Given that a court has ruled that Trump had no authority to demolish the East Wing and build a “ballroom”, now re-branded as a military installation. And given that Trump will take this to the Supreme Court:
What would happen if the lower court ruling is upheld?
Assume that the next House has a Democrat majority. How long would it remain a hole in the ground? What would the House + Senate agree to do with it?
(Personally, I’d say there’s a 75% chance that the SCOTUS overturns the ruling and lets Trump run amok.)
I know that at least some Dems would like to see the East Wing restored to its previous state, but I don’t know if a majority would. Unless there is a strong case for a massive, elaborate, and heavily fortified ballroom, they may just leave it the way it is as a memorial to Trump’s total disrespect for America’s history.
If the East Wing is rebuilt, I’m sure it could be much improved functionally, and I think it would be appropriate to do so, if only for aesthetic balance with the West Wing (not that they were identical, and they don’t need to be). I wonder how much use the East Wing ever got, other than being the First Lady’s office (assuming that a first lady is living in, and has adopted some project(s) for herself instead of just being “glamorous”). AI says it was also the main public entrance to the White House, I presume for tours and things like that, and that the most recent version was built in 1942. So there isn’t a heavy historical weight that needs to be met if it is re-built, as long as it is harmonious with the rest of the structure.
The last thing I would want to see is a memorial hole in the ground. I think all traces of Trump and his activities should be removed and replaced with attractive things that are named for all the people he hates.
I’d love to see the invested money returned and Donny gets a bill for restoration and a fine for destruction of government property, but that won’t happen.
I don’t think any ballroom will be built. The east wing rebuilt same way it was destroyed-- our tax dollars.
I think every dollar anyone “invested” in this boondoggle should be confiscated. We all know it’s just a bribe to Trump, and if you’ve got enough money laying about that you can afford to bribe Trump, you clearly don’t actually need that money for something useful. “Thank you for your donation to Medicaid!” or some such thing. Anyone who squawks about it gets charged with bribing a public official.
In the next 2.5 years, any bipartisan “East Wing Reconstruction Act” that gets to Trump’s desk will, of course, be vetoed, just out of petulance and spite.
I think after Trump is gone (and by all gods great and small, may that be soon) the East Wing should be rebuilt exactly as it was externally. Fix it up inside as needed. But basically I see the demolition as Trump’s attempt at a vanity project. The White House appears in a lot of TV shows and movies and it’s on the news every day. Trump wants there to be a line - before Trump and after. The appropriate response to that is to condemn him to the dustbin of history and make sure that his attempt at putting his visual stamp on the White House is nothing more than a footnote in the history books.
It looks like the underground portion of the building (defense) is pretty much underway, and it might be feasible to just finish that up, but in a less complicated way. Cover that up with dirt, then rebuild a new East Wing with a modernized interior. Utilize the larger ballroom if needed which is nearby.
Besides the First Lady’s offices it held the Visitor’s Office to the White House, where the tours started, the family theater where they could screen films, and underneath, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.
No, it won’t happen. Part of me wants him alive to watch all his monumental attempts pulled down.
“My name is Ozymandias Trump, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
I’m okay with my tax dollars going for that, especially if all those tax breaks for the rich in the past decade are repealed. Hell, let’s set it to 91% like it was during most of the 1950s, that time all the MAGAts yearn for,
Not only rip off all the gaudy bling, rewallpaper the room, change the drapes, the rug, the furniture (except of course for the Resolute desk, if that hasn’t been stolen).
And that’s something I haven’t seen mentioned - what’s up with this? They’re building a whole new bunker, so they must have ripped out everything else. Does Trump just not have an emergency operations center now? In the middle of a war?
I’ve never seen a detailed description of the “droneport”, and the types of drones it would house. I’ve never heard of a defensive drone. That leaves offensive drones. I wonder if they were supposed to be the four motor people haulers, or just flying bombs.
I agree with this 99%, but I don’t think all trace of trump’s activities should be removed. “Those who cannot remember the past…”, and all that. But nothing so obvious as leaving a hole in the ground where the East wing used to be.
I have an idea-- maybe take the area where that stupid ‘Wall of Presidents’ display is now, and turn it into a timeline of trump’s failures, hubristic overreaches and lies. Complete with pictures of how the White House used to look before the teardown, how it looked at the absolute nadir with the torn-down East wing and the UFC ring being built, and documentaion of what comes after. Have it be written and designed by a non-partison team of historians. Have it exist as a cautionary tale for us all.
