This year has been full of so many castrophically evil stories, almost all of which are happening because of Donald Trump and his fascist minions. It feels weird to complain about issues which are somewhat superficial, but I still find this stuff extremely depressing. Trump already paved over the White House Rose Garden, turning it into an outdoor dining pavilion similar to something you would find outside of a mall food court. But Trump’s biggest change to the White House is the destruction of the East Wing, all to build a massive “ballroom” on the White House complex. Well, Trump announced the ballroom plans months ago, and they broke ground on Monday.
President Donald Trump has begun demolishing the traditional work space of First Lady Melania Trump and her staff to make way for his “big, beautiful” ballroom. Two months after unveiling plans to build the 90,000-square foot ballroom, construction crews have begun tearing down the covered entrance of the East Wing, with cranes and backhoes attacking window frames and knocking away parts of the exterior cladding. Dramatic photos and videos revealed the first stage of the transformation on Monday, showing windows of the historic building smashed and ripped off their hinges.
The new ballroom is being built in the East Wing, which has long housed the offices for the first lady, whose staff have been temporarily relocated to other parts of the White House complex. The Daily Beast has reached out for confirmation as to where they are currently working from.
The former upper floor of White House calligraphy office now has a massive hole, while trees and shrubs have also been cleared from the White House South Lawn to make way for construction.
Trump acknowledged the project at an event in the East Room on Monday afternoon honoring the Louisiana State University baseball teams, telling his guests: “right on the other side, you have a lot of construction going on.”
He later posted on Truth Social declaring that “ground has been broken on the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful White House Ballroom. Completely separate from the White House itself, the East Wing is being fully modernized as part of this process, and will be more beautiful than ever when it is complete! For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc. I am honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project underway — with zero cost to the American Taxpayer!”
However, critics have noted that the ballroom, which is expected to cost at least $250 million, is being built at a time when many Americans are still struggling with cost-of-living pressures – something that Trump promised to fix.
What I keep thinking about is the history, and how presidents for the past century have been so conscious of the unique history of the White House, and they see themselves as caretakers to the historic property, if nothing else. Sure, some of them made smaller renovations – I remember President Obama talking about how Harry Truman added a private balcony on the top floor, and it was one of Obama’s favorite spots. But none of them would have ripped out the East Wing and built a gaudy, tacky f–king ballroom. Even Trump’s hero Richard Nixon was in awe of the White House’s history and he took pains to never damage or disrupt the actual structure and the museum-quality pieces around the house.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.
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- United States President Donald J Trump and first lady Melania Trump watch July 4th fireworks from the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington DC Featuring: Donald J Trump, Melania Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 04 Jul 2025 Credit: Bonnie Cash/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media while signing an executive order for the US Department of Defense to be renamed the US Department of War in the Oval Office of the White House Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 05 Sep 2025 Credit: Francis Chung/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- President Donald Trump makes opening remarks as he hosts a dinner with members of his administration and GOP members of Congress in the newly renovated Rose Garden of the White House Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 05 Sep 2025 Credit: Francis Chung/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- President Donald Trump gives remarks as he departs the White House Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 11 Sep 2025 Credit: Aaron Schwartz/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- President Donald Trump gives remarks as he departs the White House Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 11 Sep 2025 Credit: Aaron Schwartz/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- President Donald Trump gives remarks as he departs the White House Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 11 Sep 2025 Credit: Aaron Schwartz/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- President Donald Trump gives remarks as he departs the White House Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 11 Sep 2025 Credit: Aaron Schwartz/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald J Trump gestures to the media as he awaits the arrival Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhu of Israel as he arrives at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 29 September 2025. President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are due to meet in the Oval Office to discuss the peace process in Gaza and then participate in a joint press conference Featuring: Donald J Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 29 Sep 2025 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- United States President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One to fly to Norfolk, Virginia. Unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers have asked a US judge to immediately prevent the Trump administration from carrying out mass firings during the government shutdown while they press a legal challenge. Featuring: President Donald Trump Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 05 Oct 2025 Credit: Graeme Sloan/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
The king’s court. (Deliberate lowercase.)
