Posted On: Friday - October 24th 2025 11:17AM MST
In Topics: TV, aka Gov't Media Trump Media Stupidity US Feral Government
Early in the life of this blog, we'd quite often get our material straight off of Steve Sailer posts (when he was here on The Unz Review). Part of the reaason has been that he gets loads of stupidity material from reading the NY Times, Washington Post, etc., so we don't have to. I can't do it, so we figured we'd outsource that. By January of '17, we even had to make clear that no, we don't worship Steve Sailer, a post with an Apocalypse Now Dennis Hopper theme to it.
Today, I'm backsliding to a degree. I'll point out a good piece of Sailer Noticing, along with my additional take on the matter. It's about this story of President Trump having had the East Wing of the White House torn down to be rebuilt into some ballroom or what-have-you. Let me make clear that this stuff is in the area of SWDLAT (Stuff We Don't Like About Trump.) I don't care that Trump spent a quarter $Billion of his own money on this project - to me that makes it even worse. It's just more of that 3rd-Worldly El Caudillo Yanqui behavior as brought to us by our commenter E.H. Hail.
I care that Trump FOCUS!!, something he really sucked at as -45. He has really come around on this, and I suppose he's delegating a lot, and same here. He loves the YUGE real estate projects. Still, I want to hear about deportations, con jobs, the end of D.I.E. and all that. More of that, less of this.
As usual, the ctrl-left and anyone else with a bone to pick about Trump has been shocked, no really, that the whole East Wing of the White House has been demolished on a whim. No, wait... it's not like ... here:
Yes, that's direct from Steve Sailer's recent post Trump Is Not Tearing Down the White House. I don't think he's much into memes, much less graphic design, but the image above may even have been his doing, so, thanks, Steve. there are usually sub-titles to these posts, and this one reads:The East Wing that Democrats are currently going nuts over is actually a separate building built in 1942 that nobody much cared about until this week.
Thank you! For me it's been longer than the 4 decades even that it's been for Steve Sailer - note that's his text I captured above the image.
The rest of his post is paywalled (including comments, as is the way it works), and I've read that he got into architecture after that, which is not my thing. The basic point is that this East Wing, and same with the West Wing*, are not the two ends of the actual White House, outside the main portion with the 4 columns. I'd have thought that? How about you? The East Wing, at least, is, I don't know, I didn't pull up a scale map**, a hundred yards or more away, connected by a hallway. Middle-brow folks would call it a corridor, and high-brow people and AI, a colonnade.
I've visited the Federal Shithole a few times - the last time only due to my wife's request and "Cherry Blossoms!"*** - but we never went on the White House tour. Not everybody in the country has.
That's how you lie to all those people if you're with the Regime Media. You just don't include on your web page or on your news report a little map, such as they'd give you for free on a tour. If I had not read Mr. Sailer's title, which is not any longer than the titles I could have read on Yahoo news, I'd still be under the impression that the starboard side of that house there has been demolished. That alone wouldn't bother me a bit anyway, just sayin' - might be good for numismatic coin collecting. For others, isn't that kind of rash? Yeah, well Wiki reports:
A YouGov poll released on October 22 showed that the majority of polled Americans disapproved of the decision to demolish the East Wing, with 53% disapproving and only 24% approving.Sure, but that IS after they were all lied to, so ...
Last evening, we had dinner out for the first time in a long time, at the old Chinese Buffet which was close to where we finished a late errand. Thankfully, the big TVs in the place had the sound completely off, but my non-TV-bred boy sat (I realized that just this morning) purposely on the side where he could watch CNN. I turned around and saw some Schumer Shutdown images and text, then next time I looked, I saw the demolished East Wing. Did CNN have a big diagram at one point to show "Here's the location of the demolition and future big ballroom."? I highly doubt it - that completely ruins the story.
The story is that this crazy Orange President of ours has had nearly half of the White House demolished. Lying by omission or something slightly different, lying by pretending you don't have any maps on ya', either way, this is how they roll in the Regime Media.
