The dismantling of the White House East Wing by the Trump administration this past week was very disturbing to many Americans. This is especially true because Trump himself mislead all of us by initially saying the White House would not be impacted by the massive ballroom he is hellbent on building. Seeing the remnants of the demolition after the fact has been shocking and surprisingly more personal than I could have imagined. Why is this administration destroying our house?
Trump’s transformation of the White House does have historical precedent and comparisons to other fascist regimes throughout history. One example that comes to mind is Mussolini’s transformation of Rome during his regime. If you have not visited or seen pictures of the EUR neighborhood outside of central Rome, please take a moment and take a look. You will immediately see a cold, brutal, and intimidating style. The train station in Milan is another great example. You would expect a city to want to welcome visitors at their grand train station, but the Milan train station is designed to make you feel small, unimportant, and certainly not very welcome.
I interpret Trump’s transformation of the Rose Garden to be very similar to Mussolini’s EUR neighborhood. The Rose Garden was a beautiful, natural space that welcomed guests and served previous administrations for decades. Now, it is a stark, cold, lifeless concrete space like so many hotels and resorts around the world.
Trump says the new ballroom with be beautiful and follow the architectural designs of the existing White House buildings. Unfortunately, he and his administration have done very little to gain the trust of the country that they are actually telling the truth. I get the sense that when history looks back on these White House modifications by Trump, historians will be comparing them to Mussolini’s impact on Rome and the rest of Italy during his reign.
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