Destroying the People's House

Photo by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash

Of all the atrocities committed by this president, perhaps none is more visceral than the destruction of the East Wing of the White House.

Other presidents have modified the White House. Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft built the West Wing. Harry Truman added a balcony. FDR added a pool. Richard Nixon filled it in.

These projects respected the simplicity of the building, its history, and its symbolism. The White House is a modest mansion by European standards, appropriate for a nation built on popular sovereignty.

Donald Trump wants to turn it into Versailles. His garish plans for a gilded ballroom where he can entertain his plutocratic peers is at odds with the spirit of the building and—indeed—the country.

His destruction of the East Wing is an attack on one of the most prominent symbols of democracy—a tangible manifestation of what Trump is doing to the country. It is no less an attack than what we endured on September 11, 2001, only that attack came from a foreign adversary. This time, the danger is coming from inside the building.

This is Donald Trump flexing his power after being humiliated by the estimated seven million people who came out to demonstrate against him and his authoritarian designs the weekend before demolition began. In gatherings small and large across the country, protesters loudly declared that America has no kings.

Then Trump asserted his royal impulses. Is there a better way for Trump to demonstrate that he sees himself as a monarch than to demolish part of the people’s house to build his palace?

Perhaps he thought he was reasserting his dominance over the protesters by flashing his raw destructive strength. But all he was doing was making their point.

That the demolition coincides with a government shutdown makes that point more pronounced. Construction of the royal ballroom is a priority for Trump. That 1.4 million government workers are going without paychecks while he proceeds with his project adds a let-them-eat-cake quality to the whole affair that underscores how Trump values self-aggrandizement over all else.

In private life, this impulse manifested in his need to slap the Trump name on everything he touched. In public life, it is far more dangerous. Symbols like the White House are part of our history and elements of our culture. While that history is complex and uneven—the White House itself was built by slaves—turning the East Wing into Mar-a-Lago eradicates that past. It turns a monument to ourselves into a monument to Trump.

In this regard, Trump’s demolition is a crime against democracy.

Demolishing the East Wing is less consequential to our daily lives than the destruction Trump has unleashed on our rights and liberties, our economy, our health and welfare, and our international alliances. But the damage he has done to the White House is more palpable. It will serve as a visible and shocking symbol of the harm he is inflicting on the country and the world. No wonder the administration doesn’t want people to see pictures of what he’s doing.

Trump’s backhoes make tangible what we have seen ever since he has occupied the building he is now tearing down. His actions show he is incapable of understanding the job he holds.

The president works for us. He serves a fixed time in office, then hands his powers over to the person elected to follow him. We are his boss and we—not he—get to say “you’re fired” if we do not like the job he is doing.

This is the way things work in a democracy. And it’s why no president owns the deed to the property he occupies.

The White House is the people’s house because it is a rental.