PS: Again, if Mr. Sailer veered into architecture beyond the paywall, then this is not redundant, but I would suggest in addition to describing the whole White House area as a "complex" or "campus" these 2 non-"wings" (completely erroneous term here) should be called "annexes". I remember the something annex on our college campus, the first time I'd heard that term. Change the show to The West Annex next time, so we won't all be misled.
* I guess where the TV show was supposed to have taken place, also, not my thing ... TV, that is.
** Google AI was kinda snarky to me in answering my question, I gotta say:
The East Wing's demolition process, led by President Trump, also involved tearing down the East Colonnade that connected it to the main residence. Therefore, there is no longer a distance between the original East Wing and the main White House because the original structure is gone.OK, you piece of Artificial Stupidity, how far WAS it, then?!
*** Yes, lots of Oriental, including Japanese, tourists were milling about in masses, and I had to ask, "Don't you people have trees at home?" (They didn't answer, alas...)
Comments:
Moderator
Saturday - October 25th 2025 12:39PM MST
PS: "If all the other countries jumped in the river, would you do it too?!?"
LOL! Off the Brooklyn Bridge, right?
LOL! Off the Brooklyn Bridge, right?
The Alarmist
Saturday - October 25th 2025 11:57AM MST
PS
If all the other countries jumped in the river, would you do it too?!?
๐
If all the other countries jumped in the river, would you do it too?!?
๐
Moderator
Saturday - October 25th 2025 7:27AM MST
PS: OK, here we go:
1) The UniParty Congress has become worthless at this point. This could change were MAGA to get a serious foothold, another job that Trump should be overseeing and delegating to the right people. Is that old Reagan era arm-twisting not a thing anymore? The new way is running campaigns against the do-nothings, but then Trump's ego has him going after the good Thomas Massies and Rand Pauls. That's where he gets stupid.
Got off track here, but, better yet, don't build a ballroom at all and FOCUS!!
2) I agree, but then I see what was done by Barry with the basketball court. (Thanks, Alarmist.) Was that a big CNN news story too, because I sure missed it? (Then too, I don't watch TV.) I would say this raising money or ponying up his own just makes the whole government as it's supposed to run, prescribed in the US Constitution, a farce at this point and very Idiocratic, as in, the Mike Judge movie.
3) This East Annex was built in 1902. It looks very nice as photographed at the time, with columns and a nice roof deck with trees on it. I would imagine Trump's version will be pretty nice too. The White House is still there - this annex is old, but it's not the Liberty Bell.
Generally, I agree with your take on Trump here. However, this is how the left works. They bring up this story to show Trump is that KIng or Caudillo, so that we'll feel obligated to agree with them on:
"He can't be having people arrested and deported, like a King or something!"
"He can't just take us out of the Paris Accords, when all the other industrialized countries* signed up, like a damned King!"
"He can't be admitting White people into the US as refugees and stopping 125,000 non-Whites, like some sort of damned King!"
You sign up for one part of their story, then they've got you eventually signing up for the rest. Gotta get rid of this King!
That's not you and the commenters here, Mr. Hail, but note what I wrote in my post. Most of the public doesn't follow anything but some headlines and some video clips. My attitude is that I don't care what happens to the East Annex. Just get Job #1 done, and keep up the good work on lots of the rest.
.
* Except China, but this hearkens to 30-40 years back when the ctrl-left would say that about everything, and China was a hole. "
"All the other industrialized countries have Government healthcare!"
"All the other industrialized countries have small armed forces during this Cold War!"
"All the other industrialized countries control the guns... etc., etc."
Do you remember this?
1) The UniParty Congress has become worthless at this point. This could change were MAGA to get a serious foothold, another job that Trump should be overseeing and delegating to the right people. Is that old Reagan era arm-twisting not a thing anymore? The new way is running campaigns against the do-nothings, but then Trump's ego has him going after the good Thomas Massies and Rand Pauls. That's where he gets stupid.
Got off track here, but, better yet, don't build a ballroom at all and FOCUS!!
2) I agree, but then I see what was done by Barry with the basketball court. (Thanks, Alarmist.) Was that a big CNN news story too, because I sure missed it? (Then too, I don't watch TV.) I would say this raising money or ponying up his own just makes the whole government as it's supposed to run, prescribed in the US Constitution, a farce at this point and very Idiocratic, as in, the Mike Judge movie.
