Trigger warning: This post refers to various forms of abuse, and may be triggering to some. Please take that into consideration and proceed with caution. To avoid internet problems, I’ll be using one or two euphamisms and code words, but the meaning should be fairly clear.
Abuse always starts off small, doesn’t it? It’s called grooming. Something is done that makes you feel really uncomfortable, but you think, well, things can be made right again. It’ll be okay. And then something worse happens, and then something still worse… And before you know it, you are being unquestionably physically abused, and you will never be the same again. That’s what has been happening to the White House.
In February, 2025, Reporters started noticing a marked increase in gold décor and gold trim in the White House. When asked why he had done it, Trump seemed very defensive, and said the place “needed a little life”. While every president has the right to redecorate, this is the first Oval Office redecoration that looks more like a low-rent version of the Palace of Versailles.
By the summer, Trump had run amok. There were now gilded cherubs and decorative appliques on doorframes and walls, and even the moldings around the ceiling and decorative elements around the fireplace mantel were gold. One news outlet found that very similar appliques were being marketed as “’High-density Home Decoration Polyurethane Appliques Ornament PU Foam Veneer Accessories’ on Alibaba for as little as $1 for bulk orders of at least 50.”
So Trump has dressed the White House up like a cheap prostitute for all the world to see. It’s embarrassing, but we all laughed. Because it would most definitely be undone 4 years from now.
Then, in June, 2025, Trump decided that the existing, proportional flag poles on the White House grounds were unacceptable, so he added two 100-foot-tall flag poles on the North and South Lawns. Never mind that they pose a flight hazard to the president’s helicopter. But hey, that’s not our problem. That’s their problem. So we stopped thinking about it. Let him have his little playthings if that’s what he needs to make him feel like he measures up.
Then, in September, 2025, Trump decided to pave over the White House’s lovely Rose Garden. (Dare I say it? It has been deflowered.) This, of course, is not the first time the Rose Garden has been renovated, but it is the first time that it consists of more pavement than plant life. It is sterile, cold, and it looks dead. It’s heartbreaking. But it can be made right again when cooler heads prevail, so even though it’s yet another insult to the People’s House, we all just gritted our teeth and got over it.
But also in September, 2025, we got the Presidential Walk of Fame. I don’t know about you, but this is when the little voice inside my head started shouting, “Danger, Will Robinson!” Because, while this, too, can be undone, this is the first time he’s figuratively peed on all his predecessors at once and attempted to rewrite history on the very walls of the primary seat of power for this country. (To be perfectly honest, the insurrection that he incited on the Capitol building should have been warning enough, but apparently it wasn’t.)
On the colonnade of the White House, which runs from the West Wing to the Residence, our current president has placed photographs of past presidents. (Well, except for Joe Biden, whom he insisted on portraying as an autopen, much like an adolescent boy might do when trying to rile up or bully someone he doesn’t like.) Photos we can live with, even if they are in tacky gold frames, but to put his personal, tasteless Vegas-like touch on them, he has also added his tacky gold embellishments and a sign in case anyone was unsure what the installation was, and, worst of all, plaques below each image, most of which he proudly wrote himself, with all his arrogance, bias, and bad capitalization.
Biden is called “Sleepy Joe” and we are informed that he brought our country to the brink of destruction, and Trump takes the opportunity to perpetuate the lie that Biden had been elected fraudulently. For Obama, Trump mentions the “Unaffordable Care Act” and lists all the things Trump overturned, such as the Iran Nuclear Deal and the Paris Climate Accords. George W Bush “started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which should not have happened.” It seems that all of Clinton’s achievements were thanks to a Republican Congress, and Trump couldn’t resist mentioning, in the end, that in 2016, his wife Hillary lost the election to him.
But there are two sentences amongst all the plaques that I find most revealing. The first demonstrates his paranoia and narcissism, and the second shines a bright light on his insecurities and his greatest fears. Andrew Jackson’s plaque says the seventh president was “unjustifiably treated unfairly by the Press, but not as viciously and unfairly as President Abraham Lincoln and President Donald J. Trump would, in the future, be.” And the introductory plaque states, “The Presidential Walk of Fame will long live as a testament and tribute to the Greatness of America.” In other words, don’t forget me. Don’t you dare tear down my tree house.
So with one colonnade-length burst of ego, he has, for perhaps the first time, intentionally altered the White House for the sole purpose of disrespecting the history of the office that he himself holds. Love them or hate them, up to this point, every one of these men have been treated with at least a modicum of respect within these walls. That, perhaps, is one of the things Trump feels most proud about. He has taken the one job that had any chance of intimidating him, and has ground it under his boot heel. I’m sure he’s quite pleased.
By now, seeing that he’s gotten away with all his grooming with no consequences whatsoever, he decided to stop fooling around and show his true colors. He finally did something to the White House that can never be undone. Something that will leave a scar. As all “grapists” do, he proved to himself that he was more powerful than his victim.
In October, 2025, the White House was unmistakably violated when the East Wing, which had been built in 1902 and expanded in 1942, was demolished. By doing so, he broke the law. He did not obtain the necessary consent to ravage this National Historic Landmark that does not belong to him. He took something that belonged to us and destroyed it, knowing that if he had asked, we would have said no.
So far, there has been no noticeable progress on the outlandish, overpriced, oversized ballroom that Trump said was to be put up in place of the East Wing. (Again, he didn’t ask our permission. He just went right on in there, with designs of his own.) Either some heroic people are impeding his progress, or, even more likely, he has lost interest. What he was interested in was the violence, the chaos and distraction, the shock and outrage, and the proof that he’s the one in control. Yeah, that’s what turns him on.
I also could have easily demonstrated how he has groomed and “graped” the US Constitution, our human rights, our economy, and our standing on the world stage, but you know what? I’m tired. With his actions, he has sucked the life force right out of me, and out of every American who has actually been paying attention. And that was, after all, his intent. He seems to be rather shocked, though, that some of us, at least, are managing to soldier on. That’s awfully inconvenient for him. That means he’ll have to double down, and God only knows what he has in store for us.
As is so often the case, long after someone has been abused, they learn that their abuser had been known for such behavior long before he got hold of them. And I have seen many survivors keep quiet and try to forget about it, or pretend it never happened and look away when it happens to someone else. I understand the instinct to avoid painful things, believe me. I really do. But if you don’t speak up, then the predators of this world get to move on to other victims. Someone needs to put a stop to their behavior, before more damage is done. The best thing to do is shine a spotlight on it, so that evil has nowhere to hide.
Trump’s name appears more than 38,000 times in the latest batch of the Epstein files. Just sayin’.
Sources:
Sleepy. Divisive. A fan of young Trump: A look at the new plaques on the Presidential Walk of Fame
Wikipedia–White House Rose Garden
Trump to start building $200 million White House ballroom in September
Trump’s New White House Flags Could Be Dangerous, Ex-Chief of Staff Warns
Wikipedia–Presidential Walk of Fame
The East Wing of the White House is Demolished
All the Ways Donald Trump Is Dramatically Redesigning the White House
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