Don’t tolerate Trump’s Broken Windows

The sound you heard was windows being smashed at the East Wing.

The sound you did not hear was questions from officials paid to monitor what happens to a National Heritage Site. The White House is owned by the American people, not any current inhabitant. It’s true that other presidents have made changes to the beloved building, but none before Donald Trump amputated an entire limb.

The “Broken Windows” theory holds that visible disorder — graffiti, public urination and shattered windows — are signs of social decay that invite worse crimes. Starting in the 1980s, the New York Police Department began cracking down on these low-level crimes. Broken Windows policing gets credit for much of the sharp drop in crime that followed.

This theory should be applied not only to street thugs but also