3) This East Annex was built in 1902. It looks very nice as photographed at the time, with columns and a nice roof deck with trees on it. I would imagine Trump's version will be pretty nice too. The White House is still there - this annex is old, but it's not the Liberty Bell.
Generally, I agree with your take on Trump here. However, this is how the left works. They bring up this story to show Trump is that KIng or Caudillo, so that we'll feel obligated to agree with them on:
"He can't be having people arrested and deported, like a King or something!"
"He can't just take us out of the Paris Accords, when all the other industrialized countries* signed up, like a damned King!"
"He can't be admitting White people into the US as refugees and stopping 125,000 non-Whites, like some sort of damned King!"
You sign up for one part of their story, then they've got you eventually signing up for the rest. Gotta get rid of this King!
That's not you and the commenters here, Mr. Hail, but note what I wrote in my post. Most of the public doesn't follow anything but some headlines and some video clips. My attitude is that I don't care what happens to the East Annex. Just get Job #1 done, and keep up the good work on lots of the rest.
.
* Except China, but this hearkens to 30-40 years back when the ctrl-left would say that about everything, and China was a hole. "
"All the other industrialized countries have Government healthcare!"
"All the other industrialized countries have small armed forces during this Cold War!"
"All the other industrialized countries control the guns... etc., etc."
Do you remember this?
Moderator
Saturday - October 25th 2025 7:05AM MST
PS: Mr. Hail, first, thanks for your humorous concern about a 3-year later trip of ours to the FS.
I am almost sure our visit was in '18, though I know it was in early April. We had another trip planned, and that didn't work out, so this was a compromise. This was just a little bit before my wife got more politically oriented, and very thankfully, in the right direction.
As for Jan 6th of '21, my wife wouldn't have gone because she's generally a stay-at-home type, tourist trips notwithstanding (and she goes full tourist a lot - "Don't get off the mother-freaking (double-decker) bus!", - shades of Apocalypse Now! in England, and she wouldn't have liked to hang out with the friends I tried to convince to go. I will say that I was only slightly enthusiastic myself, as I figured it'd just be another long-winded rally in the cold. About that cold, best thing is to keep moving, as the Feds would have told me. ;-}
Oh, and she couldn't have vaulted through that broken window space, which is just as well, but I could have.
Finally, it was the transportation that didn't work out - it was gonna be just me. I would have arrived in the city after 4P.
I am almost sure our visit was in '18, though I know it was in early April. We had another trip planned, and that didn't work out, so this was a compromise. This was just a little bit before my wife got more politically oriented, and very thankfully, in the right direction.
As for Jan 6th of '21, my wife wouldn't have gone because she's generally a stay-at-home type, tourist trips notwithstanding (and she goes full tourist a lot - "Don't get off the mother-freaking (double-decker) bus!", - shades of Apocalypse Now! in England, and she wouldn't have liked to hang out with the friends I tried to convince to go. I will say that I was only slightly enthusiastic myself, as I figured it'd just be another long-winded rally in the cold. About that cold, best thing is to keep moving, as the Feds would have told me. ;-}
Oh, and she couldn't have vaulted through that broken window space, which is just as well, but I could have.
Finally, it was the transportation that didn't work out - it was gonna be just me. I would have arrived in the city after 4P.
Moderator
Saturday - October 25th 2025 6:57AM MST
PS: SafeNow, that Percy Shelley poem has been getting a real workout lately. (Did you see the stevesailer.net post? Then, I was about to write a humorous post with a picture of an African hut and "Look at muh works, you Whities, and dispair!"
The whole thing's inappropriate, but so is that basketball court deal by Barry. I know that's "whataboutism", but mainly my concern here is twofold: That Trump not get himself too distracted with the Caudillo stuff and that this is a great example of lying by the Regime Media.
The whole thing's inappropriate, but so is that basketball court deal by Barry. I know that's "whataboutism", but mainly my concern here is twofold: That Trump not get himself too distracted with the Caudillo stuff and that this is a great example of lying by the Regime Media.
Moderator
Saturday - October 25th 2025 6:53AM MST
PS: Haha, M.