He’s doing more than other kings have dared to do.
He did this to hurt Americans and destroy part of our history, to distract from the Epstein files, AND doesn’t plan on ever leaving. A hateful, wicked, ugly stupid man who ruins everything he comes into contact with.
What a disgrace. RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES.
He doesn’t plan on leaving. First thought on e!ection night.
The GOP cheated him into office in 2016, they tried in 2020 (hence his insistence) and they cheated him into office in 2024. The Democrats want to keep up the pretense that voting is safe, secure and unhackable so they didn’t make a peep or request a forensic examination of the tabulating machines, no one asked how “record turnout and lines” yielded fewer votes than 2020, no one asked why so many people’s mail in votes were never tallied. No one asked how the man who spent 45 minutes swaying to sad music instead of speaking could somehow manage to get all 7 of the swing states and all 7 of the swing states juusssst outside the threshold that would have triggered a recount. No one asked why liberals and liberal questions won downballot and no one blinked about Musk running illegal campaign lotteries or about Trump bragging about Musk “there when the voting machines were delivered.” No one asked. And I am for sure going to be called BlueAnon by someone.
And here we
Of course not…he can enrich himself and his family, no consequences, people may be laughing at him and think he’s a foolish idiot but they still have to bow down. He can put his tacky a@& gold gilt name everywhere and someone (we) else has to pay for it, and he gets nonstop attention.
I mean, now he’s trying to co-opt the 250th…did you see the mockup of the coin?
@Davew
Yeah. It was alarmingly clear that King Donnie never intends to end his term in office😤
Kind of a painfully obvious metaphor for this country, isn’t it?
@Mightymolly I came here to say the same thing. He’s getting rid of American history, and I don’t think he’s planning on leaving.
He’s probably not planning on leaving but we need to be planning to make him go. In the meantime, I ‘m thinking every day about what we can do to stop his “American carnage”. And never forget, Republicans in Congress and elsewhere can stop this at anytime. Trump’s demolition of America is only possible because of them.
@Brassy Rebel – and that is why I like to make sure that though I think Donald Trump will burn in hell for thousands of years to cleanse his soul of his crimes, I also like to point out that *this is the GOP.* Trump isn’t some weird aberration, he is the id of an entire political party that has sold its soul and become something else entirely and what I wouldn’t give for more Democratic lawmakers to start saying so. You are correct that the Republicans could make this go away, could fix broken systems. Could stop all of this. But they won’t, because they’re Nazis who enjoy the cruelty.
Betsy, you nailed it with every single word in your previous comment. I don’t believe he won either of his presidencies legitimately. The statistical anomalies in the swing states should have been investigated both times.
I try to avoid conspiracy theories, but I did a lot of swing state canvassing, and made contacts in those states who shared with me their very positive experiences doing early voting poll work in red districts and good feelings about the results. I never assumed we had this locked up, but I did think it would take 1-2 weeks to resolve, just as it did in 2020. The election was over before the polls closed in the western swing states. That isn’t even statistically possible.
@Clove
In the immortal words of Carrie Fisher in “When Harry Met Sally”…
No one thinks he’s going to leave.
The way they are carelessly demolishing… even in a remodeling project, things can be dismantled, with greater care. It’s such a symbol of Trump. Our next administration will have to redo it all.
We’re not getting a next administration,I fear
Don’t comply in advance though. Their support is false. They are cultists, and crazy.
We will in time. I pray it happens in 2028, but Germany came out on the other side of fascism. I believe the USA will, too.
1) How is the White House not protected by any historical preservation rules?
2) Where does the money from this – or from his new Air Force 1, or the billions he spent to buy Kristi Noem new private planes this week, etc. – coming from? Do presidents have no budget? They can just…buy whatever tf they want?!
