Bag of Randomness
Friday, October 24, 2025

As you can imagine, as a lover of presidential history, I have some thoughts about the total destruction of the East Wing of the White House. Let’s first consider that the East Room and the East Wing are two different things, and the East Room hasn’t been touched. Compared to the Residence and the West Wing, the East Wing really wasn’t all that regal and basically housed the theater, the calligraphy office, and the staff for the First Lady. It certainly wasn’t in any state of disrepair, but it was still part of the People’s House, and tearing it down after stating the new ballroom ‘wouldn’t interfere with the current building’ is disingenuous.

On a bit of a lighter note, I can’t help but think what the construction foreman thought when he was first instructed to tear it down. Not to mention, I’m sure the excavator operator triple-checked with the foreman that he was indeed instructed and that it was OK to demolish an entire wing of the White House. I wonder if the demolition for the crew felt weird, that they were literally demolishing a wing of the White House, or if it felt like any other demolition job.

I also don’t like the idea of how it will dwarf the Executive Mansion. If possible, I would have put a lot of it underground, but there may already be tunnels there.

I wonder what happened to everything inside the East Wing and where they are dumping the debris. I watched a special about the major renovation of the Residence when Truman was President, and the debris was dumped near a local baseball field. Over the decades, some folks became aware of it and gathered what they consider souvenirs. I’m sure it’s all being dumped like regular debris, but that’s a lost opportunity. People would pay some big bucks just for a scrap of wood. Or, what about a section of the theater seats? Those would go for top dollar. Here’s what the inside of the Residence looked like during President Truman’s term. During WWII, he didn’t want the White House to look in disrepair, so the inside was gutted as it was falling apart.

A bulldozer removing debris from the inside of the White House, during the renovation of the building. The bulldozer had to be taken apart and moved into the White House in pieces, as President Harry S. Truman would not allow a hole large enough to fit the bulldozer to be cut into the walls of the White House. Credit: Photographer: Abbie Rowe National Park Service
Window openings provide bursts of light into the cavernous interior of the White House, supported by temporary steel bracing. Concrete underpinnings for the walls allow earth-moving equipment to dig a new basement on May 17, 1950. Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum/NARA

Not sure having your brand associated with destroying the White House is the best look.

Of all things for a sitting president to prioritize, geeze.

Leavitt: At this moment in time, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) October 23, 2025 at 1:05 PM

This photograph of the construction of the East Terrace was taken in 1902, during Theodore Roosevelt’s administration.

Here’s the Rose Garden during President Theodore Roosevelt’s term.

Three high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country’s most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can’t be enforced.

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— NPR (@npr.org) October 20, 2025 at 10:10 AM

My former manager from the company that first laid me off in February sent me this yesterday. Here’s the announcement from the Small Business Administration Administrator.

At the 30-second mark, you’ll see why he’s driving so slowly.

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