Demolition on the White House’s East Wing in Washington. The White House is demolishing the entirety of the East Wing to make way for President Trump’s $200 million ballroom. Photograph: Alex Kent/The New York Times
Before the orange cyclone hit town, Washington was a far more staid place.
Al Gore loved to host small dinner parties focused on scholarly topics. One dinner was devoted to the meaning of metaphor. “I l-i-i-ke metaphors,” Gore drawled to the Washington Post when he was vice-president. “The more complex and arcane the better.”
What must Gore make of the unsanctioned, ahistoric, abominable destruction of the East Wing by Donald Trump? It’s the most remarkable metaphor we’ve ever seen in the nation’s capital. It’s not complex or arcane. It’s simple and visceral. It slams you in the face – metaphorically speaking.
“He’s saying, ‘I can do whatever the hell I want and you can’t stop me!’” said David Axelrod, who worked in the Obama White House. “In this case, it’s sundering history.
“If you worked in the White House, you have a reverence for every wall of that place.
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