Very good questions DK.
We’re not getting a “next administration” anytime soon.
We need to start facing that fact as a broader populace. This isn’t something elections can fix anymore.
This cretin is literally destroying everything he can, all because the GOP have decided they don’t need a backbone anymore. God help us all and I hope there’s a country left to save by the next presidential election, if there even is one.
I keep remembering how the GOP members threw a fit when Obama wore a tan suit, or Michele Obama wore a sleeveless top. But let the orange fucker tear out parts of “rhe people’s”White House and we get crickets. I hope every Republican loses in the coming mid-terms. They have all deserted true governance to worship Trump. History will not be kind to them, but I say let that begin now!
Yikes! Normal refurbishments take ages to get approval on historic buildings it dosnt look like any care or attention is being paid to the demolition. no carbon footprint or sustainablity windows just falling out. i hope those guys get paid.
I read somewhere that the White House historical people had already approved this. Probably because he put his cretinous minions in charge.
My God what an eyesore. May his successor cover up all the faux gold on the inside.
The would be the National Park Service and I know true professionals would not be OK with this. I’ve been so disheartened by how the NPS historians & museum professionals have been rolling over for this guy. This is illegal. Flat out against the regs that govern the preservation of the WH. As is adding that stupid arch of his. ILLEGAL.
Because every decent outfit knows there is going to be an after, and knows that good people won’t want to do business with whoever KNOCKS OVER THE EFFING WHITE HOUSE. This is guaranteed just some jerk with an excavator who is too stupid to know he’s not going to get paid to do this, and will probably be brought up on charges for destruction of a historic masterpiece.
Not to mention it takes a lot of time to design such a large project. And how did they select the architect? They didn’t send out request for proposals. No one has even heard of the firm they selected.
^^They didn’t send out requests for proposals.
It shouldn’t be funny but this made me laugh.
But @Mcali02 is right, no requests for proposals, no NEPA, no input from the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, no bid proposals to review, no budget request. And trump saying it’s all his money is first of all, no excuse, and second of all, a lie.
France 1789 is my inspiration these days.
Comment award! 🥇
The French Revolution has become my Roman Empire. I think about it a lot these days. I went down a rabbit hole reading about it yesterday and it was complicated and messy af.
However, the storming of the White House was not a popular uprising against the aristocracy and privilege, but an act of terrorism by an incited mob in the name of the president, who refused to accept his election defeat.
First paving over the Rose Garden now demolishing the building that belong to We The People, NOT to the mad king. All of this after he explicitly said his dumb ballroom won’t affect the original structure of the White House in any way. I’ve said it before an I’ll say it again, he is not acting like someone who’s planning on leaving office in 3 years.
This is what frightens me…he has no plans to leave. My only consolation and hope lies with the military. He can’t stage a coup without military backing, and I don’t believe that he has it. I believe that “his” generals will show their allegiance to the constitution, not to the orange buffoon.
I hope you’re right, Giddy….
Especially since this isn’t publicly funded. He’s going to say he built it with his own money that he raised (bribes) and since it belongs to him he’s not leaving.
Come on, Big Macs and zero exercise – do your job already, won’t ya?
Definitely paid for with foreign bribes, just like that Qatar plane that came with countless strings attached from the military base in Idaho to god knows what else.
What’s kinda funny (in a laugh-so-you-don’t-cry way) is that he’s so fucking tacky and lowbrow that his big beautiful ballroom is just going to look like something you’d find in a mid-range hotel. He’s probably going to hire it out for white trash weddings and self-hating bar mitzvahs. Compare it to any surviving example of Nazi architecture, or the planned Palace of the Soviets. He can’t even do grandiose dictator shit properly!
And no doubt it’s going to be tacky as heck. So who, exactly, is paying for it if not the taxpayers? Putin? Netanyahu? Have they done security clearances for all the people working in it? And they left a gaping hole in what is supposed to be a safe, secure building?! Good freaking lord!!!
