Donald Trump’s wrecking ball hits his own movement

When the demolition crews arrived Monday at the White House there had been no forewarning Excavators were spotted razing the East Wing late that afternoon as much of the nation was still abuzz about President Donald Trump s reaction to the historic No Kings protests The rapid pace of transformation and scale of the demolition surprised everyone Just a inadequate days before as Trump hosted selected of the richest people in America at the White House to secure funding for his project to build a -square-foot ballroom there was no mention of a timeline And until the bulldozers and backhoes demonstrated up this week the president had explicitly denied the White House s structure would be affected The ballroom he reassured the residents when he communicated the project in July won t interfere with the current building It was only on Wednesday a full two days after the demolition had started that the administration admitted that the plan was to raze the entire East Wing But even though Trump is increasingly emboldened the first major renovation to the people s house in decades which has left behind nothing but twisted piles of rubble is raising questions from his MAGA base If there were any doubt left the painful images of the White House literally being torn down have made it crystal clear The president is not the least concerned about the pretense of propriety But even though Trump is increasingly emboldened the first key renovation to the people s house in decades which has left behind nothing but twisted piles of rubble is raising questions from his MAGA base These suggest a sense of creeping doubt may be starting to set in Trump requirements to tell the masses now what he is doing with the East Wing of the White House And then tell the populace why he didn t tell them before he started doing it frequent Fox News contributor and conservative pundit Byron York posted on X Most of controversies are complicated observed Howard Kurtz the longtime Fox News columnist and media critic Blowing up the East Wing after saying it would remain intact has touched a nerve destroying a piece of history A Washington Post headline Thursday read The East Wing is gone and Trump turns to damage control The administration has taken policies to keep details of the demolition from the populace reportedly ordering employees not to share photos and blocking access to journalists While countless Republicans in Congress are reflexively cheering Trump s move Sen Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska admitted that the optics of fancy renovations amidst a establishment shutdown are bad Related Trump and Leavitt watch with glee as the press is crumbling There s a conflict in just the reality that people are seeing Murkowski narrated reporters Thursday Federal funding for nursing moms WIC benefits may not be available after the first of November And then you have a White House where they re expanding a massive ballroom While the White House is technically owned by the American people it is managed by the National Park Amenity But the administration has not sought approval for Trump s plan from the National Capital Planning Commission which oversees major renovations of federal buildings in Washington claiming that the commission has oversight over construction but not demolition In any circumstance construction plans are likely to be rubber-stamped even as Trump has suddenly scaled the ballroom s planned quota from up to because the commission was quietly stacked with Trump loyalists days before the ballroom plans were unveiled in July Earlier this year the president paved over the White House s -year-old Rose Garden We re building a ballroom Trump revealed on Monday They ve needed a ballroom for years and I m giving that honor to this wonderful place But less than half of Republicans polled favor Trump s redesign of the East Wing The cost of the president s project meanwhile has skyrocketed to million up threefold from projections in February when he first declared during a signing ceremony that he d like to build it for million Trump has waved away concerns by noting that taxpayers aren t footing the bill for the renovations but that s only sparked more questions A list distributed by the White House on Thursday indicated that several private donors to the project head major corporations that are awaiting merger approval from the administration Others like YouTube are forking over the money to conclude legal battles with the president Comcast the parent company of NBC News is a listed donor Lockheed Martin has reportedly pledged more than million for the ballroom s construction a figure that roughly equals the defense contractor s entire lobbying budget The White House has explained contributing companies which are being required to donate a lump sum or pay in up to three installments by are eligible for recognition associated with the White House Ballroom Want more sharp takes on politics Sign up for our free newsletter Standing Room Only written by Amanda Marcotte now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts While Trump tends to his ballroom backing for his economic agenda including a bailout of Argentina is cratering As CNN s Harry Enten noted Trump s approval rating is now the lowest for any president ever at this point in either a presidency or for a second term GOP Sens Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts who represent Nebraska one of the nation s top beef producers pushed back this week on Trump s plans to import beef from Argentina Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene R-Ga one of Trump s fiercest supporters called the president s move seemingly one of the grossest things I ve ever seen Speaking to Tucker Carlson this week Greene warned Republicans that multiple Americans that voted for Republicans gave us the House majority gave us the Senate majority and put our favorite president back into office Donald Trump they re mad And they re they are really really mad they re they re stepping back Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren appealed on X Why the actual F K would we buy Argentinian beef Our AMERICAN ranchers are getting crushed already by cheap shit foreign beef imports The meat packers are already under cutting our AMERICAN producers as it is This is an OUTRAGE Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune R-S D called on Trump to reconsider his plan It s created a lot of uncertainty in that domain So I m hoping that the White House has gotten the message Republicans are also feeling the heat this week on the shutdown A new Reuters poll located that blamed Trump and the GOP This shutdown strategy is old and Republicans need to have new tactics Rep Beth Van Duyne R-Texas warned her fellow Republicans I would in fact recommend that maybe we start staying in town announced Sen Joni Ernst R-Iowa arguing it just forces us to come together and really start reckoning with the shutdown We need your help to stay independent Subscribe nowadays to advocacy Sophia Tesfaye s commentary Democrats demand to extend tax credits for vitality insurance exchanges seems to have divided Republicans On Tuesday House Republicans wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La pleading for a compromise fix to the tax credits for medical insurance premiums which are expected to skyrocket by according to an sole record by the Washington Post Beyond the shutdown and surprise renovations Trump s supporters are even giving him grief for another new scandalous pardon On Thursday Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao a convicted felon who pleaded guilty to money laundering Under Zhao s leadership Binance struck a business deal with World Liberty Financial the Trump family s crypto startup I think it s a bad signal Sen Thom Tillis R-N C who is retiring after this term mentioned of the pardon I don t like it Such mealy-mouthed admonishments are how we got here in the first place Republican complicity laid the groundwork for Trump s creeping authoritarianism Now that it is in our face with construction plans for a gaudy ballroom for the elites as food assistance for hungry children is threatened Republicans faint criticism is even more deafening in its impotence The painfully slow but steady erosion in conservative base encouragement is the only silver lining Read more about this topic How corporate Democrats lost the working class and fueled Trump Kash Patel and Vivek Ramaswamy get hit with a hard MAGA truth Donald Trump s No Kings sewage video is no joke The post Donald Trump s wrecking ball hits his own movement appeared first on Salon com