"We just went there too, and now that Orange bastard ..."
"No, we didn't go there. Remember, you said you were tired, the tour guide was some African dude we couldn't understand, and you wanted to get a hot pretzel and go see the cherry blossom?"
"Well, I mean, also, my phone ran out of power, so I didn't have the map app. How were we supposed to get there, by some freaking brochure? How exactly does THAT work? Still, that Orange bastard...!"
"We just went there too, and now that Orange bastard ..."
"No, we didn't go there. Remember, you said you were tired, the tour guide was some African dude we couldn't understand, and you wanted to get a hot pretzel and go see the cherry blossom?"
"Well, I mean, also, my phone ran out of power, so I didn't have the map app. How were we supposed to get there, by some freaking brochure? How exactly does THAT work? Still, that Orange bastard...!"
M
Saturday - October 25th 2025 6:29AM MST
PS
If the "news" article that fulminates against renovating the East Wing, due to how beloved it is, has to include a map showing where it is, then this makes their case weaker.
"I can't believe it! They're tearing this down!"
"Where is it?"
"Let me show you on a map."
"I can't believe it! I loved that place!"
...
"I just had to show you where it is. How much could you have loved it?"
If the "news" article that fulminates against renovating the East Wing, due to how beloved it is, has to include a map showing where it is, then this makes their case weaker.
"I can't believe it! They're tearing this down!"
"Where is it?"
"Let me show you on a map."
"I can't believe it! I loved that place!"
...
"I just had to show you where it is. How much could you have loved it?"
SafeNow
Saturday - October 25th 2025 5:41AM MST
PS
There is of course the intra-psychic aspect of Trumpโs making himself feel bigger and more powerful. But also, isnโt the effect upon regular people often one of making them feel SMALLER. โAdmire my worksโฆand despair.โ A loss of the sense of being a worthwhile self.
Helpful to me, your analysis, Hail, of what is so galling and inappropriate about the way Trump is going about this. Thanks.
There is of course the intra-psychic aspect of Trumpโs making himself feel bigger and more powerful. But also, isnโt the effect upon regular people often one of making them feel SMALLER. โAdmire my worksโฆand despair.โ A loss of the sense of being a worthwhile self.
Helpful to me, your analysis, Hail, of what is so galling and inappropriate about the way Trump is going about this. Thanks.
Hail
Friday - October 24th 2025 10:45PM MST
PS
You write that you went to Washington DC one of the recent years, "due to my wife's request and 'Cherry Blossoms!'..."
Let me say: You were a good husband to accommodate her like that.
Fatefully, she did NOT suggest a visit to the cherry-blossoms on January 6, 2021. It would be quite funny to have seen the name "Achmed E. Newman" among the list of people pardoned by the orange-colored pen on January 20, 2025. But all in all it's a good thing it didn't happen that way. Thanks, cherry blossoms, for being out of reason in January and all.
You write that you went to Washington DC one of the recent years, "due to my wife's request and 'Cherry Blossoms!'..."
Let me say: You were a good husband to accommodate her like that.
Fatefully, she did NOT suggest a visit to the cherry-blossoms on January 6, 2021. It would be quite funny to have seen the name "Achmed E. Newman" among the list of people pardoned by the orange-colored pen on January 20, 2025. But all in all it's a good thing it didn't happen that way. Thanks, cherry blossoms, for being out of reason in January and all.
Hail
Friday - October 24th 2025 10:41PM MST
PS
Alright, I think the reason people are upset with the demolition of the East Wing is not solely because of misleading framing by CNN and others.
In part it's because of the following reasons:
(1.) there didn't seem to be any public-facing process on the matter. It was treated a whole lot more like a private real-estate deal at one of his clubs. That leaves a bad feeling (and it should).
(2.) It was funded by secret, private donations with (it seems) no accountability, and which seem to amount to bribery and "influence peddling." There's an old line that "even the appearance of impropriety" is a serious problem to be avoided. That is the (former) gold standard of Western "high trust," our civilizational super-power.
(That kind of strictness with "the appearance of impropriety" is not, and has never been, shared by non-Western cultures and states, even the most successful. They can force it on their populations, but it doesn't come natural to them. Trump brazenly ignoring it is another way he's a non-Western political figure who happens to have a white face.)
