Trump’s grand White House ballroom brings to mind the classic words of British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “In Xanadu, did Kubla Khan, A stately pleasure dome decree.”
It takes an incredibly vivid image to make a big media splash and create a hot political controversy when social media reigns supreme. The graphic photo of the ruins and rubble remains of the late, great East Wing of the White House did the trick.
Timing is everything in politics, and President Trump’s timing could not have been worse. The destruction and remodeling to make room for an opulent ballroom for fine dining and fancy dancing comes in the midst of a government shutdown that has denied essential services to millions of Americans. This travesty comes right after millions of Americans marched on No Kings Day to protest Trump’s imperial presidency. Trump denies he is a king, but he is building a place on the Potomac.
Americans have their own priorities and they don’t match Trump’s. By more than a two-to-one ratio, Americans in a new national survey by YouGov disapproved of the White House renovations. Democrats are much more likely to oppose the changes than Republicans are to support them. This is just another indication that Democrats are more united in opposition to Trump than Republicans are in support. The split in Republican ranks and the Democratic unity are bad omens for MAGA in next year’s midterm congressional elections.
The desecration of the historic house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the perfect metaphor for everything wrong with Trump’s imperial presidency. Blatant cruelty, outrageous lies and royal edicts are the hallmarks of his plans for the ballroom and his presidency.
First, the destruction of the East Wing is a telling symbol of wretched royal excess and cruel indifference at a time when millions of hardworking Americans can’t keep food on the table for their kids and can’t afford the inflated health care insurance premiums that keep their families safe. But Trump just doesn’t see any of this — or perhaps he is too narcissistic to see the suffering past his palace window.
Trump is infamous for his lies. During the presidential campaign last year, he promised Americans he would, upon winning, immediately reduce the cost of living, bring peace to Ukraine and release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Nine months later he hasn’t delivered on any of these pledges.
So it shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that he’s lying his way through the renovation process. He said that he was only replacing the East Wing façade, but now he has gutted the entire East Wing. Initially, he put the cost of the privately funded project at $100 million and now it’s up to $300 million and counting.
Finally, Trump rules by imperial decree. But like King Canute, he cannot stop the sea of public disapproval. As with his arbitrary cuts to vital federal spending and tariff increases without congressional approval, he didn’t bother to consult or seek approval of the architectural changes from the House and Senate or planning authorities. He sidestepped Congress by soliciting big donations from aristocrats and plutocrats who want lucrative contracts and regulatory relief from the Trump administration in return for their money.
Trump told American troops during his trip to Japan that some of the nation’s cities might need “more than the National Guard.” Combat forces in American cities? Holy executive overreach, Batman!
Like most wannabe emperors, Trump seems to have delusions of grandeur and an “edifice complex.” But his callous indifference to public opinion, his reckless lies and his imperial reign will eventually bring everything he has built crashing back down to earth. Let’s just hope he doesn’t bring the U.S. down with him when Americans are so very close to celebrating 250 years of freedom from royal rule next year.
Brad Bannon is a national Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications Research which polls for Democrats, labor unions and progressive issue groups. He hosts the popular progressive podcast on power, politics and policy, Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.
