The Crazy-Making Destruction of the East Wing of the White House

In 2014, I promised my daughter that I would get an invitation to the White House Christmas party. A friend wrote to a friend—there were no services—and Nora and I had to show up at the magnificent entrance to the East Wing, where millions of official guests and ordinary Americans over the decades have had the opportunity to visit “the people’s home.” I'm not easily in awe, but it was amazing. We were greeted by animatronic versions of President Obama's dogs, Bo and Sunny, an array of gorgeously decorated Christmas trees lining the paneled walls of the visitor lobby, and “Childhood Christmas” themed decorations. Bo and Sunny served cookies.

We no longer have dogs in the East Wing—in particular, Trump doesn't have pets—and we no longer have an east wingor. In the dead of Monday night, without any warning, construction crews began demolishing the 123-year-old iconic structure. In addition to the visitors' lobby and the large colonnade, the first lady's quarters were located in the wing and its offices. First Lady Betty Ford is said to have remarked, “If the West Wing is the mind of the nation, then the East Wing is the heart.” Accordingly, Melania Trump abandoned her office from which she planned disgusting 2018 Christmas desecrationwith rows of blood red trees that look like characters from The Handmaid's Tale. It has since been converted into a gift-wrapping room.

This is my over-privileged way of explaining why I was heartbroken by the devastation of the East Wing. But I think I would feel the same way even if I had never been inside. Photos of the demolition made it appear as if the building had been attacked by a terrorist or foreign enemy. And I couldn't help but connect this to the fact that just days earlier, 7 million Americans had come out to protest Trump and his policies at No Kings rallies across the country. He turned around and, without permission or supervision, immediately destroyed the “people’s entrance” to the people’s house. There is no better symbol of his presidency today. High wooden walls and fencing were erected Thursday to shield the desecration from public view. People still tried to see it. I ran into CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who was “trying to see himself” but was too late. The destruction would have made late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden smile; The damage done to the Pentagon by one of its planes on September 11, 2001 seems small by comparison.

At the same time that television stations broadcast footage of the gaping wound in the White House, they showed other destabilizing and nauseating sights. Masked and armed ICE and Border Patrol officers are conducting increasingly brutal military operations on America's streets. The new attack took place on Canal Street in Manhattan, where ICE cracked down primarily on African vendors, many of whom are undocumented, and who are known to peddle their wares in the heart of the city's Chinatown. We see people who resist, some of them citizens, brutally thrown to the ground and handcuffed and then detained, some of them indefinitely.

All these images, from the disfigured White House to the weapons of war terrorizing Americans on the streets of our cities, are psychologically destabilizing—and they should be. Trump wants us to feel powerless and under siege.

But this doesn't scare everyone. As I walked along the South Lawn of the White House, dozens of tourists were taking pictures. I thought that from a distance, perhaps I could get a better view of the carnage. But no, they had a pristine postcard image of the White House, with no ugly destruction visible from that vantage point, and they were taking selfies and photographs. I asked one group if they had any idea that Trump had just destroyed a third of the historical structure they had come to gawk at; they looked at me like I was crazy. I think I was a little like that. A black man selling MAGA hats told me I was making a big deal out of nothing: Trump would build a ballroom “twice as good” and friends like “P. Diddy,” referring to Sean Combs, who was recently convicted of two counts of “transportation for prostitution” and sentenced to 50 months in prison “when he is released.” The seller should give credence to rumors that Trump is mulling a pardon for his ally Combs.

In the end, I couldn't begrudge tourists (except those who bought MAGA hats) for taking beautiful photos. Many may have planned their visits before the government shutdown and have now come to this city of great museums and monuments that are largely closed. One young man followed me and asked if what I told them about the destruction was true. “That sounds crazy,” he said when I told him yes. This does sound crazy, and it's part of a plan to make Trump's opponents feel like they're crazy. We must resist this feeling by recognizing how ugly our country is becoming.