(3.) There was, it's said, little review process by those safeguarded with preservation.
There is also precedent for this even this very year, 2025, with Trump-II, dealing with his "paving over" of the famous White House Rose Garden, to resemble a shiny version of a portion of the Mar-a-Lago estate.
All of these criticisms sound, I guess, like "loser talk" to Trump and other Fox News-type big-talkers. There is also an overcompensation going on for his perceived being hemmed in by the Adults in the Room faction in 2017-2020.
Trump is a Big-Man-style political figure, of which the US has little precedent. He thinks he can do anything, tear down the East Wing, kill people on boats somebody laims are running drugs, potentially go to war with Venezuela, and a long list of things.
Legally and practically, he may be right in the cases of his right to erect a giant Trump Ballroom on the ashes of the East Wing, but morally he may be wrong. I don't think he understands that.
Alright, I think the reason people are upset with the demolition of the East Wing is not solely because of misleading framing by CNN and others.
In part it's because of the following reasons:
(1.) there didn't seem to be any public-facing process on the matter. It was treated a whole lot more like a private real-estate deal at one of his clubs. That leaves a bad feeling (and it should).
(2.) It was funded by secret, private donations with (it seems) no accountability, and which seem to amount to bribery and "influence peddling." There's an old line that "even the appearance of impropriety" is a serious problem to be avoided. That is the (former) gold standard of Western "high trust," our civilizational super-power.
(That kind of strictness with "the appearance of impropriety" is not, and has never been, shared by non-Western cultures and states, even the most successful. They can force it on their populations, but it doesn't come natural to them. Trump brazenly ignoring it is another way he's a non-Western political figure who happens to have a white face.)
(3.) There was, it's said, little review process by those safeguarded with preservation.
There is also precedent for this even this very year, 2025, with Trump-II, dealing with his "paving over" of the famous White House Rose Garden, to resemble a shiny version of a portion of the Mar-a-Lago estate.
All of these criticisms sound, I guess, like "loser talk" to Trump and other Fox News-type big-talkers. There is also an overcompensation going on for his perceived being hemmed in by the Adults in the Room faction in 2017-2020.
Trump is a Big-Man-style political figure, of which the US has little precedent. He thinks he can do anything, tear down the East Wing, kill people on boats somebody laims are running drugs, potentially go to war with Venezuela, and a long list of things.
Legally and practically, he may be right in the cases of his right to erect a giant Trump Ballroom on the ashes of the East Wing, but morally he may be wrong. I don't think he understands that.
Hail
Friday - October 24th 2025 10:28PM MST
PS
This is some of Sailer's commentary over the East Wing controversy that I transcribed and put onto the open Internet:
https://www.unz.com/isteve/isteve-open-thread-14/#comment-7355196
I noted that Sailer gets a little wrong what the East Wing was. It was not built in 1942 but merely heavily renovated at the time. It was actually built in 1902. That's still not 1802, or 1852. But 1902 is a long time ago.
The reason for the 1942 'renovation' was specifically to construct a giant underground bunker and command-center for use of the president and his staff in the event of Hitler ordering a bombing of Washington.
The White House underground bunker, a good distance below the surface under the East Wing, is pretty much shrouded in secrecy and has rarely been written about. It played a role in the September 11, 2001 events.
This is some of Sailer's commentary over the East Wing controversy that I transcribed and put onto the open Internet:
https://www.unz.com/isteve/isteve-open-thread-14/#comment-7355196
I noted that Sailer gets a little wrong what the East Wing was. It was not built in 1942 but merely heavily renovated at the time. It was actually built in 1902. That's still not 1802, or 1852. But 1902 is a long time ago.
The reason for the 1942 'renovation' was specifically to construct a giant underground bunker and command-center for use of the president and his staff in the event of Hitler ordering a bombing of Washington.
The White House underground bunker, a good distance below the surface under the East Wing, is pretty much shrouded in secrecy and has rarely been written about. It played a role in the September 11, 2001 events.