Also, I live in a town with multiple homes/buildings built in the 1700-1800’s. Yeah…that is NOT how you renovate historic buildings.
I was wondering the same question this morning. The answer: private donations. I’d like to see the list of donors for this stupidity. Funding aside, this all makes me wonder why any major construction on the building doesn’t have to go through Congress for approvals. Maintenance or redoing wallpaper in a bathroom is one thing, but is there not a layered process for something of this scope? It’s strange…and very sad. And yes, it will be the tackiest thing ever, and will look like it was painted with cans of cheap metallic gold spray paint.
Yes, there is a process & the NPS is in charge of that process, but trump’s DOI secretary is just saying ‘yes, master’ to everything he proposes. I am sickened by this.
From the NPS’s Foundation Document:
The White House and the Wings. The White House is the oldest public building in the District of Columbia and has been the home and office of every president
of the United States except for George Washington. The White House, including its wings, serves as the residence of the first family, offices for the president
and staff, and an evolving museum. A number of state rooms are used for a variety of functions from presidential staff meetings to formal dinners honoring
visiting dignitaries. While the White House itself has expanded since its original construction, it remains relatively unaltered and its design and architecture continue to serve as a symbol of a stable nation.
And then this guy got elected. 🤦♀️
According to AP, these companies paid for it and were feted at a Whie House Dinner this week: :”Amazon, Apple, Booz Allen Hamilton, Coinbase, Comcast, Google, Lockheed Martin, Meta Platforms and T-Mobile. The Adelson Family Foundation, founded by GOP megadonors Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon, also had a presence there.
Oil billionaire Harold Hamm, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, Small Business Administration chief Kelly Loeffler and her husband, Jeff Sprecher, and crypto entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were all on the guest list. The list of attendees was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Also attending the dinner were Chris LaCivita, Trump’s co-campaign manager from his 2024 reelection bid; Reince Priebus, a White House chief of staff during Trump’s first term; and Jason Miller, another longtime political adviser.”
The lack of care is completely deliberate, I assure you. He relishes this destruction. Many of us New Yorkers will remember what happened when he demolished the Bonwit Teller building to build Trump Tower. He promised to donate the important Art Deco sculptures and latticework that decorated the building to the Met. Instead, he — no, sorry, “John Barron” — claimed it would’ve cost more to remove them than they were worth, and the process would’ve endangered pedestrians, so the latticework and sculptures were pried off the building with blowtorches and jackhammers and smashed to pieces.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/donald-trump-bonwit-teller-friezes-met-2132673
I’ve always focused on the Exonerated 5 as the reason I hate him so much. Miranda, thank you for posting this. I had no idea! He literally destroys everything. He has no plans to leave that WH.
Who has given permission to destroy “the peoples house”.
What’s that saying: It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission when you break things…something, something. This is who Trump is. This is what millions of MAGA Americans admire, and probably envy.
Many decades ago, Trump deliberately destroyed the beautiful and irreplaceable Art Deco panels from the Bonwit Teller building in NYC — that he had promised to preserve, and give to the Met — when he razed the building to build Trump Tower. He patted himself on the back for saving himself a few bucks and putting one over on the art-loving society folks who had failed to embrace him in their social circles.
I’m just feeling tired. His self-aggrandizing destructiveness — and his virulent narcissistic white supremacy — is not at all new. This is who Trump has always been: MAGA values writ large.
He’s destroying everything he touches —particularly if he believes that President Obama, or even President Kennedy, may have touched it first. He’s remaking it in his own tawdry, tacky, rotting-from-the-inside image.
Imma go watch that video on repeat. The one with Trump cringing in fear in the face of a “seriously dangerous but beautiful “ American Eagle. So much symbolism.
FROM the Alt National Park Service Facebook page:
•
We’ve received a lot of questions about Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing.
