Destructive Defacing
2025 June
2025-06-09 Trump plowed over the White House Rose Garden.
https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/donald-trump-white-house-rose-garden-paved-constroversy/
2025 July
2025-07-01 Trump fired the entire Commission of Fine Arts in 2025 and sworn in his hand-picked appointees who align with his endeavors to deconstruct historical monuments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Scharf
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/us/politics/trump-ballroom-fine-arts-commission.html
2025 August
2025-08-07 For his birthday, Vance pressured the Army Corps of Engineers to release river water for his kayaking trip at taxpayer expense amidst budget cuts.
https://apnews.com/article/vp-vance-boating-ohio-river-level-raised-de4c773cfffd6cac0b82e96787fea951
2025 October
2025-10-16 Trump proposed building himself a “victory arch”. No word about how much the arch would cost taxpayers, but Trump did share his proposal during a government shutdown while he withheld food benefits from millions of Americans. The plan was to construct the arch overlooking the Arlington Cemetery, and the structure would be nearly twice the size of both the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7e8lv176go
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/16/nx-s1-5576506/president-trump-arch-us-250th-anniversary
https://turtledove.fandom.com/wiki/German_Arch_of_Triumph
2025-10-24 Trump demolished the White House East Wing shortly after promising the American people his ballroom project would not interfere with or cut into the existing White House structure. Outlets report that the administration did not submit their plans to the National Capitol Planning Commission, and that they may have cut corners on asbestos-abatement guidelines during the demolition, putting surrounding citizens at risk.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/26/politics/white-house-east-wing-history
2025-10-31 Trump posted 6 times about renovating a White House bathroom completely in marble amidst a government shutdown and hunger crisis.
https://deadline.com/2025/10/trump-lincoln-bathroom-white-house-1236604245/
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/31/trump-bathroom-white-house-remodel-shutdown.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/31/politics/white-house-lincoln-bedroom-bathroom-renovation
2025 November
2025-11-16 Preservationist groups sued Trump for his plans to paint over the Eisenhower Executive Office in Washington DC.
https://www.archpaper.com/2025/11/lawsuit-repaint-eisenhower-executive-office-building/
https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-unveils-vision-eisenhower-executive-office-building-makeover
2025 December
2025-12-24 The White House threatened to bypass the DC preservation staff and the General Services Admission to demolition the Wilbur J Cohen building and its historic New Deals mural. According to one article, the White House added a long list of government properties to a newly enacted “accelerated disposal” list.
https://www.archpaper.com/2025/12/threat-demolition-escalates-cohen-building/
https://www.wired.com/story/map-for-sale-government-properties-gsa/
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-884907
2026 February
2026-02-02 Trump announced the Kennedy center would be shut down for two years for “renovations”. Renovations would include marble, furniture, gold inlay and gold trim. Trump said the renovations would not come from taxpayer money at all, stating quote, “zero taxpayer”. Meanwhile, a Gallup survey showed that millions of Americans were skipping meals in order to pay for their healthcare. The Gallup poll said, “In a nationally and state-representative survey of nearly 20,000 US adults conducted from June through August 2025, roughly one-third of respondents – the equivalent of more than 82 million Americans – said they have made at least one trade-off with daily living expenses to afford healthcare. Americans are also postponing retirement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi0AWU60RxE&list=WL&index=1&t=69s
https://news.gallup.com/poll/702596/one-third-americans-cut-back-cover-healthcare-expenses.aspx
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/02/nx-s1-5696489/kennedy-center-renovation-trump-questions
2026-02-25 Trump planned to turn the East Potomac into a golf course.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/lawsuit-over-east-potomac-golf-course-redevelopment-heads-federal-court
2026 March
2026-03-16 The White House federal arts commission proposed ripping out the White House columns.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/15/white-house-columns-ionic-corinthian/
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-appointee-proposes-ripping-white-020500010.html
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/15/nation/appointee-wants-to-replace-white-house-columns/
https://finance-commerce.com/2026/03/white-house-columns-corinthian-proposal-trump
2026-03-30 The press learned the massive ballroom project also includes a massive military complex/bunker below.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/judge-rules-bulldozers-down-for-trumps
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/us/politics/trump-ballroom-military-bunker.html
https://www.aol.com/articles/karoline-leavitt-blasts-nyt-ballroom-132647609.html
2026-03-31 A judge temporarily blocked Trump’s White House ballroom project, writing, “The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner”.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/31/trump-white-house-ballroom-judge.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/31/trump-white-house-ballroom-lawsuit-order-00852455
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/31/politics/judge-rules-that-white-house-ballroom-contstuction-stop