Utter Desecration: Walking Wrecking Balls, All Of 'Em

In a perfect, ghastly metaphor for the state of our "democracy," J.D. and Drunken Pete just oversaw an "artillery fiasco" at a Marine Corps celebration when a live shell detonated over a highway and hit their motorcade - Lesson #1: "Morons Are Governing America" - and Trump began his demolition of the East Wing of The People's House "for a fucking ballroom," though he claimed construction "wouldn't interfere" with it. Lesson #2: They "lie like they breathe," bulldoze history and wreak havoc as they go.

On the same day as No Kings but definitely not in an effort to distract anyone even though the actual date they're marking isn't until November 10, repulsive bros J.D. Vance and manly "We Are The War Department" Pete Hegseth went to California for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton to watch a training exercise that included firing live 155mm M777 shells out of howitzers from the ocean over Interstate I-5, an action Gavin Newsom decried as "an absurd show of force" that threatened public safety. Just in case, being a grown-up, Newsom shut down 17 miles of the highway. Vance, in turn, ridiculed his move as "consistent with a track record of failure," sneering the governor "wants people to think this exercise is dangerous" when of course it's "an established safe practice" and anyway he's a big boy.

So then what happened? Well, what happens "when the commander-in-chief is an idiot and the head of the Pentagon is a blackout drunk": After Marines fired several live rounds over the highway, one of the shells prematurely exploded - officers "saw the artillery round fail to clear the highway and explode near the southbound lanes" - raining burning shrapnel onto a California Highway Patrol car and motorcycle that were part of Vance's security detail in what Highway Patrol called "an unusual and concerning situation" that surely nobody could have predicted except maybe Gavin Newsom, who rightly raged, "Next time, the Vice President and the White House shouldn’t be so reckless (with) their vanity projects (and) put lives at risk to put on a show. If you want to honor our troops, open the government and pay them."

Vance, who's hated wherever he goes - his summer vacation in the English countryside was met by residents holding a "Dance Against Vance Not Welcome" party complete with Go Away banner, insults, memes, and a staff mutiny at a pub where he wanted to eat - told reporters he had "a great visit" with the Marines. His team declined to comment on his "artillery fiasco," but others had thoughts. They suggested he'd probably say "it was just kid pieces of shrapnel doing normal kid pieces of shrapnel stuff," or locker room shrapnel, or antifa, thus representing the most destruction seen on No Kings Day. Also, "Nothing says 'Warrior Ethos' like firing live ammunition across a busy Southern California freeway on a Saturday afternoon," "MAGA stands for Morons Are Governing America," and, "This is a whole new level of dipshitery."

Then, on Monday, came Trump's backhoes and destruction crews methodically ripping through the historic, stately, 1902 East Wing of the White House to build a garish $250 million, "beautiful, beautiful ballroom like I have at Mar-a-Lago" - "the remodel no one asked for" - despite his earlier adamant claim the project "wouldn’t interfere” with the former structure: "It’ll be near it but not touching it (and) pay total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of...It’s my favorite place. I love it." Announcing the boondoggle in July, he said it would be 90,000 square feet and seat up to 650 people - now grown to 999 people - making it by far the largest room in the White House. It will ostensibly be funded by "many generous patriots" who also happen to be billionaires seeking deregulation and access to his gilded power.

Trump claims America's masses have long been yearning for a glitzy ballroom - it took so long because "there’s never been a president that was good at ballrooms" - and he is "honored to finally get this much-needed project underway," especially now during a government shutdown, when wealth and income inequality is at a record highs, SNAP benefits are being slashed, millions of people are struggling to buy groceries, health care and Medicaid are threatened, special ed and veterans' services are in jeopardy, farmers and small businesses are suffering, federal workers are either losing their jobs or not getting paid, he is sending billions to Argentina for no discernible reason and he is giddily spending millions on golf and new jets and fake gold feckin' everywhere while demanding his let-them-eat-cake cult members keep tightening their frayed belts.

Architects have also noted the fortuitous timing: The White House is a public property run by the National Park Service, but the project is evidently exempt from review by multiple planning and preservation bodies Trump has dismissed, rendered toothless or effectively disappeared in the shutdown. "This is by design," said one. “The object of power is power." On Monday, many Americans watched in horror as an iconic White House built by slaves - where pearls were once clutched when Nancy Reagan ordered new china, Jimmy Carter put in solar panels, Obama romped with his dog - was blithely razed, stripped, pillaged in what Joe Walsh called "an utter desecration of the Peoples’ House." He added he'd gladly invite Americans, some weekend, "to bring their own sledgehammers & crowbars to help tear that abomination down."

The Bulwark's Mona Charen has called Trump "a walking wrecking ball of law, tradition, civility, manners, and morals." His tacky paved Rose Garden, fake-gold-drenched Oval Office and now ballroom reflect "a low and shameful time" at the end of which his total transforming of the graceful into the tasteless "will be both awful and fitting." Now, the metaphorical has become literal. "This is Trump's America," said one dismayed patriot, watching the dusty devastation. "And that was our history." Many sounded physically sickened by the grisly manifestation "of the entire Trump administration": "It is not his fucking house," "Holy mother of God, this is horrifying," "Jesus fucking Christ, somebody stop him," "That was our democracy." "Breaking News: Antifa destroys the White House," said one. "Correction: It was Trump."