My Less Than Humble Opinion

On January 6, 2021, President Donald Trump #45 held a rally on the National Mall. After Don, Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and other Trump supporters stirred up the crowd to a frenzy, the President spoke, using rhetoric like, “And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” He ended the speech encouraging the crowd to “march down Pennsylvania Avenue” to the Capitol … initiating an attack on the Capitol Building where the Vice President and Congress were tallying the electoral votes that had been certified by the states. These pictures are evidence of what the crowd did.

The Rally had turned into a Riot. Four people died as a direct result of the attack on the Capitol. Damage to the building was minimal.

What they couldn’t do to the Capitol …

… He has done to the White House ! ! !

On October 20, 2025, demolition of the East Wing of the White House began on the orders of President Donald Trump #47. By October 23, 2025, the East Wing of the White was gone.

Getty Images by Andrew Harnik

Getty Images

Why did he do this? He believes that the White House needs a 90,000 square foot Ballroom. 90,000 square feet is about 72% of what the combined Residence, West Wing, and East Wing were. It’s about 95% as large as the remaining Residence and West Wing. When the Ballroom is completed, it will have increased the size of the White House by about 28%.^[1] This drawing from Wikipedia shows how the Ballroom compares to what was the East Wing.

This model and artist’s sketch gives us an idea of what the White House will look like when the Ballroom is completed.

The estimated cost of this project is $300,000,000. President Trump has said that he will be paying for it … with the help of corporate and private donors.^[2]

Fortune has listed …

… 21 corporate donors:

• Meta Platforms
• Apple
• Amazon
• Google
• Lockheed Martin
• Microsoft
• Comcast
• Altria
• Coinbase
• Palantir Technologies
• T Mobile
• Ripple
• Hard Rock International
• Tether America
• Union Pacific Railroad
• Micron Technology
• Caterpillar
• Booz Allen Hamilton
• HP
• NextEra Energy
• Reynolds American

… and 16 private donors:

• The Adelson Family Foundation
• Stefan E. Brodie
• Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
• Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
• Edward and Shari Glazer
• Harold Hamm
• Benjamín Leon Jr.
• The Lutnick Family
• The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
• Stephen A. Schwarzman
• Konstantin Sokolov
• Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
• Paolo Tiramani
• Cameron Winklevoss
• Tyler Winklevoss
• J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
  
  

As if replacing the East Wing … and all the history that it represented … with an absurdly large ballroom weren’t bad enough, President Trump’s plans call for a gaudy interior typical of royalty and autocracy … like this artist’s conception:

Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised. The President has already spread his questionable taste to other parts of the White House.

I wonder if he expects visiting dignitaries to be impressed. I’m sure members of his administration compliment his taste … whether they mean it or not.

If the White House actually belonged to the President, it would be one thing. He has every right to add whatever tacky decorations he wants to Mar-a-Lago, Trump Tower, etc. BUT, the President doesn’t own the White House. It’s called “The Peoples’ House” for a reason. It belongs to “We the People of the United States”.^[3]

The Most Extreme Change in 80 Years

The President and his allies in Congress have rebuffing critics with the “Everybody does it” excuse. “Obama added a basketball court and solar panels”; “The Clintons and the Bushes refurbished some rooms”; “Carter added solar water heating”; Nixon added a bowling alley”; etc. None of these compare to Trump’s ballroom project.

The last change on an equivalent scale came when Truman became President after the death of FDR. Because of years of poor maintenance, the residence had become so unsafe that it was unlivable. Rather than tear it down, President Truman wanted to retain the exterior and all the history connected to it. Instead, the interior was gutted and rebuilt with an interior steel frame.

Not the Worst of It

The destruction of the East Wing was dramatic. It happened quickly, noisily, and out in the open for all to see … but, it’s only a physical manifestation of the damage that the second Trump Administration has done in less than a year. Like Richard Nixon before him, President Trump believes “If the president does it, it’s not illegal.” Unlike President Nixon, Donald Trump has a Supreme Court decision that he thinks backs him up.

Trump v. United States
In 2023, a federal grand jury turned in an indictment charging that then former President Donald J. Trump had conspired to overturn the 2020 election by spreading false information intended to prevent the collection, counting, and certification of the results. Trump and his legal team moved to overturn the indictment based on presidential immunity. The case was argued before the Supreme Court on April 25, 2024. The Court delivered its decision on July 1, 2024.

The American Cornerstone Institute has provided a clear summary of the question posed in the case:

Does a former president enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct involving official acts during his time in office, and if so, to what extent?

… and the decision:

The Supreme Court held that the president is entitled to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for certain official acts within the president’s “conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,” a presumption of immunity from criminal prosecution for all other official acts, and no criminal immunity for unofficial acts.

The catch is in the phrase, “conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority”. President Trump seems to interpret that phrase to mean “whatever comes into my head or whatever ideas of my most mean-spirited and or delusional advisors^[4] sound good”.

