What was the White House’s explanation for this 180?
“With any construction projects, there are changes over time,” Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Just trust the process.”
‘He literally tore down hundreds of years of history in four days. There’s just really no words for it.’
Melanie Stansbury, Democratic congresswoman
Once again, Trump has exploited the exceptionalism of the presidency. The White House is exempt from the usual rules governing historic federal buildings.
The National Capital Planning Commission ostensibly doesn’t concern itself with demolition, only construction. And so Trump has found a way to skate through the gap and bulldoze the site. Seek forgiveness, not permission.
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It is, of course, America’s political culture and its reverence for the president that has created the system where Trump can do this. But when dealing with a building as important as the people’s house – “the country’s house”, as Trump called it – Americans probably deserve slightly more due process.
On Monday evening, I wandered a short distance from my office in downtown Washington to see what I could glimpse of the demolition site. Not much, it transpired, with the area blocked off by even more barriers than usual.
But I did meet Democratic congresswoman Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico. “I just had to see it with my own eyes,” she said.
“[It’s] a lot more emotional than I thought it would be. Obviously, it’s such a metaphor for what’s happening with our country and the rule of law and checks and balances and all that.
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“They’re saying that he tore it down in four days. He literally tore down hundreds of years of history in four days. There’s just really no words for it.”
And therein lies the difference. Back home, we have a cottage industry of heritage consultants paid by councils to declare every two-bit terrace house, shopfront or bungalow an indispensable piece of the city’s heritage. It has become so abused, bastardised and weaponised that the word itself has lost all meaning.
But the White House is as heritage as heritage gets. The least you could do is tell people you’re planning to knock part of it down. If that makes me a NIMBY, so be it.
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