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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYou know when he said, "We can do things during the shutdown that are irrevesible" (ETA: "Take Care of this House")
Last edited Thu Oct 23, 2025, 01:39 PM - Edit history (2)
I thought that statement was bizarre, even for him. Nearly everything that involves money is reversible. You just throw money at it. That's the reason that injunctions are rare - they are reserved for the new things that paying money after the fact can't fix.
But tearing down the east wing can't be undone.
That's what I think he was referring to.
Yes, the building could be rebuilt, but there's a magic in walking those old halls where presidents, first ladies, world leaders, school children - and even I have walked. That magic can't be restored even if he is forced to put up a copy of the wing., instead of a ballroom.
ETA: This seems appropriate to add -
(Cynthia Erivo - "Take Care of this House," from the musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, performed at the Kennedy Center - two of the housesTrump is failing to take care of)
leftstreet
(37,706 posts)We've all known one
DURec
EYESORE 9001
(29,197 posts)that his pustulence will never pollute the reconstructed White House. I remain even furtherly optimistic that rebuilding wont happen on his watch. Maybe hell refurbish the bunker beneath the east wing. Ill stop there.
Irish_Dem
(76,615 posts)Harker
(17,016 posts)Last edited Thu Oct 23, 2025, 02:51 PM - Edit history (1)
I've been hoping for a bunker finale.
ananda
(33,726 posts)He'll live in, and continue his widespread destruction
from, another building entirely.
I expect he would like to move it out of DC, but I'm
not sure that's possible.
We'll see.
Irish_Dem
(76,615 posts)He wants to tear it all down.
And maybe by demolishing the East Wing like he did,
there will be structural damage to the rest of the WH.
I don't think he wants to move it.
Just tear it down and bury it.
After taking out anything valuable.
ananda
(33,726 posts)I guess he could make Mar-a-Lago his official
residence till the WH is completely replaced.
Irish_Dem
(76,615 posts)No one will stop him or care.
Ms. Toad
(37,912 posts)ananda
(33,726 posts)D00ver66
(18 posts)That is all
Ms. Toad
(37,912 posts)From how disparagingly he spoke of gold paint as unable to look like real gold.
Of course that makes it true.
Ms. Toad
(37,912 posts)But he seems to believe it - and that makes it real in his mind and, I'm sure, real to those who get a heck of a lot more money to put in gold than cheaply painted plastic.
Irish_Dem
(76,615 posts)He can move the the presidential location to wherever he wants.
Irish_Dem
(76,615 posts)Iggo
(49,315 posts)All for Putin.
eppur_se_muova
(40,385 posts)'There is a Party slogan dealing with the control of the past,' he said. 'Repeat it, if you please.'
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past," repeated Winston obediently.
"Who controls the present controls the past," said O'Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. 'Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?'
Again the feeling of helplessness descended upon Winston. His eyes flitted towards the dial. He not only did not know whether 'yes' or 'no' was the answer that would save him from pain; he did not even know which answer he believed to be the true one.
O'Brien smiled faintly. 'You are no metaphysician, Winston,' he said. 'Until this moment you had never considered what is meant by existence. I will put it more precisely. Does the past exist concretely, in space? Is there somewhere or other a place, a world of solid objects, where the past is still happening?'
'No.'
'Then where does the past exist, if at all?'
'In records. It is written down.'
'In records. And- ?'
'In the mind. In human memories.
'In memory. Very well, then. We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?'
'But how can you stop people remembering things?' cried Winston again momentarily forgetting the dial. 'It is involuntary. It is outside oneself. How can you control memory? You have not controlled mine!'
O'Brien's manner grew stern again. He laid his hand on the dial.
'On the contrary,' he said, 'you have not controlled it. That is what has brought you here. You are here because you have failed in humility, in self-discipline. You would not make the act of submission which is the price of sanity. You preferred to be a lunatic, a minority of one. Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston. You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party. That is the fact that you have got to relearn, Winston. It needs an act of self-destruction, an effort of the will. You must humble yourself before you can become sane.'
https://www.abhafoundation.org/assets/books/html/1984/162.html
littlemissmartypants
(30,423 posts)And how devastated those people and their families, progeny who are tied to the place by history must feel or would feel at the sight of such desecration.
Ms. Toad
(37,912 posts)Maybe because I suspect that is part of his motivation for tearing it down - her hands touched it.
But I wonder how she felt when she saw the first images of the destruction.
littlemissmartypants
(30,423 posts)Hope22
(4,239 posts)There is no telling where the demolition stops. If the powers that be ignore his destruction I anticipate buildings bombed and more. Bigger tears to come if he continues.