From pardoning thugs who attacked the Capitol on January 6th, to accepting expensive gifts from foreign governments^[5] and using his office to get rich on all sorts of schemes^[6], to issuing taxes^[7], to ordering the military into our cities^[8], to ignoring more than half of the amendments in the Bill of Rights^[9], he is finding a new way to attack the Constitution and the Rule of Law almost every day.

In his first administration, President Trump surrounded himself with people who agreed with his politics (or seemed to) … but, most believed in the limits of the Constitution. They were often able to curb his worst impulses. In his second administration, President Trump has surrounded himself with sycophants and/or others who see our laws as barriers to be overcome or ignored.

President Trump believes that he has absolute authority over every facit of the Federal Government.^[10] He is behaving not as a President of the United States; not as a King in a constitutional monarchy; not even as one of the autocratic rulers (e.g., Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping) that he so admires. He is behaving like the corrupt leader of a third world country … a dictator.

He has to be shown that “We the People” have the last word. We cannot buckle to governmental fearmongering and/or intimidation. Our efforts must be peaceful but insistent and constant. Trump and his allies think the United States of America is a zero-sum game. It’s not. By working together; making sure that all persons on our shores have equal protection under the law; striving to continue and expand the ideals upon which our country was founded; and caring for each other, we can all win.

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If you have any comments … in agreement or opposition … or any additional ideas, I encourage you to leave a reply in the comments section at the end of this article.

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End Notes

[1]
These percentages are my own calculations derived from estimates of the sizes of the Residence and West Wing that I found on the internet combined with an estimate of what the East Wing was. I couldn’t find the size of the East Wing anywhere. I estimated its size myself by comparing the proportions of the East and West Wings in a drawing.

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[2]
I wonder:

• How many of these donations come from approving of the project?
  (Probably more of the individuals than the businesses are “approvers”.)
  
  
• How many are “protection money” payments hinted by the President?
  (Nice business/life you have here. Be too bad if something happened to it.)
  
  
• How many are prepayment for future perks from the Administration?

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[3]
How would you feel if you owned a home and loaned it to an acquaintance only to learn that he had ripped out a room designed to be an office in order to build a disproportionally large ornate dining room? That’s what Trump has done to the White House.

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[4]
Among President Trump’s advisors who have been involved in his most damaging and dangerous policies are, from upper left to lower right:

• Stephen Miller was the author of the family separation and babies in cages anti-immigration tactics of President Trump #45 and is almost certainly involved in I.C.E.’s “arrest and spirit-away without due process of the law” policy used against anybody who looks like she or he might be an “illegal alien”.
  
  
• Russell Vought is Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Miller is the tactician; Vought is the strategist. He founded a right-wing think tank called the Center for Renewing America. He is a strident believer in “America First”, extreme border security, and dismantling the “federal bureaucracy. He was a major contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025“.
  
  
• Pete Hegseth, the current Secretary of Defense, is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. His major qualifications are supporting Trump’s 2016 campaign, co-hosting Fox & Friends Weekend for 8 years, and pushing what he calls a “Warrior Mentality” … the same macho, bullying attitude as the President. They think it shows strength. I think it shows that they’re frightened little boys hiding in the bodies of grown men.
  
  
• Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a serious nutjob who never met a medical conspiracy theory he didn’t like. Naturally, Trump made him Secretary of Health and Human Services. He has, at times, attributed some of his neurological difficulties to a dead worm in his brain. I think it’s the other way around. The worm went into Kennedey’s brain looking for sustenance … and starved to death.

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[5]
This is a violation of Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution … the Emoluments Clause:

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

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[6]
In his latest and one of his most blatant money-grabbing schemes, President Trump has demanded that the Department of Justice give him $230 million (our tax money) in damages for two earlier investigations into his activities … the Russian interference in the 2016 elections probe and the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in the classified documents case.

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[7]
Contrary to President Trump’s ignorance (or outright lie), tariffs are not paid by anyone in the exporting country, but by someone in the importing country. The importer is one of us or one of our businesses. If that someone cannot absorb that cost, it will be passed along to the customers (you and me). Tariffs are effectively Federal Sales Tax.

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[8]
The Posse Comitatus Act limits the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic law by the federal government or by other government entities such as county sheriffs and justices of the peace

It does not prevent the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state’s governor.

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[9]
As I see it, President Trump and his Administration have violated:

The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

(Although the amendment says “Congress”, it applies to all branches of the Federal Government. The Framers of the Constitution gave the passage of laws to the Legislative Branch; not the Executive.)

The Fourth Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Fifth Amendment
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The Sixth Amendment
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

The Eighth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The Tenth Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Note: The word “citizen” is not used in any of these amendments. These basic rights apply to anyone in our country … legally or not.

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[10]
Under Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, the House of Representatives seems to agree with President Trump. Many members of the Republican Conference in the House fear the President’s followers who will vote against them in the primary elections leading up to the 2026 Midterm Elections, but even that political edge is failing. For example, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has heard from her constituents. The government shutdown and coming cuts in Medicare and Medicaid will hurt them. She’s listening and supporting them over the “party line”.

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