It was bad enough when the White House Oval Office was suddenly transformed into a fire sale of faux gold decorations dripping from the mantlepiece and every other available space. Before that it was an elegant room in the White House, lovingly called the People’s House, which has always been recognized as a national historic site. The “Oval” was a warm and elegant place where serious, important decisions were discussed by dignified, respected leaders and advisors with strong portfolios who realized the magnitude of the issues being addressed. Today, sadly, it looks like a third-rate setting for a Moliere comedy.

Now comes the devastation of the East Wing. Photos of the desecration of that much loved part of the White House are a sickening metaphor for the destruction of democracy we are witnessing. In addition to the building disappearing, some of us can’t stop wondering what happened to the artwork, furnishings, historic references and more that were housed in the East Wing. Was it treated as debris, or simply looted before the demolition, as other dictators have done?

Critics have compared the demolition of the historic building to “slashing a ”Rembrandt.” One of them called the East Wing “the heartbeat for more than 100 years” as first ladies worked from their offices there on important issues ranging from drug abuse to boosting literacy and preserving the White House itself.

In an opinion editorial in Architect’s Newsletter, a columnist noted that “The East Wing historically housed the Office of the First Lady. [Now] it seems nothing was done to protect the history of women’s contributions to the presidency. By bulldozing the structure, Trump is effectively erasing women from the history of the White House.”

Roslyn Carter was the original First Lady to have an office in the East Wing. She wanted a private place to go to work where she “didn’t have to dress up and put on makeup,” she wrote in her memoir. Hillary Clinton became the determined First Lady to insist that her office be in the West Wing because she felt that her staff needed to be “integrated physically” with the president’s team. Michelle Obama worked to support military families and promote higher education for girls in poor countries from the East Wing and set a standard as a global role model. And Jill Biden, who continued teaching while serving as First Lady, advocated for cancer research and women’s health.

Historically notable, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the White House movie theater in 1942 by converting a cloakroom in the East Terrace into a screening room so that he could watch newsreels during World War II. Other presidents used the theater to rehearse important speeches including the State of the Union.

The East Wing was originally known as the East Terrace in 1902 when Theodore Roosevelt was president. FDR created the East Wing as we have known it in 1942 to have more workspace during the war, and to conceal an underground bunker for the president and staff. Today some people posit that the bunker is the reason the current president wants to obscure it with a massive ballroom which, unsurprisingly, will be named The Donald J. Trump Ballroom. They suggest that the ever-paranoid president wants the bunker to be a safe, well-equipped space for him to indulge the ultra-right-wing fascist fantasies that he clings to, along with his sycophants who can be directed by their leader as he advances his autocratic regime.

The idea of a massive ballroom, whether it is being built as camouflage or not where the beautiful East Wing once was, is obscene. It’s not only likely to be illegal, having ignored proper approvals from the National Park Service and the National Capital Planning Commission. It’s an especially heinous Gilded Age insult and anomaly in face of a government shutdown that will affect millions of Americans in numerous and terrible ways. It smacks of robber barons and “Let them eat cake.” It’s clearly a corrupt moneymaker, an eyesore in the landscape of Washington, and a symbol of the narcissism that is tearing us apart.

No wonder historians, preservationists, art lovers, architects, and ordinary Americans are distraught, not only for the loss of this historical building, but for the lack of transparency, the lying about funding, the underlying corruption, and its implications – all of which the president chooses to call “manufactured outrage.” The travesty of such narcissism is stunning.

The bottom line is that a ballroom monument to oneself has no place in the People’s House, now or ever. It’s time to insist that such acts of ego be stopped.

###

Elayne Clift writes from Brattleboro, Vt. www.elayne-clift.com/blog

By now it should be perfectly clear that, despite having a Jewish son-in-law for whom his daughter Ivanka converted, and three Jewish grandchildren, Donald Trump has a real problem with Jews and Jewish history.

He first revealed his distaste for all things Jewish when he released a notorious Holocaust Remembrance Day statement that didn’t even mention Jews, although he did manage to say the Trump team grieved for “all of those who suffered.”

And of course, he brought Steve Bannon into the White House, a man who openly abhors Jews and opened the floodgates of racism, white nationalism and anti-Semitism in America - along with his protégé Stephen Miller, who was photographed signaling white supremacists before being removed from public view for his vitriol.

Most recently, Trump managed to offend Jews again when the White House posted a ridiculous and insulting picture of what they called a Passover Seder. It looked more like a casting call for Lubavitch Jews from Brooklyn. And where were Melania and Donald? Where were the children and grandchildren? The staff? Personal friends?

Seder, one of Judaism’s most sacred holidays, is a time of tradition. It’s a time when family and friends gather to tell the story of the Exodus, and to remember Jewish oppression along with all people who suffer exile, solitude, and sadness. It is a time of renewal as we welcome the beauty of spring. It is a time of special foods and storytelling and warmth, not a time to sit at a barren table void of a host.

The tradition of Seder goes back many years at the White House and when properly done, it looks like this: [photo of Obama Seder dinner removed]

For further evidence that all is not well for Jews at the White House, fast forward to Sean Spicer trying to apologize for his hideous remarks about the use of gas to kill people.

“I mistakenly made an inappropriate and insensitive reference to the Holocaust, for which there is no comparison.”

No, Mr. Press Secretary, it was not simply an insensitive reference to the Holocaust. It was a disgusting, despicable thing to say that Adolf Hitler was better than Syria’s dictator, because he “didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons.,” on his own people.

It was also grossly and historically inaccurate. To be clear: Hitler used Zyklon B in gas chambers at Nazi concentration camps, killing millions of people, many of them German, and most of them Jews. Sarin gas was discovered and weaponized by Nazi scientists.

No one serving in high office and representing the president of the United States, least of all someone employed to provide honest, accurate information and assumed to know the basic facts of history, should be allowed to remain in his post because he mustered an apology for his stupidity and painfully poor taste.

There can be no doubt about sentiments regarding Jews coming from a White House that refers to concentration camps as “Holocaust centers.” No doubt at all when advisors include people like Sebastian Gorka, whose father was openly aligned with the Nazi Party, or Steve Bannon, accused of anti-Semitism by his ex-wife, who testified under oath that Bannon didn’t want his children to attend schools with Jews, whom he openly and frequently stereotypes. No doubt when acts of anti-Jewish vandalism go unnoticed by the nation’s so-called leader.

The fact is that the White House is the People’s House, as wiser, kinder presidents have understood. It is meant to be a place where American values and traditions are enshrined, or at least symbolized, and where the people who live and work there are worthy of our trust and respect. It is time we restored that House to its rightful place in American history. That means that it’s time for the present occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the people they insist on surrounding themselves with, to leave.

Author Note: Several photos that make this piece stronger were disallowed - for an emailed copy: eclift@vermontel.net