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Everyone on the planet knows that Donald Trump has executed a political, ideological and cultural takeover of the government.
Force elite universities to change their policies or lose hundreds of millions of dollars in grants? Check.
Sue media organizations and collect $16 million or more from the likes of CBS and NBC? Check.
HILLARY CLINTON FIRES UP VOTERS AGAINST TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION: ‘NOT HIS HOUSE’
Tell the Justice Department which of his political enemies should be indicted? Check.
Pressure blue-chip law firms into donating millions in free services under threat of losing access to classified documents? Check.
Take over the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian and steer them in a non-woke direction? Check.
Use National Guard troops and law enforcement to take over crime-fighting in D.C., and now in Chicago and Portland, over the objections of local Democratic officials? Check.
And, during a government shutdown now in its fourth week, openly cutting programs favored by Democrats and firing thousands of their staffers.
These aren’t secretive, behind-the-scenes developments; they’re in the news every day.
But the president has just made two back-to-back moves that fall in an entirely different category.
Seemingly out of the blue, he demanded that the federal government pay him $230 million.
This, he said, is for damages he suffered during the investigations that led to the four indictments against him. And the taxpayers would pick up the tab.
Oh, and there’s more: The payments would have to be approved by Trump’s Justice Department, which he publicly orders around. More specifically, by the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer. It’s a blatant conflict of interest. But even if Blanche recused himself, someone down the chain would undoubtedly greenlight it.
This controversy strikes a nerve because it’s easy to understand. You don’t need a law degree to grasp it. For most folks, it looks like Trump enriching himself at public expense.
TRUMP CELEBRATES WHITE HOUSE DEMOLITION AS NEW BALLROOM RISES: ‘MUSIC TO MY EARS’
One Republican senator, Thom Tillis, has already criticized the “terrible optics … We’re talking about a quarter of a billion dollars transferring maybe to the president when we’re in a shutdown posture.”
The filings, disclosed by the New York Times, were made before he won back the White House.
There have been similar accusations, for instance, the president’s investment in crypto, including a MAGA Memecoin, now believed to have generated at least $1 billion for him and his family. But come on, who the hell understands the nuances of Bitcoin?
Trump has been peddling merch his entire life. He’s sold steaks, created a branded airline, and offered business courses at Trump University, which shut down after settling three lawsuits. He’s sold Bibles, watches, sneakers, trading cards, mugs, liquor and luxury watches bearing his name.
The president, sounding a bit sheepish–a rarity for him–seemed to sense that he’d gone too far.
“It’s interesting because I’m the one that makes the decision, right?” he told reporters. “And that decision would have to go across my desk. And it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”
But, he added, “I was damaged very greatly, and any money I would get I would give to charity.”
That was his first mention of not pocketing the money. But the lasting impression is that Trump, who’s hardly hurting for money, views his lofty office as an ongoing opportunity to cash in.
The second move is based on a visual–one that I am finding very hard to watch. And I’ve heard this from regular folks as well as the pundits.
It’s the tearing down of the East Wing of the White House.
The Washington Post was the first to obtain photos of a backhoe reducing part of the East Wing to rubble. Officials have now confirmed that the entire wing of the “People’s House” will be destroyed.
That was history being assaulted in front of our eyes. One of the most iconic buildings in the world, crumbling at his order. A literal attack on the building that was nearly completed in 1800, when John and Abigail Adams moved in. (There was that unfortunate incident when the British burned the building during the War of 1812.)
The East Wing, which houses the first lady’s offices, dates to 1902, and a second story was added under FDR.
The reason for the demolition is to make room for Trump’s plan for a $250-million ballroom. He has not submitted plans for the ballroom, and it’s not subject to architectural review.
TRUMP BREAKS GROUND ON MASSIVE WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PROJECT WITH PRIVATE FUNDING FROM ‘PATRIOTS’
The president had promised this wouldn’t happen. “It won’t interfere with the current building,” he said when signing the executive order in July. “It’ll 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 favorite. It’s my favorite place. I love it.”
Yet that assurance turned out to be meaningless.
Trump, for all his power, is a temporary resident of the house, but is making sweeping renovations that will last far into the future.
Some of his predecessors have made modest changes. JFK expanded the Rose Garden, once a pasture for cows and sheep, and Trump laid down a concrete slab to make it a patio.
Under Richard Nixon, the press briefing room opened, replacing a swimming pool that had been installed for Franklin Roosevelt’s physical therapy.
Trump openly says he wants a “beautiful ballroom like I have at Mar-a-Lago,” and the project is being financed by giant corporations.
But we can never get back what we had, the full, gleaming white mansion so familiar to all Americans. And it’s a story that needs no words of explanation, just a single picture of destruction.
Donald Trump has many achievements in his second term, from devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities to orchestrating an unlikely cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and freeing the hostages.
In short, the president has had many good weeks. This is not one of them.
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