Trump Says Demolished White House East Wing Was Ugly Anyway

"Incredibly, White House communications director Steven Cheung mocking the "pearl clutching" "losers" who raised concerns about the East Wing being demolished did not quell the outrage over President Trump unilaterally deciding to tear down part of the White House to make way for his ballroom. So the White House tried a different tactic on Wednesday afternoon: having President Trump explain that everyone needs to chill out because the East Wing was pretty ugly and his new White House ballroom will be totally badass."

""It was not much left from the original. It was, over the course of 100 years it was changed, the columns were removed, it was a much different building. Then a story was added on in 1948, 1949. There was a story added on which was not particularly nice. And the building was very, very much changed from what is was originally. It was never thought of as being much. It was a very small building.""

White House communications director Steven Cheung mocked critics as "pearl clutching" "losers" who opposed demolishing the East Wing, but public outrage persisted. President Trump told reporters the East Wing had been extensively altered over a century, lost original features, and was never considered architecturally significant. He cited mid‑20th century additions and removed columns as evidence the structure was diminished and small. Trump displayed what appeared to be unreleased blueprints for a planned ballroom project that have not been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission. He also stated that the military is involved in the ballroom construction.

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