The thing about Donald Trump’s authoritarian regime is that there’s something horrific happening at every level of urgency. Like, I want to focus on Trump’s literal demolition of the White House East Wing, but something else that just happened yesterday is Trump openly confessed to his plan to continue extrajudicial killings of “drug smugglers” anywhere in the world. This regime has been murdering fishermen and any random person in international waters, all under the justification of “being tough on drug smuggling.” Trump actually declared: “I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re going to kill them, you know, they’re going to be, like, dead.” Horrifying. But then, so is the demolition of the East Wing. People have posted the wider shots of the destruction online, noting that this is literally what Osama bin Laden wanted to do on 9/11. The fourth plane was headed to the White House!!
The East Wing of the White House is gone. Wrecking crews had completely removed the decades-old annex by midday Thursday, just three days after they started, to make way for a pet project of President Donald Trump: a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The teardown, which The Washington Post first reported Monday, prompted a massive backlash from historic preservationists and Democrats, who accused Trump of destroying a national landmark and doing so under a cloak of secrecy.
The work also drew thousands of tourists to Pennsylvania Avenue this week to watch — or rather listen to — the heavy machinery. The Trump administration has restricted the public from most vantage points, ordering employees of the adjacent Treasury Department not to share photos and escorting away journalists trying to shoot video.
The little that remained just after lunchtime Thursday included a small portion of the East Colonnade, a corridor that previously connected the East Wing to the main White House. The section was jagged with damage, exposed brick and dangling wire, according to photographs obtained by The Post and two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the scene. Instead of leading to the offices of the first lady, the severed walkway opened to towering piles of concrete and steel and the cacophony of excavators roving the demolition site.
The East Wing will be replaced by the ballroom, offices for the first lady and her staff, as well as new “guest suites” for the “President’s White House Guests,” according to a project description on the résumé of lead architect James McCrery II.
Also visible Thursday: dump trucks rumbling the few miles between the White House and East Potomac Park, located on an island in the Potomac River, where they deposited sandy-colored debris. The two people visible in each truck were a construction worker and a Secret Service staffer, according to a person familiar with the project who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The person said some of the dirt will be moved elsewhere, and some will be used to create mounds at the nearby public golf course. The White House did not respond to questions about the trucks traveling to East Potomac Park. But officials defended the administration’s disclosures about the project, despite shifting details about the ballroom’s cost, capacity and scope.
“The president has been incredibly transparent,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing Thursday. “I would reject any notion otherwise when it comes to this ballroom project.” When Leavitt introduced the project to the public in July, she said the wing would be “modernized,” not demolished. Trump said then that it would cost about $200 million and hold 650 guests, estimates that have increased to $300 million and nearly 1,000, respectively.
Pressed on why the administration wasn’t initially clear that the structure would be razed, Leavitt said: “The plans changed when the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies, who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this phase one that we’re now in was necessary. And the president wants to do right by the ‘People’s House.’ And so that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
This whole thing sounds so half-assed, from the planning to the architecture to the demolition of the East Wing. I know Trump has been talking about this fakakta ballroom for months, but I think most people felt like it was just going to be something he obsessed over for a while and then he moved on to his next demented fixation. People also believed that someone, somewhere would shut down his attempts to dramatically change the WH campus. Looks like no one within the White House had any problem with it.
Additionally, there are still major questions about who, exactly, is funding this “project” which seems to get more expensive by the day. Trump claims that he’s donating, but then the White House released a donor list on Thursday. The list included: Apple, Amazon, Google, Palantir, a bunch of crypto guys (who should be in prison) and some of Trump’s campaign donors.
Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.
— Katie Harbath (@katieharbath.bsky.social) October 23, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Photos courtesy of Getty, Cover Images.
