{"id":726,"date":"2026-06-24T11:37:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T11:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=726"},"modified":"2026-06-24T11:37:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T11:37:50","slug":"trumps-gilded-white-house-makeover-is-all-about-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=726","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Gilded White House Makeover Is All About Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"President<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The second Trump<\/span> administration has made tearing down parts of the federal government a priority. And some of those efforts have been literal. In October, President Donald Trump ordered the demolition of the White House\u2019s East Wing to make way for the construction of a massive 90,000-square-foot ballroom. He\u2019s also overseen a now-problematic overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, given the White House a gilded makeover, bulldozed the famed Rose Garden, and even has plans for a so-called \u201cArc de Trump\u201d that mirrors France\u2019s Arc de Triomphe.<\/p>

Read more SCOTUS Gave the Government a \u201cBlank Check\u201d to Weaken Due Process for Green Card Holders<\/a><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s behind all of this? Art historian Erin Thompson\u2014author of Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America\u2019s Public Monuments<\/em>\u2014<\/em>says that whether it\u2019s Romans repurposing idols of leaders who had fallen out of favor or the glorification of Civil War officers in the American South, monuments and public aesthetics aren\u2019t just about the past. They\u2019re about symbolizing power today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aesthetic is a way to make the political physically present,\u201d Thompson says. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to make it seem like things are changing and like Trump is keeping his promises when he\u2019s actually not.\u201d<\/p>

Read more The Supreme Court Deals Major Blow to Congressional Authority<\/a><\/p>\n

On this week\u2019s More To The Story<\/em>, Thompson sits down with host Al Letson to discuss why Trump has decked out the White House in gold (so much gold), the rise and recent fall of Confederate monuments, and whether she thinks the Arc de Trump will ever get built.<\/p>\n

This is an update of an episode that first aired in <\/em>December 2025<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Find More To The Story<\/em> on <\/strong>Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Pandora, or your favorite podcast app, and don\u2019t forget to subscribe.<\/p>

Read more Prairieland ICE Protesters Sentenced to Decades in Prison<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On this week\u2019s \u201cMore To The Story,\u201d art historian Erin Thompson examines the ways societies build and destroy monuments\u2014and why Trump is so focused on remaking Washington in his own image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s Gilded White House Makeover Is All About Power - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=726\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s Gilded White House Makeover Is All About Power - 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