What did Donald Trump do today?

He started literally tearing down the White House, after promising he wouldn't.

Trump has spent a great deal of time during his second term playing interior decorator and amateur remodeler with the White House. He's drenched the Oval Office in gold paint and cheap plastic accessories, something he's clearly proud of, to judge from his lengthy and unprompted explanations of it to reporters. He's also paved over the once-iconic Rose Garden, turning into something more like a concrete pool deck at one of his resorts.

Today, he began construction on his latest project: a massive outbuilding meant to house a ballroom, something Trump apparently feels the seat of American executive power needs. To be specific, he started by tearing the facade off the East Wing of the White House itself, something he'd promised he wouldn't do. When the initial plans were widely derided as ugly and unnecessary in July, Trump promised that he would pay "total respect" to the actual White House, and a spokesperson promised that "nothing will be torn down."

Bizarrely, the Trump White House apparently tried to keep the images of the physical destruction of the People's House a secret, even though it was clearly visible to anyone visiting the massive Treasury Building next door.

Being president does not actually give Trump the legal authority to knock down walls in the White House, but then neither does it give him the authority to build a massive function hall next door to it without going through the legally established process. There's also a public corruption angle: rather than have the construction costs (conservatively estimated at $250M) come from the public treasury, Trump has been "requesting" contributions from a lengthy list of companies his administration regulates. Much like the massive slush fund he's created for his inaugurations, the ballroom complex has become a way for corporations to buy Trump's goodwill, and physical access to him along the way.

This isn't Trump's first attempt at the building trades. While he's best known for his work as a reality TV game show host, Trump actually spent most of his adult life as the occasionally disastrous steward of the real estate empire he inherited from his father.

Why does this matter?

• It's always wrong when a president deliberately ignores the law because he doesn't feel like following it.  

• It's always wrong when a president lies or breaks a promise, even long past the point where anyone would believe him in the first place. 

• Someone who wants to be a decorator this badly should probably just be a decorator.