Here’s how the process is supposed to work:
1. Initial Proposal: The White House is managed by the National Park Service (NPS) but used by the Executive Office of the President (EOP). Any proposed change, even by a sitting president, begins internally through the Office of the Curator and the White House Facilities Management Division.
2. Historic Review: The NPS, as custodian of the White House under the Presidential Residence Act and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), must review all alterations for compliance with Section 106 of the
NHPA. This requires assessing potential impacts on historic and cultural resources in consultation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) and the D.C. State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).
3. Planning & Environmental Oversight: The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) evaluates all major federal projects in the National Capital Region, including work on the White House grounds, for design, planning, and environmental impacts under NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act). Public comment and design reviews are part of that process.
4. Aesthetic Review: The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) reviews and advises on the design and appearance of any exterior modifications to the White House or its grounds.
5. Final Authorization: After approvals from NPS, NCPC, and CFA, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the White House Chief Usher / Facilities Management Office finalize funding, scheduling, and logistics.
Only after completing this full process could any major construction or demolition legally begin.
Yet Trump ignored every step, acting unilaterally through executive order, bypassing oversight, and ordering demolition as if he were a monarch. The result: the people’s house, altered without the people’s consent.
Thank you! Although I thought Sec 106 didn’t apply to the WH because it had its own set of regs–a colleague once worked in Facilities at the WH, claimed she’d never even heard of Sec 106 (it was an issue between she & I).
Anyhoo, I only worked for the NPS for 4.5 years so I’ll trust the Alt NPS folks. Which means, of course, not only is this illegal–no NEPA, no 106–so was the paving of the rose garden & the removal of trees & the construction of those two damn flagpoles. Because although I only worked for the NPS for such a short time, I’ve worked in federal cultural resource management my entire nearly-30 year career and I can assure you, both NEPA & 106 take a lot of time. A LOT. Certainly more than 10 months.
Given the history of the house why aren’t they saving the windows and the other fixtures? It looks like they’re just destroying everything.
That’s today’s GOP in a nutshell.
The White House Casino and Convention Center
If presidents wanted a ballroom over the past 150 years, they would have built it when they built the east & west wings
That he can also bankrupt….because he’s such an amazing businessman he ran what, 3 or 4 casinos into the ground?
The photos and videos of this destruction made me cry with anger & frustration.
Same, Diane.
That’s our f*cking house, not his. He’s just trying to put his vulgar stamp on it, like he does everything else. As Rick Wilson said, everything Trump touches dies.
On the one hand, the East Wing isn’t all that old and it was only built to hide the construction of the underground nuclear bunker… on the other hand, he is literally destroying part of the White House a day after posting a video of himself figuratively sh*tting all over America. Not to mention the illegality of doing anything to the WH without Congressional approval, where tf is the money coming from, blah blah blah, why am I still talking nothing matters anymore. [SOBS LOUDLY]
Nope. It was originally constructed in 1902. And per its Foundation Document I quoted above, the wings are considered part of the historic structure in its entirety.
The structure that existed in 1902 was already replaced in 1942. It’s still a tragedy.
Correct, but my point remains. It is officially considered ‘old’ per the National Historic Preservation Act, whether original to the structure or not is neither here nor there.
My friend used to work for the White House Historical Association. I should check in to see how she’s doing.
I saw someone on Threads say that as a survivor of narcissistic abuse, the destruction of the People’s House, particularly the area where the public would enter for a tour, is Trump’s response to the massive No Kings protests and now I can’t unthink it.
