Dowd: Trump terraforming the White House into an extension of his attention

When I was little, my mom told me a Cinderella story that happened to be true.

Once upon a time, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson held a competition for the design of the house of our presidents. Well-established architects submitted proposals, but the winner was a young Irishman, James Hoban. He also supervised construction of part of the Capitol.

My dad, another Irishman, worked at the Capitol. And sometimes my mom and I would drive down and gaze at the White House and Capitol, so proud that an up-and coming Irishman could have beaten out all the other architects to play such a central role in conjuring the seats of our new Republic.

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I would think about that when I grew up to be a White House reporter, interviewing President George H.W. Bush in the Oval Office.