Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain

Donald Trump’s destruction of the East Wing of the White House is more than just a serious renovation; it is a metaphor for his dismantling of traditional American governance and institutions. The East Wing, part of the 123-year-old symbol of American history – “the people’s house” – is being altered without the consent of the people, just as Trump has disregarded long-standing laws and traditions. Trump unilaterally decided that part of the White House had to go, just as he has decided that many American institutions have to go. Trump’s “renovation” is a declaration of contempt for the very architecture – literal and constitutional – of democracy. Framed as constructive destructive, his actions are destructive destruction.

The early twentieth-century economist Joseph Schumpeter emphasized the importance of creative destruction for the success of capitalism. “[T]he fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion comes from the new consumers’ goods, the new methods of production or transportation, the new markets, [and] the new forms of industrial organisation that capitalist enterprise creates,” Schumpeter wrote. Charles Koch, Chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, summarized the modern version: “Embrace change. Envision what could be, challenge the status quo, and drive creative destruction.”

What happens if there is nothing “new” in creative destruction? What happens if destruction becomes an end in itself, when there is only destructive destruction?

There........

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