The fall colors have arrived in various stages across the heartland, and it has inspired folks to glam up the towns and villages for the harvest. It has also brought some into local pubs for a warmer nightcap and salty talk. The flyover states are dominating the airwaves with chatter over President Trump bulldozing the East Wing to create a ballroom, but no one seems to have all the details. Put those White House trivia facts together, however, and a clearer picture will emerge. Also in the air was a show of statesmanship not seen in a raccoon’s age: a bipartisan call to end the government shutdown. It’s an uphill battle that Pennsylvania’s two senators have taken on.
Demolition Derby and Pearl Clutching
If one actually listened to the politicians and drive-by media, a ballroom paid entirely out of the current president’s pocket is akin to solidifying Trump’s status as a monarch in the Swamp. The Clinton girls have weighed in: Hillary Clinton claimed on X, "It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it. "Chelsea was also miffed, saying on X it was a "wrecking ball to our heritage" and a "disregard for history."
"Lol, your parents tried stealing furniture and silverware from the White House," Trump Jr. said. "And let’s not talk about the intern. Sit this one out." And with that, the Clinton Pandora Box was open for all.
"At least he didn’t steal the silverware," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) replied.
"Hi Hillary, Remind us, wasn’t it you who walked off with $28,000 in White House furniture when you moved out?" conservative influencer Benny Johnson pounced on the platform. "And your husband who defiled the Oval Office during his presidency? President Trump’s funding a beautiful new ballroom out of his own pocket."
"A Clinton would never defile the White House," former White House staffer Alex Pfeiffer shot back in response.
Heartlanders dug into the provenance of all the alterations committed by different presidents – some out of pure necessity and others for sheer pleasure for the commander in chief.
In a rural county of California, rich in agricultural roots, we let artist Spencer Wilson in on the discussion:
“It is indeed a smart decision. People forget the White House was gutted and rebuilt in 1948-52 by President Truman. The only thing left standing was the walls. Several presidents have complained through the years that the current ballroom is way too small. The East Wing is not historic as it was built in 1942. Costs are coming in at around 300 million but will not cost the taxpayers a dime as the entire project is funded by President Trump and several big corporate donors. This project is long over due and will showcase our standing as the world’s greatest superpower. It will provide a beautiful grand ballroom to host dignitaries from around the world far into the future.”
Spencer is right about Truman. A Baldwin Grand Piano leg fell through his daughter’s ceiling. At the time the president joked in a letter to his daughter “that it would have surprised his wife’s gathering of the Daughters of the American Revolution if he had crashed through the ceiling in his marble bathtub.”
“Would have gotten a headline to say the least don’t you think?” Truman wrote.
From 1948 to 1952, construction crews gutted and renovated the presidential residence. Modern materials such as steel and concrete strengthened the original wood-and-brick building. There was not a lot of interest in salvaging the rot.
President Thomas Jefferson added colonnades. Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden was criticized for its cost and for tampering with history. Andrew Jackson added the North Portico, for which Congress appropriated $24,729 (approximately $850,000 in today’s money when adjusted for inflation). It was during an economic downtime, and feathers were ruffled. The United States Telegraph criticized Jackson for prioritizing grandeur over the needs of ordinary citizens, portraying the portico as a symbol of his populist yet paradoxically lavish presidency.
Then there was this guy – who no one seems to remember but Jim Janes in Benton County Indiana – President Chester Arthur. Well, Janes called him a “dandy” as he was known for his refined tastes. He decided to gut the decor from 1881–1883, hiring designer Louis Comfort Tiffany to transform its public rooms. Tiffany went crazy with color and ornate furnishings. And, of course, his famous stained-glass screens. It was very Victorian.
Critics in the press, including Harper’s Weekly, accused Arthur of turning the White House into a “palace” unfit for a democratic leader.
Good old Teddy Roosevelt ticked off the conservationists as he bull-moosed the demolition of the White House conservatories and built the West Wing. The Washington Post lamented how Roosevelt’s “attempt to ‘modernize’ [the White House] has destroyed its historic value and does not seem to have made it much more desirable as a residence.” Roosevelt also hung taxidermy everywhere, so there’s that.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon converted the White House’s indoor swimming pool, built in 1933 for Franklin Roosevelt’s physical therapy, into a Press Briefing Room to accommodate the growing press corps. The New York Times was not on board, claiming a loss of a space tied to FDR’s legacy, calling it a “sacrifice of history for convenience.”
Even President Obama had to mark his territory as president by tearing up a tennis court for his obsession with hoops. He did not pick up the tab. In fact, no president but Trump has picked up the tab. As Indiana’s Jeff Grubbs reminded us: “Simply put, Trump could find the cure for cancer and the liberals (of whom I’m not long ago attached) still wouldn’t be happy about it.”
In Brazelton, GA, Michelle Tucker Yitts said with a grin: “He’s renovating the White House to include something elegant and timeless. A ballroom is fitting for the history/age of the White House. I love it.”
Let’s consider the real historic aspect of the East Wing. There is a bunker under the floor. In 1942, the East Wing became primarily a cover for said bunker known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC).
It’s way past time to build a ballroom, folks. And for a lot of real reasons.
Now can We Bring Back Statesmanship?
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), the House Minority Whip, admitted to using the vulnerable people of the country as leverage. “Shutdowns are terrible, and of course there will be families that are going to suffer,” she told Fox News on Thursday. “We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.”
Allen Davis in Chicago was offended by her remarks, saying: “People are stronger than you think,” meaning they know how to make do. And her constituents in Massachusetts better know how to make do. In fiscal year 2024, 1.11 million residents in Massachusetts were on food stamps and 93,000 people used publicly funded housing assistance. That’s out of a total of seven million residents in the state.
Just ask Luke Orlando in Tomball, TX: “With the Democrats it’s all about the Party! They don’t care about the people they will make us suffer to gain Power and Control!” And Pam Nobles in West Hattiesburg, MS, said what everyone is thinking: “Should be ashamed of themselves. They are not representing the citizens of this country.”
Then these guys arrive and show America how it should be done: Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) stood together in DC and made us all proud.
FETTERMAN: "Even though we are in a different party. We both want to talk about why we believe it's so important to reopen this government."
MCCORMICK: "23 days, 12 votes, Senator Fetterman and I have both voted to open up the government. We agree on that 100%. It's really starting to hurt Pennsylvania. And Pennsylvania's air traffic controllers, border patrol, and also 2 million recipients of SNAP."
FETTERMAN: "We both vote to open up our government. We're in a different party. We're on the same team for Pennsylvania and our nation."
The two went viral, and now people are crossing aisles to encourage this kind of politicking. Ken Menendez in Georgetown, TX, chimed in with: “And this folks is how our Congress should operate. Have your policy disagreements, reconcile and then agree for the good of your employer, AMERICAN TAXPAYERS.”
Wendi Gibbons Greszler in Findlay, OH, had to re-evaluate her original thoughts about the Democratic senator: “I wasn’t a fan of Fetterman when he first came onto the political scene, and I’m still not sure about him but I do have more respect for him than I used too. He seems to have more common sense than the rest of them.”
Now that’s as honest as you get.
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Editor's Note: From the Back Forty is Liberty Nation's longest running and most popular weekly column.
