Ken Hurley
Let’s demolish the Statue of Liberty and build a condo tower on Liberty Island and call it Ballroom Plush. The Statue of Liberty is a National Landmark. Liberty Island is federally owned by the United States government and is managed by the National Park Service. As is the White House a National Landmark and the land it sits on is federally owned. No developer, president or other, has the unilateral legal authority to build an outhouse or anything on federal land or desecrate a National Landmark, much less demolish it, without an extensive rigorous review and approval for architectural compatibility, environmental concerns, historical preservation, and more. 18 U.S. Code § 1361 makes it a federal crime to willfully injure or damage federal property, with penalties including fines and up to ten years in prison for damage over $1,000. The National Capital Planning Commission is the primary agency responsible for coordinating the review process for the White House. The NCPC is headed by a Trump appointee. As of this writing, it is closed due to the government shutdown.
The ballroom project was announced and construction began with the demolition of the East Wing without permits, public comment, agency review, or explicit prior approval from the NCPC for the building phase. The head of the NCPC claimed that demolition did not require the commission’s approval, only the future construction. Another tedious and hurtful smack in the face from Trump to the people. The claim of funding paid by private donors would more accurately be stated as paid by big corporate funding to grovel for favor with the president. If this weren’t legal, we could rightfully call it bribes. The President and all associated with the desecration and demolition of the White House deserve to face the penalties associated with 18 U.S. Code § 1361. However, there is a kick. The exception is that the White House is exempt from certain requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which means a presidential administration doesn’t have to follow the same public review processes as other federal agencies. As of this writing, no legal action has been taken relative to the shocking demolition. Just a wide backlash of criticism, two thumbs down, and loud boos.
And the bunker beneath the ballroom? The Presidential Emergency Operations Center is located beneath the East Wing. Built during World War II, the facility has been updated and serves as a shelter and command center for the president and staff during emergencies. We need a bigger bunker with golden chandeliers and golden toilets, golden communications, so we can drop golden bombs. The floor of the ballroom is the ceiling of the bunker. No photos allowed of the excavation. No photos? We’ll see. Or, maybe not.
Will Trump be president again in 2028? Some people claim the country needs Trump to stay in office, especially because they believe he is a vehicle of Divine Providence. The 22nd Amendment be damned.
There is a reason that fascist regimes strongly embrace the dominant religion of the country and start to use religious language and images. A tyrant who believes that they’re on a mission from God is deadly dangerous. People have used the certainty of God being on their side as an excuse to exterminate their enemies. You can claim heresy and actually kill others when you believe that your mission is of God; or if you can convince people that it is, it gives you the excuse to say that if you don’t support me, then you’re against God. If you’re against God – that’s your peril – because I have the right to live my life according to God’s commands, which include eradicating you. Think Inquisitions. A myopic moron can see that this administration has no truck for the Constitution. In fact, as 2028 nears, it seems they plan to completely disregard the Constitution. It’s easy to use “emergency” powers to disrupt the elections. They know they cannot win fairly. Hitler used emergency powers to suspend civil liberties, the freedom of the press, the freedom to protest, and due process. It allowed for indefinite detention without being charged with an offense, and they were able to use those emergency powers to proclaim that they were trying to save the country, save elections, and protect law and order. There were no free and fair elections in 1933 Germany. It was manipulated by fear and propaganda and Hitler had control of the government.
Let’s not allow ourselves to fall into the trap that the conservative right is stupid. Ok, some of them are heavily indoctrinated. Many of them are actually stupid, meaning incapable of learning. But their leadership, in particular, is not stupid. They are calculated. They lie with smiling ease. While we have allowed ourselves to get baited into cultural rules and distractions — they have been laser focused, and they’ve been able to overturn Roe, remove equal opportunity in the workforce, rewrite history books, take rights away from women, gut the Civil Rights Act, put ICE on the streets, military in our cities — and now, they’re building the fascist world in which they want to live. Next up — the Constitution. They told us who they are, and they are efficient enough to get it done. If we want to be effective activists and fight back, we’re in for a long painful slog, decades of correction to fix this mess. Let’s not make the mistake of believing that the enemy is stupid. They cheat. They lie. They’re cruel. They’re deadly. But they’re not stupid.
