George Will rips 'anti-constitutional' Trump’s 'unapologetic unilateralism'

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Conservative Washington Post columnist George Will at a dinner honoring then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in Scottsdale, Arizona on December 1, 2022 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

In order to make way for a new ballroom, President Donald Trump ordered the demolition of a building that existed for 123 years: the White House East Wing, which was unveiled in 1902 during Republican Teddy Roosevelt's presidency before undergoing a major renovation and expansion under another Roosevelt — Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt — 40 years later in 1942.

In his October 29 column for the Washington Post, Never Trump conservative George Will emphasizes that the implications of the East Wing's demolition go way beyond the building itself and underscores Trump's total disregard for what others think.

"Donald Trump, who often makes even defensible actions grating, acted on the White House with unapologetic unilateralism," Will observes. "Part of his political strength is that apologies are not in his repertoire. He said the new ballroom would not impact the East Wing. By now, however, the number of his 'Oh, never mind' presidential statements contains two commas. Like a locomotive encountering a cobweb, he blew through whatever regulatory rules or norms pertain to White House alterations. But many Americans think our democracy has become a vetocracy, coagulated by blocking procedures that stop things."

Will adds, however, that if the demolition of the East Wing shocks Americans out of their complacency, some good will come of it.

"Trump’s ballroom has already served the public good," the 84-year-old conservative writes. "It has triggered some people who need triggering. They have been blasé about his presidential grandiosity when he spends money for purposes Congress has explicitly refused to authorize (the Big Beautiful Wall), or when he insults local police forces by sending troops to pacify U.S. cities, or when he vaporizes perhaps criminal Venezuelans. Now, however, because of the ballroom, and the East Wing, the blasé are suddenly aghast…. For decades, the constitutional, political, social (and, lately, aesthetic) damages done by the ever-more-swollen modern presidency have become increasingly evident."

Will continues, "Congress, in its decades-long siesta, has empowered presidents to unilaterally tax (see: tariffs) and wage war (hello, Venezuela) as they please. Congress is now composed almost entirely of two cohorts: those who do nothing but genuflect to their party's president, and those who do nothing but caterwaul about him. It is especially amusing to hear progressives, the principal creators of the watery Caesarism of today's presidency, sorrowfully describing Trump's ballroom as discordant with the White House's proper modesty. They should worry less about the president's residential immodesty and more about his anti-constitutional immodesty."

George Will's full Washington Post column is available at this link (subscription required).

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