The East Wing of the White House is gone, and it went quickly. In July, President Donald Trump announced that a ballroom would rise somewhere on the White House grounds and “be near it but not touching it.” The plans, or at least the public ones, are vague and incomplete; nothing’s been submitted to, let alone approved by, the National Capital Planning Commission, which in normal times would judge them. Yesterday, though, demolition crews took most of the wing down, leaving nothing but an outline, while Trump, essentially simultaneously, announced it would have to go. (No word about how this all affects the bomb shelter below the site.) Why do the demo now, with no final plans in place? The site will sit empty for at least a few months if not years while they fine-tune the replacement; surely they could have kept the offices there for another year or two?

What Trump employed here is a classic developer tactic: anticipatory demolition. Once you buy a building that’s in the way of your plan (“you” being the developer here), you knock it down right away, lest the neighbors rally behind saving it. Why wait for the activists holding protest signs or the negative press (including, maybe, on this site) demanding, “Don’t tear that down”? A headache!  Even the humblest of structures can sometimes be discovered to have historical import, and God help you if some enthusiast manages to get it........

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