Adam Smith
Friday - October 24th 2025 5:49PM MST
PS: Greetings, gentlemen,
About Obama's $376 million White House renovation...
https://archive.org/details/CNN_20100910_210000_The_Situation_Room_With_Wolf_Blitzer/start/6912.2/end/7256.9
(A small clip hosted in two different places...)
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1981051255788027904/vid/avc1/640x360/IZeBdNLxJllf9gjN.mp4
https://files.catbox.moe/vodqh3.mp4
โฎ๏ธ
About Obama's $376 million White House renovation...
https://archive.org/details/CNN_20100910_210000_The_Situation_Room_With_Wolf_Blitzer/start/6912.2/end/7256.9
(A small clip hosted in two different places...)
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1981051255788027904/vid/avc1/640x360/IZeBdNLxJllf9gjN.mp4
https://files.catbox.moe/vodqh3.mp4
โฎ๏ธ
Adam Smith
Friday - October 24th 2025 5:09PM MST
PS: ๐ฝ๐ข๐๐ 14๐กโ? ๐๐๐ฅ๐ก ๐ฆ๐๐๐?
Yup... I hear it will be an historic event!
https://i.ibb.co/354ghzHC/June-14-2026.jpg
https://www.sportbible.com/mma/ufc/ufc-news/donald-trump-white-house-card-804004-20251022
โฎ๏ธ
Yup... I hear it will be an historic event!
https://i.ibb.co/354ghzHC/June-14-2026.jpg
https://www.sportbible.com/mma/ufc/ufc-news/donald-trump-white-house-card-804004-20251022
โฎ๏ธ
Moderator
Friday - October 24th 2025 4:12PM MST
PS: Haha, you jest, but imagine how much trouble those boys Hussein and Mike would have gotten into if they hadn't have been kept busy with the midnight basketball. The people got a good return on their investment. Social peace, man...
Hello Adam. I won't be watching the wrastling. They should do it outside, rain or shine. Wait, June 14th? Next year?
Hello Adam. I won't be watching the wrastling. They should do it outside, rain or shine. Wait, June 14th? Next year?
Adam Smith
Friday - October 24th 2025 2:04PM MST
PS: Good evening, Messrs. Alarmist and Moderator,
Yeah, but... Will it be ready by June 14 for the big cage match?
โฎ๏ธ
Yeah, but... Will it be ready by June 14 for the big cage match?
โฎ๏ธ
The Alarmist
Friday - October 24th 2025 1:53PM MST
PS
First, there is this โฆ
https://i0.wp.com/www.barnhardtmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/img_8540.jpg?w=1072&ssl=1
My take is that the East Wing was probably full of some beam tech being used to drive POTUS and his team crazy, or perhaps some other tech to ferret out info, so it had to come down. A nice ballroom for state visits would be a nice cover for that. Better than Nixonโs bowling alley or Obamaโs B-ball court.
First, there is this โฆ
https://i0.wp.com/www.barnhardtmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/img_8540.jpg?w=1072&ssl=1
My take is that the East Wing was probably full of some beam tech being used to drive POTUS and his team crazy, or perhaps some other tech to ferret out info, so it had to come down. A nice ballroom for state visits would be a nice cover for that. Better than Nixonโs bowling alley or Obamaโs B-ball court.
๐ผ๐ก'๐ ๐๐๐ก โ๐๐ โ๐๐ข๐ ๐. ๐ผ๐ก'๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ โ๐๐ข๐ ๐. ๐ด๐๐ โ๐'๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐๐ก!
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/22/white-house-demolition-sends-shock-waves-spurs-calls-for-pause-00618230
https://www.wcax.com/2025/10/23/hes-destroying-it-outrage-grows-over-demolition-white-house-east-wing/
https://shop.onwardtogether.org/collections/our-house
Something about all this faux outrage* over the east wing of the White House seems very inorganic to me...
https://i.ibb.co/GN15Pz5/Trump-s-Ballroom.jpg
Almost like it's the latest thing, or something.
(*The faux outrage in the news cycle is not to be confused with principled criticisms like Achmed's or Hail's as outlined above.)
(Anyway...)
I hope you gentlemen all have a wonderful evening! โฎ๏ธ