When the demolition crews arrived Monday at the White House, there had been no forewarning. Excavators were spotted razing the East Wing late that afternoon, as much of the nation was still abuzz about President Donald Trump’s reaction to the historic “No Kings” protests.

The rapid pace of transformation and scale of the demolition surprised everyone. Just a few days before, as Trump hosted some of the richest people in America at the White House to secure funding for his project to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, there was no mention of a timeline. And until the bulldozers and backhoes showed up this week, the president had explicitly denied the White House’s structure would be affected.

The ballroom, he reassured the public when he announced the project in July, “won’t interfere w

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