Some News Stories are Hard to Explain. The President Demolishing the White House is Pretty Easy.

It is rare you get an image that perfectly sums up a moment in history. But we got one.

That is the White House, specifically the East Wing, or if you work in TV “The one Sorkin didn’t focus on.”

Some stories in politics take a lot of explaining. If we put our hand into the news hopper right now, we get:

Day 21 of the government shutdown. To really understand this we have to talk about what a CR is (a continuing resolution), what a “clean” CR is, what the filibuster is and where it has/hasn’t been nuked, the ACA premium subsidies, the looming expiration date of those subsidies, and the general atmosphere of American sentiment that lays the blame for things on the party in charge.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine. The baseline here is pretty clear — Russia invades Ukraine and lays out a wide assortment of war crimes. But to lay out this exact moment means we have to understand the GOP fracturing on Ukrainian aid, the different between a peace plan with original lines and current battle lines, why Patriot missiles matter, the EU surge in support for Ukraine, Trump’s deep admiration for Putin, and why Budapest is the least likely place historically to make a lasting deal with the Russians.

The No Kings protests. According to fairly serious estimates, 7 million Americans turned out to protest Trump and the actions of his administration. To put that into context, we have to get deep into numbers, because that crowd size is almost 3% of the voting population of the United States. It’s almost 10% of everyone who voted for Kamala Harris less than a year ago. And it is around double what the same protests turned out earlier this summer. Also you’d need to talk about the continuing push between the center and the left amongst Democrats, and the larger question of ‘what now?’ and how it ties into organizing and community action. All that before you even get to a Republican response which calls the protests “I Hate America” rallies, and the a.i. video the President reposted of him flying a jet over protesting crowds so he could dump shit on them.

All important stories that need context and thought and ultimately action on behalf of good and decent people. But all of them need some level of facts and history and understanding if you’re communicating them to a friend.

This one is viscerally clear. “What building is that getting demolished?” “Oh, that’s the White House, Trump is tearing part of it down to build a ballroom he wants.”

And the followups are equally as clear.

“Is he legally allowed to destroy part of the White House?” “No.”

“Who is paying for it?” “He says some of his rich friends, but hasn’t named anyone specific, because he’s lying and you’re paying for all $250m of it.”

“How is he getting away with it?” “Republicans run Congress and at the very least 270 of the 272 congressional Republicans love Trump and love what he’s doing.”

And there you go. Story communicated.

Were I running, or elected, or politically consulting someone doing one of those two things, I would make these images unavoidable. They show what we all feel — America is being torn apart to put up tacky shit created by the dumbest people you’ve ever seen in your life.

But as a comedian, I think it’s important to point out the East Wing housed the offices of The First Lady, so there’s a non-zero chance Trump did all this just to stick it to his wife.

With a little context, this teardown is really by the book for Trump. He zeros in on destroying things his enemies love, getting them upset, and then finding another thing to destroy. But, with rare exception, he never builds anything afterwards. Timely example: he wants to repeal the ACA? He was President 8 years ago, still no plan for how he’d replace it.

Late-stage-Trump-project is always the same. The walls are closing in, toadies are wondering when exactly to break off to save themselves, and each day is solely focused on “what will make us look strong and competent and in charge for the next 24 hours?”

But the reality is starting to show. He is unpopular. There is no next-man-up who has the same level of Catskills rizz. Everyone around him has done so many crimes they can’t really afford for accountability to come at any point in their lives. POTUS’ mental capacity is somewhere between Theoden in LOTR and Pops the Dog from Secret Life of Pets. He wants to be Putin or Orban. And he’s closer than anyone in the White House has come. But when you pull away the facade and get to the wires and pipes and structure… he’s just an old man screaming into his phone, “Sora 2, make me a version of Melania but without the ‘cursing that I still roam the Earth!’”