What did Donald Trump do today?
He fired the people who'd have the next say on the ballroom he demolished the East Wing for.
Today, Trump fired the entire membership of the Commission on Fine Arts, an advisory body made up of architects, civil engineers, and urban planners. Its role is to advise the federal government on the design and construction of buildings and monuments. It would have already met to discuss Trump's destruction of the East Wing of the White House and the ballroom that will supposedly be replacing it, but the federal government shutdown canceled its planned October 1 meeting. Now, it seems likely it will not meet at all.
On one level, this is hardly unusual: Trump has purged dozens of advisory boards since returning to office, on subjects ranging from national defense and homeland security to the arts and humanities. But his unlawful destruction of the East Wing—home of the last remaining traces of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's imprint on the White House, after Trump bulldozed the Rose Garden this summer—has been deeply unpopular, and he may be trying to avoid further scrutiny by people who actually know something about design and building.
The Commission on Fine Arts would also have had a say in Trump's plans to hastily build a "triumphal arch" somewhere in Washington in time for the 250th anniversary celebrations next year. Next to the ballroom, which his own press secretary has called his "main priority," building such an arch appears to be Trump's favorite new diversion. He's taken to carrying models of proposed designs around with him and showing them off to reporters.
There's a certain comic irony here: Trump is finally, and for the first time in his life, finding some success in the building trades—and all it took was an infinite pool of other people's money and the ability to completely ignore the law and zoning regulations. But as many people have noticed, there's a sinister subtext to go along with the comic one: wannabe authoritarians rarely renovate the presidential mansion with the next occupant in mind. Trump has spent most of the last thirty years (including a great deal of his time in office) living at Mar-a-Lago, a property with ballrooms very much like the ones he says he plans to build on the ruins of the East Wing.
It's something that's clearly been on Trump's mind too: yesterday, in the same conversation where he once again marveled at his ability to pass a "very hard" dementia screening test, he teased the idea of staying in office after his current term ends. (Of course, he already sells "TRUMP 2028" campaign merchandise, so "tease" might be the wrong word.)
Why does this matter?
- Presidents with good ideas for White House additions wouldn't be—and historically haven't been—afraid to run them past people who know what they're doing.