You know when he said, "We can do things during the shutdown that are irrevesible" (ETA: "Take Care of this House")

[Ms. Toad]

Last edited Thu Oct 23, 2025, 12:39 PM - Edit history (2)

I thought that statement was bizarre, even for him. Nearly everything that involves money is reversible. You just throw money at it. That's the reason that injunctions are rare - they are reserved for the new things that paying money after the fact can't fix.

But tearing down the east wing can't be undone.

That's what I think he was referring to.

Yes, the building could be rebuilt, but there's a magic in walking those old halls where presidents, first ladies, world leaders, school children - and even I have walked. That magic can't be restored even if he is forced to put up a copy of the wing., instead of a ballroom.

ETA: This seems appropriate to add -

(Cynthia Erivo - "Take Care of this House," from the musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, performed at the Kennedy Center - two of the housesTrump is failing to take care of)

[leftstreet]

1. He's that asshole who ruins everyone's birthday

We've all known one

DURec

[EYESORE 9001]

2. I try to remain optimistic

that his pustulence will never pollute the reconstructed White House. I remain even furtherly optimistic that rebuilding won’t happen on his watch. Maybe he’ll refurbish the bunker beneath the east wing. I’ll stop there.

[Irish_Dem]

5. It is all a big grift. Trump probably doesn't care if it ever gets built?

[Harker]

11. Having noted an alarming number of similarities between the Trumpsky regime and Nazi Germany...

Last edited Thu Oct 23, 2025, 01:51 PM - Edit history (1)

I've been hoping for a bunker finale.

[ananda]

3. I tend to think that he intends to destroy the entire WH.

He'll live in, and continue his widespread destruction
from, another building entirely.

I expect he would like to move it out of DC, but I'm
not sure that's possible.

We'll see.

[Irish_Dem]

6. I agree, he hates the WH, thinks it is a dump.

He wants to tear it all down.

And maybe by demolishing the East Wing like he did,
there will be structural damage to the rest of the WH.

I don't think he wants to move it.
Just tear it down and bury it.

After taking out anything valuable.

[ananda]

13. That certainly fits his demented, narcissistic personality.

I guess he could make Mar-a-Lago his official
residence till the WH is completely replaced.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Yes he could move the presidential residence location to wherever he wants.

No one will stop him or care.

[Ms. Toad]

9. Nah. He's spent too much of our money guiding it with gold. n/t

[ananda]

12. But is it real gold, or that cheap plated plastic stuff?

[D00ver66]

16. It's spray paint

That is all

[Ms. Toad]

18. Pretty sure it's real,

From how disparagingly he spoke of gold paint as unable to look like real gold.

[ananda]

19. LOL.

Of course that makes it true.

[Ms. Toad]

21. I didn't say it was true -

But he seems to believe it - and that makes it real in his mind and, I'm sure, real to those who get a heck of a lot more money to put in gold than cheaply painted plastic.

[Irish_Dem]

15. Money is no object. He would steal it all and start over in a new location.

He can move the the presidential location to wherever he wants.

[Irish_Dem]

4. There is more going on behind the scenes too.

[Iggo]

7. He's literally tearing down our institutions.

All for Putin.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. He's destroying our shared past.

'There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past,' he said. 'Repeat it, if you please.'

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past," repeated Winston obediently.

"Who controls the present controls the past," said O'Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. 'Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?'

Again the feeling of helplessness descended upon Winston. His eyes flitted towards the dial. He not only did not know whether 'yes' or 'no' was the answer that would save him from pain; he did not even know which answer he believed to be the true one.

O'Brien smiled faintly. 'You are no metaphysician, Winston,' he said. 'Until this moment you had never considered what is meant by existence. I will put it more precisely. Does the past exist concretely, in space? Is there somewhere or other a place, a world of solid objects, where the past is still happening?'

'No.'

'Then where does the past exist, if at all?'

'In records. It is written down.'

'In records. And- ?'

'In the mind. In human memories.

'In memory. Very well, then. We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?'

'But how can you stop people remembering things?' cried Winston again momentarily forgetting the dial. 'It is involuntary. It is outside oneself. How can you control memory? You have not controlled mine!'

O'Brien's manner grew stern again. He laid his hand on the dial.

'On the contrary,' he said, 'you have not controlled it. That is what has brought you here. You are here because you have failed in humility, in self-discipline. You would not make the act of submission which is the price of sanity. You preferred to be a lunatic, a minority of one. Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston. You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party. That is the fact that you have got to relearn, Winston. It needs an act of self-destruction, an effort of the will. You must humble yourself before you can become sane.'

https://www.abhafoundation.org/assets/books/html/1984/162.html

[littlemissmartypants]

10. I keep thinking about the hands that built it...

And how devastated those people and their families, progeny who are tied to the place by history must feel or would feel at the sight of such desecration.

[Ms. Toad]

20. For some reason, the person I think of most is Michelle Obama.

Maybe because I suspect that is part of his motivation for tearing it down - her hands touched it.

But I wonder how she felt when she saw the first images of the destruction.

[littlemissmartypants]

22. I'm sure it hurt her deeply and made her physically ill. 💔

[Hope22]

17. I'm going to hold the grieving until he is gone.

There is no telling where the demolition stops. If the powers that be ignore his destruction I anticipate buildings bombed and more. Bigger tears to come if he continues.