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The People's House - And the Oligarch Pit -- Timothy Snyder
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-peoples-houseExpanding the bunker under the White House?
The policewoman jumped out, whistled, and told us to stop.
It was the afternoon of Hallowe’en in Washington DC, and I was walking with a friend from Adams Morgan down to the Mall. It’s a city where I feel at home. I visited in 1987, as part of National High School Mock Trial Championship, and lived in DC for summers before, during, and after college. The afternoon of October’s last day was beautiful, and my mind was dwelling in other sunny days, other strolls down the same path -- 17th St, alongside the White House compound, approaching State Place.
And then she appeared from nowhere, our energetic policewoman, officiously stopping the foot traffic; we had to wait and watch. A skilled semi driver had appeared, incongruously, at the tight intersection; he had to back his load through a narrow entry into the White House which had been designed for no such thing. It was not just that the passage was too small; no one on the other side of the checkpoint, on the White House grounds, had made any preparations, and cars beyond the gate were parked needlessly close. It took the driver several minutes to find his way in, which gave me time to think about what was so troubling in all this.
By the time of my visit to the nation’s capital, our president had already leveled the East Wing of the White House, the side where the public entrance used to be, where guests were once welcomed. We were standing on the west side of the complex, watching a movement of heavy machinery that seemed arbitrary, unplanned, and chaotic. Since the semi driver had to make a whole series of turns before backing in, it was not hard to see his load: a CZM utility drilling rig. It would join the collection of other heavy equipment at the edge of a pit.
Why was this troubling? The destruction of the East Wing is the vanity project of someone who regards the White House as a permanent private residence. I presume that the expansion of the bunker is more important than whatever might be built on the surface. Given that the parts of the White House that are still standing are being redecorated with fake-gilded Home-Depot gewgaws, any ballroom would likely be hideous. The impression given in every Trump endeavor is that he takes everything for himself, and yet somehow never has the money to hand to do anything right. He has endless donations, but no one seems to know where it is.
. . .
It was the afternoon of Hallowe’en in Washington DC, and I was walking with a friend from Adams Morgan down to the Mall. It’s a city where I feel at home. I visited in 1987, as part of National High School Mock Trial Championship, and lived in DC for summers before, during, and after college. The afternoon of October’s last day was beautiful, and my mind was dwelling in other sunny days, other strolls down the same path -- 17th St, alongside the White House compound, approaching State Place.
And then she appeared from nowhere, our energetic policewoman, officiously stopping the foot traffic; we had to wait and watch. A skilled semi driver had appeared, incongruously, at the tight intersection; he had to back his load through a narrow entry into the White House which had been designed for no such thing. It was not just that the passage was too small; no one on the other side of the checkpoint, on the White House grounds, had made any preparations, and cars beyond the gate were parked needlessly close. It took the driver several minutes to find his way in, which gave me time to think about what was so troubling in all this.
By the time of my visit to the nation’s capital, our president had already leveled the East Wing of the White House, the side where the public entrance used to be, where guests were once welcomed. We were standing on the west side of the complex, watching a movement of heavy machinery that seemed arbitrary, unplanned, and chaotic. Since the semi driver had to make a whole series of turns before backing in, it was not hard to see his load: a CZM utility drilling rig. It would join the collection of other heavy equipment at the edge of a pit.
Why was this troubling? The destruction of the East Wing is the vanity project of someone who regards the White House as a permanent private residence. I presume that the expansion of the bunker is more important than whatever might be built on the surface. Given that the parts of the White House that are still standing are being redecorated with fake-gilded Home-Depot gewgaws, any ballroom would likely be hideous. The impression given in every Trump endeavor is that he takes everything for himself, and yet somehow never has the money to hand to do anything right. He has endless donations, but no one seems to know where it is.
. . .
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