American History Be Damned Trump levels a national treasure Dan Rather and Team Steady Oct 23 An excavator works to clear rubble after the East Wing of the White House was demolished on October 23 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images And just like that, it was gone. The East Wing of the White House has been demolished by Donald Trump and only Donald Trump. No hearings, no oversight, no input from anyone, just his desire to defile our nation’s most famous home with his trademark tackiness. The bulldozers didn’t show up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue earlier this week by accident. This has been a secret, long-planned project often hinted at by Trump, but specifics were few until the wrecking ball started swinging. The construction of a new, massive White House ballroom, along with the unauthorized destruction of the East Wing, is the perfect, albeit appalling, metaphor for the trajectory of Donald Trump’s second term. In king-like fashion, Trump jumped into this building project, which he claims everyone wants, but no one has publicly asked for, with his usual don’t-bother-asking-for-permission zeal. To make room for his 90,000 square foot monstrosity, which will dwarf the existing White House at almost two times its size, he dismantled something that does not belong to him but to the American people. The White House was dubbed “The People’s House” during John Quincy Adams’s presidency, a building reflective of our representative republic. It belongs to all citizens, not just the ones living in it. Trump has filed no plans, received no permissions, and enlarged the footprint and the budget, increasing the cost by 50%. Major donors will foot the $300 million bill. The only reason we know the East Wing is being bulldozed is because Treasury Department employees, who work next door, defied a White House order by sharing photos taken from their offices of a national historic landmark being leveled. Until very recently, the East Wing was a 12,000 square foot, two-story structure connected to the main building by an arcade. It housed function rooms, the offices of the First Lady, the White House visitors’ office, the guest entrance, and an underground secure shelter. It was built in 1942, during Franklin Roosevelt’s second term. Prior to that addition, the East Terrace, a small structure that served as a formal visitors’ entrance, was added in 1902, before that a greenhouse occupied the space. On a personal note, among all of Trump’s outrageous acts, this one really hits home for this reporter. For the better part of 10 years, I worked in the CBS News workspace in the West Wing. So much of my own history and the country’s is entwined with the building. Credit: Getty Images Witnessing any part of its demolition is a gut punch. Trump crossed an invisible line by destroying something that wasn’t his to destroy. You could say that about so much of what he has done, but the visual of seeing a bulldozer taking down part of this national treasure was a painful reminder of how he and his administration works everyday at dismantling our democracy. I wish I could say I was surprised by any of this, but remember, this is the guy who paved over Jackie Kennedy’s rose garden to make it look like the patio of his Palm Beach resort. While Trump is razing an historic monument to make way for a gilded ballroom, he and his Republican toadies are not making good on the campaign promise to deal with the affordability crisis. Instead, they are enriching themselves and their friends at the expense of the American taxpayer. Kristi And The Jets On the heels of Trump accepting a $400 million jet from Qatar, Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, decided she needs a new government jet too. Two actually. And not just any jet, but a brand new Gulfstream G700, the latest in billionaire luxury. Reportedly, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos each have one. The price tag for the two private jets is at least $172 million, more taxpayer dollars. A DHS spokesperson says the current plane Noem uses is old and in need of maintenance, even though a new, but not as fancy, jet was purchased in 2022, with an expected service life of 20 years. Argentine Tango Trump has cut just about every possible social program because he says the country can’t afford them, yet the “America First” president has found not $20 but $40 billion to bail out Argentina. He is propping up Argentine President Javier Milei, a right-wing political ally, at the expense of the people who elected him. Milei’s policies have pushed Argentina to the brink of yet another currency crisis. Trump is hoping his largess will allow Milei to prevail in his country’s midterm elections in November. Trump is Suing Himself (Sort of) The president, who has used the presidency to make billions of dollars, is now suing the United States Government for $230 million. He faced two federal criminal indictments and was charged with several felonies. When he won the election in 2024 his Department of Justice dropped the charges. Now, he believes he is entitled to compensation for those investigations. No idea how he came up with that inflated figure, but he will need one of his appointees to okay the payout. What are the chances? Shutdown Dragout Thursday is day 23 of the government shutdown and the two sides are no closer to ending it than they were on day one. The Democrats refuse to vote on a measure that would reopen the government without Republicans agreeing to extend subsidies for health insurance provided by the Affordable Care Act, which provides insurance to 24 million Americans. Without the subsidy extensions, the average increase could be more than 100%. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates someone paying $888 for coverage now will pay $1904 in 2026. But these estimates will become reality very soon, because open enrollment starts in just over a week. With people beginning to get letters and emails outlining the unsubsidized costs, congressional Republicans will be under greater pressure to make a deal. Two Things Can Be True At The Same Time The economy is booming and we are inching toward recession. With Trump muzzling federal agencies, the official narrative of the two American economies has gone mute. What you believe depends on whether you trust the spreadsheets or the pawn slips. For the one-percenters, things are rosy. Tech investment is boosting an already hot stock market. GDP is humming along. And employment is robust. The rich are getting richer. For the rest of the country, things aren’t looking great. Some leading indicators are pointing toward recession: Car loan defaults are at record highs, according to Fitch Ratings. The pawnshop business is booming. “You can’t imagine what’s going on in the economy right now unless you live in a pawnshop,” Les Gold, the owner of American Jewelry and Loan in Detroit, told CNN. With the cost of rent, childcare, and groceries above pre-pandemic levels, the chief executive of GoFundMe says fundraising campaigns for “essentials” have soared. Women are leaving the workforce in record numbers. Childcare costs, loss of flexible work schedules, and layoffs, especially in the federal government, have pushed nearly half a million women out of the job market so far this year. America’s real-time economic dashboard is now built on the flimsy foundation of repo lots, pawnshop counters, and GoFundMe pages, because the government’s data is slow to materialize or nonexistent. Forget regression models, this is recession modeling. All of this makes the idea of a big, ugly ballroom paid for by influence-seeking billionaires all the more appalling. The destruction of part of “The People’s House” is symbolic of the damage this president is wreaking, such as extorting his own government and approving luxury jets for his cabinet, while making life more difficult for most Americans Steady is free, but we’d appreciate it if you would consider joining as a paid subscriber. That helps us maintain Steady and continue to make it available for everyone. No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading. Stay Steady, Dan