thank you, @Betsy, your comments really made my day. Bright spark in a dark world. He is the id of a party in the grip of delirium. Sometimes you see them warble and wobble a bit when even they *know* that they’ve gone too far, but by the same token, they’ve gone too far to admit it. They’ll go down with the ship and call it honour. Sometimes I have to take a lesson from the Brits amongst whom I live and take a deep breath. Or, like Mitterrand said, “you have to give time some time.” Karma requires patience, pressure, and a will not to be cowed by the perpetual postponement of gratification. Sometimes you don’t get a big parade-float ticker tape win. Sometimes you have to wait for the latent energy to rise to the surface. But I have faith: I’m in my late forties, I *remember* the world before Trump and before W. I remember Chernobyl and the Berlin Wall. If you’re under 30, you were in kindergarten on 9-11. But thank god those people will remember Obama, who was elected when they were about 13. And Biden. Who held back the tide. They may not aim for FDR / Wallace policies, but they might vote for a third party that wants to wash its hands of the used & soiled mantle of the Republicans. We might end up with a Democratic Party that functions as a Conservative Party of the US, and a libertarian party that functions as the lucid vehicle for the tech bros, and those who want a small federal govt, and a Green Party that serves as a swing vote. Who knows. At any rate, the best thing about Trump is, he broke the mould. No one can believe their BS now.
Nicely said.
Who approved this?
NO ONE
Pete Souza, Obama’s official photographer, did a great post about this on Instagram today.
In his comment he noted Congress could have intervened, no surprise they didn’t, and the media, on all sides, once again failed by not asking questions and just rolling over with a shrug when it was announced.
That new ballroom is going to be so riddled with spy gear from Russia, China, etc…..
One of my favorite signs at the No Kings rally was a one that had a bunch of balls attached and said “free balls for members of Congress.”
It’s insane what they’ve allowed him to get away with.
I saw that one! A friends daughter has another favorite…Veto Cheeto with bags of them on it.
He is in the process of taking medical benefits and food benefits away from Americans who need it the most. Not to mention all the jobs and deporting people who were doing nothing but working the jobs Americans won’t do! Then there are the tariffs and what it is costing the American people everyday. Government officials who are too afraid to stand up to him much less do the jobs we voted them in office to do and on top of that he is blowing up boats with innocent people in them. I would say he is about done ruining us. Although I am sure he has more to do. That’s how they control the masses they starve them to death. And take medical care away.
This is driving me crazy!! This specifically, I mean! Historic preservation has been at the center of my career and I KNOW that this was not legal!!! The National Park Service is the caretaker of the White House & its grounds; and while I know the National Historic Preservation Act does not apply to the WH (a former colleague had worked there for 12 years) it does have its own specific set of preservation regs. Argghhhh!!!! I’m going to be spending the rest of the week researching this because I KNOW it is illegal!!!!
Also, this is the people’s house it is not his!!!!
That horrifying creature have a chronic case of small 🍆 syndrome.
I believe that the garish, gold ballroom, that holds one thousand people, is for his orange ass’ coronation. 😭
I cry that you may be right. Heartsick. If I were diagnosed with a terminal illness I would refuse treatment and say ” just let me go. “
@Betsy: Yes to everything you said
We only have these photos because staff at the Treasury Department Building have a clear view. Their bosses have now told them that sharing photos will be punished.
The Washington Post photo had a credit I’ve never seen before. It doesn’t name anyone or indicate where photo was taken and merely says: “Obtained by the Washington Post.”
Obviously, whoever took the photo and gave or sold it to the Post is afraid for their job.
What a world we’re living in now
I can’t believe there’s no historic preservation law on the effing White House. People move into homes on the historical register and can’t even change the paint, but he can demolish part of the people’s house?!
There is, they just ignored it. Same way trump ignored the NHPA when he got his hands on the Old Post Office in DC. And FYI, people can change the paint in houses that are listed on the NRHP, but there’s a process to go through that as it could be considered an ‘adverse effect’. But it can be done.
Anyone else think this is also a bit of hate directed at Melania? Not that she spends much time there, but just a suspicion…
I Do not understand why the American people are not putting a stop to this appalling situation? President Nixon did not even 10% of this behaviour & Richard Nixon was impeached! I have read that Donny boy has paved the rose garden? Please explain to me why everyone is afraid of trump? Why is Donald’s political party not removing him from the party and office?
He wasn’t impeached. He resigned before Congress could do that.