A volunteer works at a MUST Ministries food distribution centre on Monday in Marietta, Ga., as the U.S. government shutdown interrupts the program providing food stamps to about 42 million people.Mike Stewart/The Associated Press
The satire writes itself. While millions of Americans face starvation, with food assistance affected by a government shutdown, their President shows off a new marble-and-gold bathroom, demolishes part of the White House to build a gargantuan ballroom, and hosts an over-the-top Great Gatsby-inspired bash at his private oceanside club with the theme: “A little party never killed nobody.”
Tone deaf doesn’t begin to cover it. Golden faucets and floor-to-ceiling marble while people starve? But this is a President who doesn’t give a – hmm, what word to use here? – damn about tone. Because those are not the Americans he cares about – once he secured their votes, that is.
He’s showing off his new porcelain throne as a government shutdown interrupts the program providing food stamps to about 42 million people. The entire population of Canada! It’s nearly one in eight Americans – which tells you something is rotten in the United States of America.
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The timing may be coincidental, but the paradox of the President’s garish extravagance while people go hungry is beyond parody. The irony, pure gold. Even beyond the population that relies on food stamps, most Americans are suffering through an age of austerity while this guy, who is supposed to represent them, is making his own personal Gilded Age even more gilded.
The new White House bathroom alone – and the justifications swirling around it, along with the questionable taste (and waste) – are enough to make one bow down and worship the porcelain god, if you know what I mean. Or at least take part in a No Kings protest.
“When I first learned a toilet like that existed inside the White House, I was horrified,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on social media, in reference to the pre-reno Lincoln bathroom. Perhaps Ms. Leavitt could spare some of her horror over an old throne for the millions of Americans who aren’t sure how to feed their kids.
Fine, the place needed an update – as the “before” photo clearly shows. Perhaps the reno did not have to be quite this ostentatious. Also, it’s laughable for Donald Trump to pretend he knows something about decor – or history – as he justifies the new look by saying its previous aesthetic was inappropriate for Lincoln’s time. “Art Deco doesn’t go with, you know, 1850 and civil wars,” he said. But a marble shower stall and gold fixtures do? (Also, Lincoln’s presidency – and the war – were in the 1860s.)
Mr. Trump has also demolished the East Wing so he can “build baby build” a ballroom. An official statement laments, “The White House is currently unable to host major functions honouring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance.”
Yes, this is the real tragedy facing America today: an unsightly tent.
The White House was supposed to be the anti-palace; it is literally called the People’s House. Most people will never get anywhere near that ballroom.
“The project has not had broad public support,” noted the Jeff Bezos-run Washington Post, citing a poll that found 56 per cent of Americans oppose it. Mr. Bezos’s Amazon is one of the donors; over the weekend, his Post ran an editorial: “In defence of the White House ballroom.”
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A chief justification offered by this administration and its supporters is that taxpayers aren’t footing the bill. It’s coming from donors.
This is in many ways more dangerous. A report released Monday by the advocacy group Public Citizen shows that most of the known donors to the project have enjoyed recent contracts with the government – worth US$279-billion over the past five years – and more than half are facing or have recently faced federal investigations into their companies.
There are donors who no doubt expect – and with Mr. Trump, will get – something in return. The corruption is real and it will be built right into the ballroom’s Corinthian columns, or whatever the plan is for that monstrosity.
But why worry yourself over this when you can party at Mar-a-Lago like it’s 1925? Well, not you. Unless you’re one of the Trump-loving sycophants who might merit an invitation (perhaps there’s a better word than “merit”). If you are, chances are you’re not reading this far.
Marie Antoinette never actually said, “Let them eat cake” (or brioche), but the vibe is historically accurate: The royals were enjoying a life of decadence at Versailles while the French population was misérable – contributing to the anger that sparked the French Revolution.
That’s what this moment feels like. The ballroom, the parties, golden bathroom hooks for plush robes. While people suffer and starve. Revolting.