https://rollingstone.com.br/noticia/trump-esta-transformando-a-casa-branca-em-uma-propriedade-de-marca/

It’s so literal that it seems cliché. A tractor demolishing the walls of the East Wing of White Housecrushing splintered wood, tangles of wires, rebar, drywall and plaster. If the scene had been created in the writers’ room at the Saturday Night Livethe president himself donald trump would be driving the excavator. After all, the demolition marks the turbulent birth of his idea: a $250 million ballroom modeled after that of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach — a colossus of glass and columns that historians and architects say is being built without regard to the building’s historic character and outside the bounds of the law. Welcome to Mar-a-Lago on the National Mall, the Versailles of Trump in Washington.

“Historically, major reforms in White House they were rigorously planned operations, supervised by bureaucratic bodies — never impulsive, never unilateral”, says the historian Alexis Coe the Rolling Stone. “The current renovation completely deviates from this norm. Demolition and planned construction in the East Wing are proceeding with minimal transparency, with no visible public review of the [Serviço Nacional de Parques] and with uncertain financial oversight.” Although excavations are already underway, the White House informed the Axioson Wednesday, that it had not yet submitted its renovation plans to National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) — the body normally responsible for approving development projects on federal lands and buildings. The commission — like much of the government — remains closed amid the administrative shutdown, but the president’s construction teams continue to work at full steam.

Between the 17th and 18th centuries, French emperor Louis XIV spent millions to expand his hunting lodge at Versailles and transform it into a vast palace complex from which he could house — and supervise — the French aristocracy. Trumpwho once compared his decorative taste to that of the Baroque masterpiece, seems to share the same impulse. He named his extravagant Mar-a-Lago estate the “White House of the South” and spends an impressive amount of time there, surrounded by all manner of influential Republican Party figures. If the French king treated Versailles as a residential club for his courtiers and subjects, the American president has his resort in Palm Beach. Now, that same philosophy is being applied not to a hotel, golf course or casino. Trump — but to the official residence of American political power itself.

Since returning to White House, Trump embarked on an extensive project to literally redesign the historic presidential residence in his own image. The Oval Office was covered in gold decorations and frames reminiscent of hardware store DIY, with all the subtlety of a children’s collage made with glitter glue. The West Colonnade was transformed into a “Presidential Walk of Fame”, displaying portraits of all American presidents, with one exception: former president Joe Bidenreplaced by a photo of an autopen (automatic signature machine).

The Rose Garden was torn up and paved over in an attempt to recreate the Mar-a-Lago terrace — without a pool and, of course, without the pleasant Florida climate. The rose bushes gave way to orange umbrellas where the wealthiest and most powerful conservatives dine outdoors with their president.

But it was the most ambitious project of Trump which took us to the scene witnessed this week: a tractor in the gardens of White Houseproviding a vivid visual reminder of the president’s unbridled campaign to reshape national institutions in his own image. The reforms have been carried out using the same manual as their way of governing: supervisory bodies were ignored, approval processes were left aside and financial transparency was abandoned.

Last week, the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) published an open letter calling on the government to “follow a rigorous and deliberate design and review process” befitting a building of such historical and cultural importance.

“Although we recognize that the White House It is a building with constantly evolving needs […] the proposed ballroom will be the first major change to its external appearance in 83 years,” wrote the SAHhighlighting their support for the recommendations for the project presented by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

THE White House states that the projects are being funded by a combination of disclosed and undisclosed private donors. Some companies, including Alphabetwould have agreed to invest millions in the project to end lawsuits considered frivolous brought by Trump. Still, the White House it is not a private residence subject to the whims of an owner who can renovate the bathroom whenever he wants. Yes, as you describe Straina “living museum” — a historic property more comparable to a luxurious AirBnB long-term investment for the president and his family, owned by taxpayers, supported by the National Park Service — and therefore subject to public oversight.

In August, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) sent his own letter reminding the president that “the White House is the ‘People’s House‘” and that, although Trump “may have obtained private financing, it is not a private building”.

“Any modifications to it — especially modifications of this magnitude — must reflect the importance, scale, and symbolic weight of the thing itself. White House. Likewise, the process must be commensurate with the relevance of the building and the scale of the proposed changes,” they wrote.

Until now, the White House has ignored concerns and criticisms, running over them with the president’s construction machines and calling the resistance “yet another example of outrage manufactured by unbalanced leftists and their allies in the Fake News Media”.

“For more than a century, presidents of the United States have been reforming, expanding and modernizing the White House to meet the needs of his time,” wrote the Press Office of White House in a public memo. “The president Trump is continuing that legacy by beginning construction on a grand ballroom — a transformative addition that will significantly increase the capacity of the White House to host major events honoring world leaders, foreign nations and other authorities.”

But the problem was never the desire to modernize or build. “What really distinguishes this project is its secrecy and personalization,” he says Strain. “In this case, the line is blurred in the opposite direction — a public property is being transformed into something closer to a branded property.”

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