Kennedy Center
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There should never be a building built next to the White House on the taxpayers dollars for a building they will never get to enter.
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I believe it was Swalwell who gave the Dems running in 2028 an ultimatum that they must vow to raze the ballroom if they want the party's nomination. That will play interestingly to the swing voters. The tribalists will be as dug in as ever, but that goes without saying. A clever opponent with a well run campaign could turn that against them as profligate waste. If I had to guess, the nominee won't actually be running on that, and the ballroom will never be razed. Renamed/renovated, yes.
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There should never be a building built next to the White House on the taxpayers dollars for a building they will never get to enter.
There should never be a building built next to the White House on the taxpayers dollars for a building they will never get to enter.
Tell that to Teddy Roosevelt, and Harry Truman.
At least they didn't install bowling alleys, swimming pools and basketball courts.
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I looked up the history of those. More than I knew.
The original pool was installed by FDR, who, understandably, did his exercise in a pool. Nixon got rid of it. The current press room is over that original pool.
Ford, who liked to swim, put in an outdoor pool.
As for the bowling alley, it was a birthday gift for Truman. He didn’t bowl, so mostly White House staff used it. Eisenhower moved it across the street to the EOB. The current situation room sits in part of what was the bowling lanes.
Nixon loved to bowl so he put in a single lane beneath the north portico driveway.
Re basketball court - it started with tennis courts put in by Teddy Roosevelt. George HW Bush then added a basketball half court on the same spot while keeping the tennis courts. Obama then added a second hoop and added markings, so the existing court could be used for tennis or full-court basketball.
The pools and bowling alleys were paid for by private donations. The national park service paid the modest cost of GHWB’s basketball court. ChatGPT and Claude both say that Obama’s expansion of the court, also very modest, was privately funded as well, with Claude suggesting the Obama’s themselves might have paid for it.
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Renaming Kennedy Center after himself? No other would have tried and, had they done so, would have been blocked by the courts too. The name is defined in legislation that was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President.
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.
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@jon-nyc , you didn't mention the Truman balcony which was not part of the original White House and was added as part of the renovation that occurred during Truman's term.
Grok says it was added "for shade and family use."
https://insidesources.com/holy-cow-history-the-secret-behind-trumans-famous-balcony/
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Renaming Kennedy Center after himself? No other would have tried and, had they done so, would have been blocked by the courts too. The name is defined in legislation that was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President.
Renaming Kennedy Center after himself? No other would have tried and, had they done so, would have been blocked by the courts too. The name is defined in legislation that was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President.
I was talking about the ballroom, a tangent from the middle of the thread.
The Kennedy renaming is as far as I can tell a troll, and I'm comfy yawning my way through it as those who enjoy the drama pretend to be worried about it.
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Obviously, Trump derives ego gratification in trolling. Specifically, the sort of trolling that gets his shenanigans at the top of the latest news cycle, and at the top of the minds of those who hate him. Such trolling can be dual purpose if it involves other forms of ego gratification, such as putting his name on stuff. Naming is obviously a nothing burger which will be undone as soon as an adversarial admin is voted in. And none of his enemies will be calling it that in writing or in speech anyway. I wonder what excuse the AP will concoct to not call it by the new name, as they concocted an excuse for not using "Gulf of America".
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So traditionally in internet culture trolls were people who posted shit just to get a reaction from people they wish to tweak. If we expand that to mean posting anything that gets a reaction then most of us become trolls and we probably need a new word for what we used to call trolls. And of course pretty much every action by every administration in partisan times will be a troll.
I suggest we keep the original meaning and chalk up the attempt to broaden it as the typical tribal response of “when our side does something, the other side’s reaction is the story’.
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Doing something which will stick in the craw of your enemies and evoke a response, such as an outrage cycle in the media, is a troll per se, by the classic definition. As long as the toller knows and enjoys the outrage. Even if the troll is dual purpose for other forms of ego gratification.
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It seems like it's not just the word 'troll' that needs redefining. 'Presidential' has taken on a whole new meaning of late.
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In 1975 Congress chose to name a new federal building in Grand Rapids, MI after then-President Gerald Ford (MI was his home state).
He vetoed the bill. This was his veto message.
I have today vetoed H.R. 11897, a bill which would name the United States Courthouse and Federal Office Building in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the “President Gerald R. Ford Federal Office Building.”
Although I appreciate the honor expressed by the Congress in enacting this legislation, I intend to continue the policy of past Administrations that the executive branch not endorse the naming of Federal office buildings. Generally, the executive branch has deferred to the desires of the Congress on such matters.
However, I know of no Federal office buildings that have been named for a President while still in office. This legislation might begin a precedent I believe it best not to establish.
The proposed naming of this facility for me in my home community is a great honor, and one for which I am deeply grateful; however, for the reasons I have assigned above I feel I cannot sign H.R. 11897.
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Now there’s a word that doesnt float around the current administration very often - Integrity
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It’s more than trolling. It’s building his own desired legacy through enforcing his personal sense of entitlement and empowerment to build public works in his name. He is by no means unique among autocrats in this regard.
Spit.
It’s more than trolling. It’s building his own desired legacy through enforcing his personal sense of entitlement and empowerment to build public works in his name. He is by no means unique among autocrats in this regard.
Spit.
Absolutely. He aspires to be a great president. In another time he might have been. Time will tell. But today we know our public figures so much better than in the past. If he can legitimately defang Iran it will be a huge feather in his cap, but it don’t imagine we’ll be adding his head to Rushmore.
"You cannot subsidize irresponsibility and expect people to become more responsible." — Thomas Sowell
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It’s more than trolling. It’s building his own desired legacy through enforcing his personal sense of entitlement and empowerment to build public works in his name. He is by no means unique among autocrats in this regard.
Spit.
Absolutely. He aspires to be a great president. In another time he might have been. Time will tell. But today we know our public figures so much better than in the past. If he can legitimately defang Iran it will be a huge feather in his cap, but it don’t imagine we’ll be adding his head to Rushmore.
It’s more than trolling. It’s building his own desired legacy through enforcing his personal sense of entitlement and empowerment to build public works in his name. He is by no means unique among autocrats in this regard.
Spit.
Absolutely. He aspires to be a great president. In another time he might have been. Time will tell. But today we know our public figures so much better than in the past. If he can legitimately defang Iran it will be a huge feather in his cap, but it don’t imagine we’ll be adding his head to Rushmore.
Clearly from a personality perspective Trump is an outlier among presidents. I don't believe I can think of any other Western leader so obsessed with self-aggrandizement.
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