Donald Trump, Demolition Man
Oct 22, 2025
Not since the War of 1812 has an enemy of the United States caused this much damage to the White House. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Donald Trump’s decision to reduce a major chunk of the White House to rubble is shocking, but not surprising. Shocking, because no other occupant of “The People’s House” ever treated it as if it belonged to him; but not surprising, because the Trump family has a long history of desecrating landmarks.
Trump learned everything he knows about real estate from his father, Fred Trump—and much of what he knows about wanton vandalism. Steeplechase Park was one of the most beloved amusement parks in Coney Island, Brooklyn. In 1966, after Trump’s dad acquired the property (accompanied by nineteen-year-old Donald at the signing ceremony), with plans to demolish it and build residential units, outraged citizens attempted to save it by applying to have it designated as a landmark.
Before Steeplechase’s landmark status could be certified, however, Fred Trump organized a “demolition party” at which he urged a mob to smash the glass facade of the park’s Pavilion of Fun. “Trump sent out engraved invitations and invited people to throw rocks and bricks through the Funny Face—it was a desecration of an icon, it was insane,” Charles Denson, the Coney Island History Project’s executive director, told the Brooklyn Paper. “Most developers are worried about making a profit, most wouldn’t throw a party to desecrate a stained-glass window.”
Donald Trump would continue his father’s proud tradition of gleeful destruction when...
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