Tearing down the East Wing, Trump 💩 on us.

– AI generated art based on the piece below –

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In tearing down the East Wing—something Trump seems to have known he could not announce in advance—the President dramatically, unabashedly took a 💩 on us. 

I know it seems silly. Of all things that could make me aghast in this moment, the destruction of the East Wing should be last on the list. It isn’t. 

I am very attuned to space. In therapy, I spend weeks talking about my therapist’s office. I am curious about where s/he is sitting, what is hanging on the wall and why, and even what is under their chairs. 

In one case, while picking up keys that I had dropped on the floor, I noticed that my therapist had a dozen or so colorful crystals under their chair. The discovery made me laugh. Now, I have crystals all over my study. 

Buildings are important to me as a pastor. Even in my teenage years, I would preach to my elders: the outside says a lot about what’s on the inside (btw: regarding churches, that is almost always true).

I once served a church that was obsessed with the historical status of its main building. In truth, the building was somewhat ugly and, in many ways, entirely impractical—but it did have some charming, standout features. 

I am not contemptuous of any one church’s history—but I do insist that those histories come into the present. Translation is, in my view, the job of the church (to say nothing about outright change, or creating a future). 

But the insistence on preserving the historical structure blocked any consideration of what the building is for now—and even what such a building, what the property, might be for in the future. 

I wanted rocking chairs on the church porticos. I held new member classes outside, in those same spaces. I even wanted to commission a mural that would connect the church’s mission to the city in which it was a central feature. No and no. 

As I think about the now-demolished East Wing of the White House, I am not immune to the pull of translation, of making changes, and so on. Resisting the temptation to worship historical buildings is a good thing. 

Yet, in tearing down the East Wing, Trump tapped into a deeply human connection to historical places, and he 💩 on it. By destroying the East Wing, the President made it very clear how he feels about us—and at a time we are facing runaway inflation, a government shutdown (i.e., layoffs, unpaid time), rising healthcare costs, and increasing social animus. 

Trump also told us how he feels about U.S. democracy. The fall of the East Wing put the 💩 character of his policies on full display: destruction for the sake of the gratuitous, the ugly, and the people willing to pay for it (or, if we end up paying for it, the people who stand to gain—at our expense—by purchasing admission to it).