U.S. President Donald Trump waves while boarding Air Force One as he departs for Asia, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., October 24, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The White House East Wing existed, in different forms, for 123 years. The East Wing was unveiled in its original form under Republican President Teddy Roosevelt in 1902 before undergoing a major expansion and renovation under Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 40 years later. But in late October, the East Wing was demolished altogether on orders from President Donald Trump — who is planning to replace it with a massive ballroom.
In her October 25 opinion column, the New York Times' Maureen Dowd points to the demolition of the East Wing as symbolic of a broader problem: Trump, during his second presidency, is "governing" by "whims" and has tossed aside the United States' long "We the People" tradition.
"Trump has so little respect for this 123-year-old symbol of American history that he didn't check with federal planning officials or Congress before he obliterated one side of the White House," Dowd argues. "As if he's tearing down a gas station. When I visited the White House with my mom as a kid, we loved overhearing foreign tourists ooh and ahh about how relatively small and modest the house was. Its simplicity was part of its charm…. Trump does not do small or modest. He does big, flashy odes to self."
The demolition of the East Wing, Dowd adds, is only one example of Trump's indifference to the views of others.
"It's a slam-dance presidency that delights in transgressing and provoking," Dowd laments. "Build a $300 million, 90,000-square-foot gilt ballroom — which will overshadow the central edifice — while the government is shut and people have been thrown out of work; plaster tacky gold all over the Oval; sue everyone willy-nilly; put foes through legal torture; send troops to American cities; shrug off due process and blow alleged drug runners out of the water…. After turning the Justice Department into his own vigilante posse, Trump now wants to warp the once-esteemed department even more…. Trump once thought nothing of aiming to overthrow the government he ran. Now, he thinks nothing of threatening to sue the government he runs if he isn't allowed to pay himself a quarter-billion dollars."
Dowd continues, "'We the People' is quaint. Now, we are governed by the whims of one person."
Trump, the New York Times columnist emphasizes, "can indulge any crazy impulse, and nobody is able to check him."
"Congress is adrift," Dowd writes. "The White House is a shipwreck. Trump is marauding in the Caribbean. (Former FBI Director) James Comey and (New York State Attorney General) Letitia James are being forced to walk the plank, and next up could be (former special counsel) Jack Smith and (Sen.) Adam Schiff. We are awash in nautical metaphors as the president plunders and pillages. He’s a pirate — and not the fun Halloween kind."
Maureen Dowd's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).