'He lied': Fury grows over White House demolition for ballroom

[struggle4progress]

MSNBC
Oct 21, 2025

“Donald Trump wants to be a king. That is the best explanation for everything he has been doing in recent days. Just look at what he is doing to the White House”

[Hekate]

1. I have to say this: modern kings answer to parliaments and constitutions that limit their scope

Trump, otoh, admits to no limits. He’s patterning himself after Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Josef Stalin, people like that, or dare I even say, Vladimir Putin.

They all like gold gewgaws, they all have really bad taste in their opulence, they’ve never seen a constitution that didn’t make them double up laughing, and they all have the sensibilities of a band of raving, drunken, Cossacks, or possibly Hells Angels on motorcycles. In other words, thugs.

No, Trump is not aspiring to kingship— he’s aspiring to dictatorship.

[yorkster]

2. Spot on. Dictator, tyrant and thug

[Cha]

3. Traitor, Racist, Rapist, Pedo &

Psychotic Sociopath.

[calimary]

4. All these "titles" apply. And more.

Anything bad will work, and will fit perfectly.

[MissouriDem47]

5. Convicted Felon

[Crunchy Frog]

8. Exactly. I get tired of the use of the term king, when it's clearly a dictatorship that he's striving for.

Charles III has essentially no political power. Nor does he have that much freedom in his personal life, and I doubt that he would be able to demolish historical buildings at will, even if he formally owns them. He's very much constrained by tradition and expectations.

I don't think George III had that much power either. When he got too crazy he was essentially 25thd, with his son taking over as regent.

I guess maybe it plays well in publicity, but it's not accurate.

[BeerBarrelPolka]

9. Hells Angels

at least do Toys for Tots. The fat pig would never do that.

[OrangeJoe]

6. Of course he lied

The big face lift on the White House, the paving of the rose garden, the looming head shots on federal buildings on the Mall and the coming triumphal arch plus who knows what else he'll come up with are spot on Trump. Like the developer grifter he is he'll promise all sorts of shit to set the hook and then, like a condo buyer sold a shoddy unit, you can't do anything. The money has changed hands, the ground is broken, the old is torn down so at this point he knows you're screwed and he got what he wanted.

[BigmanPigman]

7. News flash...tRump LIES ALWAYS!

It would be a red letter day on the calendar the day he does NOT lie.

Who the fuck believes him, EVER?!?!? Answer, only those with a double digit IQ, aka MAGA.

[Champp]

10. Finally one big lie a few Republicans are upset about

They are "shocked" that he would lie to them

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. MaddowBlog-It's not just the facade: Team Trump has wrecked much of the White House's East Wing

By Tuesday afternoon, it appeared obvious that a significant portion of the East Wing has been demolished, the president's earlier vows notwithstanding.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/s-not-just-facade-team-trump-wrecked-much-white-houses-east-wing-rcna239092

As the controversy surrounding the demolition project was growing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that she believed the outrage to be “fake,” because nearly every president has made “modernizations and renovations” during his tenure. But we’re not just talking about modest alterations. Rather, in this instance, we’re talking about bulldozers.

While the news on Monday afternoon indicated that crews had torn down the entrance way to the White House’s East Wing, it became clear a day later that the facade wasn’t the only part of the structure affected. The Washington Post reported:

A demolition job that began Monday with the disappearance of the White House’s eastern entrance advanced Tuesday with the destruction of much of the East Wing, according to a photograph obtained by The Washington Post and two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the scene.

By Tuesday afternoon, it appeared obvious that a significant portion of the East Wing has been demolished, Trump’s earlier vows notwithstanding.

NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2025-10-21T20:13:32.290Z

.....Of course, those aren’t just partisan complaints: Trump, acting at his own discretion, really is treating the White House as if it were his own personal property.

As we’ve discussed, the symbolic significance is impossible to miss: An authoritarian president is literally tearing down part of a national treasure because he wants a fancy ballroom to host parties for the elite.

The White House has reportedly asked that officials “refrain from taking and sharing photographs of the grounds, to include the East Wing, without prior approval from the Office of Public Affairs.” This probably won’t stop images from reaching the public, though the appeal suggests that Team Trump isn’t exactly proud of its handiwork.

[sakabatou]

12. Quick! Everyone pretend to be surprised that he lied!