1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Politicians come and go. As will the Trump administration, though it doesn’t feel like it right now. But before the man goes, he seems more interested in being an estate developer than president. He is trying to bulldoze DC into just another gaudy monument to himself. We’re reading that a DC preservationist has filed a declaration before the court, saying that president Trump is trying to get around the law to demolish four historic federal buildings. The Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, named for the first Black Cabinet member, completed in 1968 and on the National Register of Historic Places. The New Deal–era GSA Regional Office Building. The 1919 Liberty Loan Building. And the 1940 Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, full of irreplaceable murals by some of America’s best regional artists. The petition says the administration is circumventing the GSA, who has sole legal authority over government buildings, to solicit bids to recommend the four buildings for demolition. Trump has expressed his opinion that the president does not have to have permits or permission to tear down buildings. As evidenced by the overnight destruction of the East Wing of the WH. And now, without permissions, construction appears to have begun on the inappropriate and unwanted and obscenely costly ballroom. “No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever—not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else,” the lawsuit says. “And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.” Trump also arranged for the dirt from the demolition of the East Wing to be dumped on the East Potomac Golf Links, one of three public golf courses in the DC area Trump is hoping to renovate…after pushing aside the nonprofit group that holds a 50-year lease to restore and operate the courses and keep them affordable. All three of the courses—East Potomac, Rock Creek Park Golf, and Langston Golf Course—are on the National Register of Historic Places. Trump told reporters that chief of the WH Domestic Policy Council, Vince Haley, has “a policy thing that’s going to be unbelievable happening…. We’re building an arc like the Arc de Triumph, and we’re building it by the Arlington Bridge, the Arlington Cemetery, opposite the Lincoln Memorial. You could say, Jefferson, Washington, everything, ‘cause they’re all right there, and it’s something that is so special. It will be like the one in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away, blows it away in every way.” That idea is what blows. A president cannot be allowed to tear down historical buildings willy-nilly and replace them with his personal vision. And who would pay for Trump’s follies? Federal buildings belong to we the people. Paid for by us. It’s bad enough he’s already sticking his name on various institutions around DC. He must not be allowed to destroy first and ask permission later. Someone please remind him he’s just a temporary resident. He’ll eventually go. These buildings are the ones that should stay.