"What must Al Gore make of the unsanctioned, ahistoric,
abominable destruction of the East Wing by Donald Trump? It’s the most
remarkable metaphor we’ve ever seen in the nation’s capital. It’s not complex
or arcane. It’s simple and visceral. It slams you in the face — metaphorically
speaking.
“He’s saying, ‘I can do whatever the hell I want and you can’t stop me!’” said David Axelrod, who worked in the Obama White House." - Maureen Dowd, NY Times, ‘Burning Down The House’
I think it's mostly the Supreme Court's fault for this lunatic wrecking our house. They delivered a bogus ruling about Trump being above
the law, and shutting down his trial for stealing classified material. What's
to stop him from tearing down the White House itself? Apparently nothing. This
is Ceaușescu-level megalomania. -
Donald Trump’s demolition of the East Wing of the White House isn’t just an architectural abomination; it’s symbolic of the wrecking ball he’s taken to the Constitution. Driven by his unbounded megalomania and supported by the high-tech oligarchy and a Cabinet of fawning sycophants, the 79-year-old president has precipitated a constitutional crisis and set the nation on the road to authoritarianism and democratic collapse.
Since resuming his seat behind the Resolute Desk, Trump has issued more than 360 executive orders, presidential memoranda and presidential proclamations, effectively replacing the system of checks and balances and separation of powers that forms the backbone of the Constitution with strongman-style rule. Among his most notorious decrees are those that:
“I know your cause is lost, but in the heart of all right causes is a cause that cannot lose.”
— Christopher Fry
What follows is a partial inventory of what has been lost because so many Americans couldn’t bring themselves to vote at all or would not condescend to vote for a) Hillary Clinton, or b) Kamala Harris.
We’ll begin with a few of the most recent losses and work backward in full recognition of the fact that this compendium of loss is compiled solely from the not entirely reliable memory of an elderly voter suffering from increasing manifestations of memory loss.
As Donald Trump stirs up more national outrage over his demolition of the White House‘s East Wing, one of his favorite dinner guests is brushing off the controversy.
On Friday’s episode of Real Time, Bill Maher gave a flippant response when guest panelist Michael Steele mourned “the destruction of a symbol of this government” after the Trump administration had the historic structure torn down to make way for his ballroom.
Panelist Kate Bedingfield argued that the destruction is an example of Trump’s behavior being “impulsive, reckless, driven by his own desire for self-agrandizement.”
“If this was the only thing he had done on that front, then I would give you, ‘it’s just a building,'” said Bedingfield. “But it’s not. It’s part of a manner of governing that’s tearing at some of the institutional foundations in this country, and that’s scary.”
“No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.”
—Edward R. Murrow
Kids and cops got tear-gassed in Chicago, a judge is holding ICE/CPB officials to account, Americans are horrified by the destruction of the East Wing of the White House, and even UFC fighters are starting to turn away from Trump.
What’s going on? Is he really as strong as he appears to think?
In 1999, I was working in a remote part of rural Russia for a German-based international relief agency; we were building housing and trying to teach peasant agricultural methods to people who’d only ever known massive, collective factory farms. I was staying in the home of a family of four with two young children; Dad was Russian and Mom — her name was Olga — was from East Germany, although she’d grown up watching West German TV.
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.
Photos of construction teams knocking down parts of the East Wing, first revealed by The Washington Post on Monday, 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.
Donald Trump’s plan to build a White House ballroom has
underscored an oft-overlooked aspect of presidential power: No one could stop
the president from tearing down much of the East Wing this week. The next stage
of the project is also likely to proceed with few restraints: The
key panel slated to review the president’s construction plans is now stocked
with Trump allies ready to approve them.
Photos of construction teams knocking down portions of the
East Wing, first revealed by The Washington Post on Monday, have
rattled city residents, historians and politicians, many of whom contended that
Trump was wrongly tearing apart “The People’s House” to build his long-desired
ballroom.
“It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying
it,” Hillary Clinton, who battled Trump for the presidency in 2016, wrote on
social media.
Others contend that Trump’s shifting projections and
promises — such as pledging in July that the ballroom wouldn’t “interfere” with
the White House, and increasing his estimate of cost and how many people will
fit in the building — illustrate the need for more transparency. Conservative
commentator Byron York said Trump
“needs to tell the public now what he is doing with the East Wing of the White
House. And then tell the public why he didn’t tell them before he started doing
it.”
Rebecca Miller, executive director of the D.C. Preservation
League, a nonprofit that advocates for protecting historic sites in Washington,
said dozens of concerned citizens from the city and around the country have
called and emailed her to express outrage.
Miller said she has had to explain that the White House,
because of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, is exempt from the
required reviews that other federal agencies must undergo when seeking to alter
government property.
“Our hands are tied,” Miller said, adding that normally government officials discuss major projects with preservationists — but not this time. “It’s very frustrating that there’s nothing that the organization can do from a legal or advocacy perspective.”
President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay
him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him,
according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement
might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or
those in his orbit.
The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr.
Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and
eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now
review his claims. It is also the starkest example yet of potential ethical
conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice
Department.
And:
by Robert Reich | October 23, 2025 - 5:58am | permalink
— from Robert Reich's Substack
Friends,
In the first Gilded Age, which ran from the 1890s through the 1920s, captains of American industry were dubbed “robber barons” for using their baronial wealth to bribe lawmakers, monopolize industry, and rob average Americans of the productivity of their labors.
Now, in a second Gilded Age, a new generation of robber barons is using their wealth to do the same — and to entrench their power.
The first Gilded Age was an era of conspicuous consumption. The second is an era of conspicuous influence.
The new robber barons are having their names etched into the pediments of the giant new ostentatious ballroom Trump is adding to the White House.
And:
by Lesley Abravanel | October 24, 2025 - 5:19am | permalink
After the viral optics of a demolished East Wing at the White House led the Trump administration to warn staff at the Treasury Department not to post any more pictures of it, CNN's Jim Sciutto reported on X that the Secret Service closed access to the park where journalists had been snapping photos.
"Look away! New: US Secret Service has closed access to the Ellipse park where journalists had been capturing live images of the East Wing demolition. CNN had a photojournalist capturing live images of the demolition at the time. Reuters was also ushered out of the park," Scuitto posted along with a video showing the demo.
General consensus to the park closure was, in the words of one snarky commenter, "'The most transparent administration in U.S. history' sure does love to hide what they’re doing from the public."
Another agreed, adding, "Most transparent administration in history! [S]ome exclusions apply."
And:
by Ailia Zehra | October 23, 2025 - 5:43am | permalink
President Donald Trump lashed out at a reporter Wednesday who asked for his response to critics saying he has not been transparent about the construction of a ballroom at the White House.
"I haven't been transparent? Really? I showed this to everybody that would listen. Third rate reporters didn't see it because they didn't look. You're a third rate reporter. Always have been," he said during a press conference alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Oval Office.
"We've been more transparent than anybody," he added, saying that the samples of the planned ballroom have "gotten great reviews."
Trump also indicated that the estimated cost of the ballroom has risen. He previously stated it would cost $250 million, but he now puts the price tag at "about $300 million."
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