big? Beautiful? Donald Trump is literally tearing down the house of American democracy. Is anyone really surprised? | Emma Brooks
HeySometimes life gives you scenarios that make it impossible to do anything with for money. For example, Boris Johnson got stuck halfway down a zip wire while waving two Union flags; Or Liz Truss Get lost As you try to leave the room – two images that are so embarrassing that they are difficult to enjoy. The audience likes to feel like it’s done a little work before it gets to the punchline, which is why, on Monday, when demolition crews moved into the White House to tear down part of the East Wing at Donald Trump’s request, we once again felt like we were living in a post-ironic time.
As far as we can tell from the photos, Trump didn’t actually send up a wrecking ball — although his administration did sharply rebuke government employees working in a building next to the Treasury Department for posting photos of the demolition online, so at this point who knows? However, there were excavators, torn walls, and a huge amount of dust. This was the first phase of a project announced by Trump as an addition to the White House for a 90,000-square-foot (8,300 m2) ballroom, with an estimated cost of $250 million (£187 million) and a capacity that, according to Trump, “999 people“And while it’s not a McDonald’s branch – the one thing about the Trump group is that no matter how bad things are, they can always be worse – and architectural and heritage institutes have been voicing their concern.
Of course, presidents like to leave their mark on the state’s furniture as well as its financial resources. The Obamas planted a kitchen garden in the White House, put in a basketball court, and adjusted the lighting so it was bright enough for their daughters to do their schoolwork. Joe Biden had less time to renovate, but he replaced the gold Trump curtains in the Oval Office with some sober Clinton-era curtains and new carpet.
Meanwhile, Trump has paved the Rose Garden, decked the Oval Office in gold, and now appears to be completely demolishing the 1942 East Wing facade to build a giant event space — and you have to wonder if the state banquet he enjoyed at Windsor Castle last month served as the catalyst for construction to begin. As for what the new space might look like, we have to assume that Clark Construction and McCrery Architects, the design and construction entities involved, will be led by Trump’s overall aesthetic and find a happy medium between Mar-a-Lago’s grand ballroom and Saddam Hussein’s palace.
Well, you can imagine there was some blame on the Internet. The Society of Architectural Historians issued a statement expressing, “Great concern“Above the proposed hall. The American Institute of Architects has drawn up a strict memorandum To remind the President “The historic edifice at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the People’s Assembly, a national treasure and an enduring symbol of our democracy.” More importantly, “any amendments to it – especially amendments of this size – must reflect the importance, size, and symbolic weight of the White House itself.” Perhaps this was a discreet way of pointing out that since you could barely put up a rack in a major city on the East Coast without having to get a permit, the D.C. Department of Buildings might care to look into things.
In her online comment, it was Hillary Clinton More direct: “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.” For many Americans, the images of the demolition were soul-harrowing in a way that has no direct counterpart in the United Kingdom. I suppose if they changed the door numbers in Downing Street, a lot of people would be upset and upset. But the building at Number 10, and the living quarters in particular – which for a long time looked like one of those rental adverts that went viral demanding £2,000 a month for an east London flat smaller than the interior of a canal boat – were never as imaginative or emotionally charged as their American counterparts.
White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt dismissed all the chatter as “fake outrage,” while the president himself posted online, “For more than 150 years, every president has dreamed of having a ballroom in the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, state visits, etc.” As with everything Trump says, it’s the word “etc” in this sentence that should cause the most concern. The ballroom will be funded by private donations, setting up another race for the president’s favor. As an event venue, it will compete with the Trump International Hotel, offering the potential for the building to be used in the future in a very Trumpian style: the White House as a venue for corporate meetings.
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