When Barack Obama roasted Donald Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the icing on the cake was a cartoon illustration of what the White House might look like if Trump ever became US president.
The name “Trump” was emblazoned across the top in giant capital letters, followed by “the White House” in lurid purple cursive, then “hotel casino golf course” and “presidential suite”. The parody imagined gold pillars, a giant crystal chandelier and two scantily clad women sitting at reception.
Fourteen years later, Obama’s vision looks increasingly prophetic as Trump, twice elected and determined to expand presidential power, puts his golden stamp all over the White House. Most dramatically, this week he sent in a wrecking crew to demolish the facade of the East Wing so he can build a $250m ballroom.
The image of broken masonry, rubble and steel wires at America’s most famous address was reminiscent of a disaster movie and struck a chord even among people who have become accustomed to shrugging off Trump’s outrageous antics. White House alumni and presidential historians led the chorus of disgust.
“It’s an abomination,” said Elaine Kamarck, a former official who worked in the building from 1993 to 1997. “It’s typical Trump and it’s going to look awful. They’re knocking down the entire East Wing of the White House. It’s not the end of the world but it’s just one more reason that Americans are getting sick of King Trump.”
Some metaphors, it was observed, just write themselves. Jonathan Alter, a presidential historian, commented: “It’s the perfect symbol of the Trump administration and that’s why they didn’t want this photograph and that’s why it will become iconic and be used in history books for hundreds of years.
“It’s not the worst thing that he’s done but there’s a perfect alignment between the visual image and the major theme of the Trump second term. Early on with Elon Musk it was a chainsaw. Now it’s a wrecking ball and that’s been their attitude. They’ve taken a wrecking ball to the rule of law.”
The East Wing housed the first lady’s offices, a theatre and a visitors’ entrance that welcomes foreign dignitaries. Trump – who was a property developer before launching his political career – and senior officials had initially promised that nothing would be demolished during construction.
The president said in July: “It will be beautiful. It won’t interfere with the current building. It won’t be – it will be near it, but not touching it. And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of. It’s my favourite.”
Trump moved ahead with construction despite a lack of sign-off from the National Capital Planning Commission, the executive branch agency that has jurisdiction over construction and major renovations to government buildings in the region.
The president says the project will be paid for with private donations and that no public money will be spent on the ballroom. The White House invited some of the donors to an East Room dinner last week but has not released a comprehensive list and breakdown of funds.
Renderings released by the White House suggest a distinct resemblance to the gilded ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club and home in Palm Beach, Florida.
The project also has grown in size since it was announced, going from accommodating 650 seated guests to holding 999 people, big enough to fit an inauguration if needed, and the windows will be bulletproof, Trump has said.
But the National Trust for Historic Preservation has asked the Trump administration to pause the demolition, expressing concern that the proposed 90,000 square foot ballroom “will overwhelm the White House itself”. The executive residence is 55,000 square feet.
Alter drew a comparison with the British prime minister’s residence in Britain: “Think about it in terms of putting a glass tower 15 storeys high above 10 Downing Street. What the hell? Or if they knocked out everything to the left and right and put in some garish new buildings that King Charles would hate.”
Presidents have added to the White House since construction began in 1792 for a variety of reasons, and Trump aides say his decision to build a ballroom follows that long tradition, dismissing the backlash as “manufactured outrage”. Many past projects were criticised as being too costly or too lavish but eventually came to be accepted.
Theodore Roosevelt added the West Wing to provide dedicated space for the president and key staff, while Franklin Roosevelt added the East Wing, which over time became the home base for the first lady’s staff and social functions.
One of the most significant White House renovations happened under Harry Truman, when the mansion was found to be so structurally unsound that he ordered a complete gutting of the interior that lasted from 1948 to 1952. The project, including Truman’s addition of a balcony to the second floor of the South Portico, was highly controversial.
Other changes include the creation of the Rose Garden during John F Kennedy’s administration and Richard Nixon’s decision to convert an indoor swimming pool that was built for Franklin Roosevelt’s physical therapy into a workspace for the growing White House press corps.
Trump has heavily redecorated the Oval Office by adding numerous portraits, busts and gold-toned adornments. He converted the Rose Garden into a stone-covered patio, installed towering flagpoles on the north and south lawns, and decorated an exterior wall with portraits of every president except his immediate predecessor, Joe Biden, who is replaced by an autopen.
Now Trump says the White House needs a major entertaining space and has complained that the East Room, currently the biggest space in the White House, holding about 200 people, is too small. He has frowned on the past practice of presidents hosting state dinners and other big events in tents on the south lawn.
Anita McBride, who was chief of staff to Laura Bush when she was first lady and describes herself as “intimately familiar” with the East Wing, agreed that previous administrations “were prevented from doing the events that they wanted by the size of the rooms as they currently exist. They worked around it by having temporary structures that were put out there every time. The addition of a ballroom is something whose time had come.”
But McBride acknowledged that she had heard from many fellow East Wing alumni this week who find the images of destruction “difficult” and “jarring”. She added: “It doesn’t diminish the stories and the history that was made there and the importance of continuing to preserve and share the stories of the East Wing because it does play a role in White House history. Nothing changes that.”
Source link
