oddly comedic, in a macabre sort of way: In 2025, a president and his team decide to bring in bulldozers to demolish much of the East Wing first, and then submit plans to the National Capital Planning Commission for a formal review.
The Post’s report added that images of the destruction “shocked preservationists, raised questions about White House overreach and lack of transparency, and sparked complaints from Democrats that President Donald Trump was damaging ‘the People’s House’ to pursue a personal priority.”
Of course, those aren’t just partisan complaints: Trump, acting at his own discretion, really is treating the White House as if it were his own personal property.
As we’ve discussed, the symbolic significance is impossible to miss: An authoritarian president is literally tearing down part of a national treasure because he wants a fancy ballroom to host parties for the elite.
The White House has reportedly asked that officials “refrain from taking and sharing photographs of the grounds, to include the East Wing, without prior approval from the Office of Public Affairs.” This probably won’t stop images from reaching the public, though the appeal suggests that Team Trump isn’t exactly proud of its handiwork.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
