The Wrecker

It’s a curious aspect of his presidency that the thing that clearly excites Trump the most these days is a real estate project — tearing down part of the White House in order to construct his grand ballroom.

That he is carelessly destroying some of our cultural and political history in the process is no surprise — he doesn’t give a hoot for history.

But to the extent the demolition/construction venture diverts his attention from all the other awful things he’s been doing, that’s a relatively positive note on an endlessly negative playlist.

It also is one more sign of his aspiration to be a king in a country that has made it quite clear for 250 years that we don’t like kings.

I say let him have his damn ballroom, just as long as we can somehow get our country back in one piece.

NOTE: I couldn’t possibly produce this daily newsletter without some help from my friends. Special thanks to Rainey Reitman for talking me through a technical crisis Thursday!)

HEADLINES:

• Trump Says He’s Cutting Off Trade Negotiations With Canada (NYT)

• Devastating Poll Reveals How Much Americans Hate Trump’s White House Teardown (DailyBeast)

• Trump Is Wasting No Time in Tearing Down the East Wing (NYT)

• Trump reverses decision to send troops to San Francisco after conversation with mayor (ABC)

• Stun grenades, injured protesters at Coast Guard Island as feds arrive in Bay Area: live updates (Berkeleyside)

• Man shot in ICE confrontation was a ‘respected and admired’ citizen journalist with TikTok following (NBC)

• Evidence appears to undercut claims against Letitia James, prosecutors found: Sources (ABC)

• Virginia Democrats Plan to Redraw House Maps in Redistricting Push (NYT)

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that moves by Israel’s parliament toward the annexation of the West Bank could threaten the plan to end the war in Gaza, which has yielded a shaky ceasefire so far. (Reuters)

• US kills three in second strike on alleged drug boats in the Pacific (BBC)

• Russia acquired Western technology to protect its nuclear submarine fleet (WP)

• Trump Opens Pristine Alaska Wilderness to Drilling in Long-Running Feud (NYT)

• What the industrial revolution shows us about today’s transgender pushback (The Hill)

• NBA head coach and player charged in sprawling sports betting and Mafia-backed poker schemes (AP)

• Why I’m Not Freaking Out About My Students Using AI (Atlantic)

• Two days after OpenAI’s Atlas, Microsoft re-launches a nearly identical AI browser (TechCrunch)

• OpenAI’s New Browser Raises ‘Insurmountably High’ Security Concerns (Gizmodo)

• National Guardsman Awakes Screaming From Nightmare About Americans Going About Daily Lives (Onion)