Trump just sent a sinister message with ‘appalling’ ballroom design: Nobel laureate
Economist Paul Krugman recently commented on President Donald Trump’s controversial removal of an entire White House wing, describing it as a typically Trumpian act of vandalism. According to Krugman, this destruction is being funded by large corporate donors, primarily from the tech and crypto industries, who are eager to curry favor with Trump.
“I am sure there will be a Trump meme-coin dispenser installed on every table,” Krugman remarked, highlighting the absurdity of the renovation. However, he warned that this act of vandalism symbolizes a far greater damage.
Trump’s demolition of the White House, Krugman explained, “isn’t a remodeling or building an addition, it’s a teardown.” He called it a highly visual metaphor for how the MAGA movement is “tearing down almost everything good about our country.”
Krugman elaborated on the broader implications of this destruction, citing troubling political developments:
– **Masked government agents are snatching people off the street.**
– **The National Guard has been deployed to major cities under the questionable claim that these cities are in chaos.**
– **The U.S. military is reportedly responsible for killings on the high seas.**
– **Huge tariffs are not only causing economic harm but also undermining alliances previous presidents worked decades to build.**
Moreover, Krugman pointed out other alarming trends: green energy initiatives are being “eviscerated,” vindictive prosecutions have become commonplace, and millions are at risk of losing their health insurance.
So, why does Krugman emphasize Trump’s “appalling design sense”? He explains: “[B]ecause tackiness and tyranny go hand in hand.” Trump’s poor taste is not merely a matter of personal preference but part of a larger political strategy.
“The grotesqueness of his White House renovations is structural as well as personal,” Krugman said. “The excess and ugliness serve a political purpose: to humiliate and intimidate. The tawdry grandiosity not only glorifies Trump’s fragile ego but sends the message that resistance is futile.”
Krugman describes the new ballroom’s hideousness as a vivid metaphor for the political ugliness looming on the horizon. “The ballroom is a sign, not just of Trump’s personal vulgarity, but of the collapse of small-r republican norms,” he noted.
Trump is transforming the people’s house into a palace befitting a despot — partly because of his own taste, but also to demonstrate his power. As Krugman put it, *L’état, c’est moi* (“I am the state”).
Reflecting on these developments, Krugman finds himself “frequently thinking of how the Roman Republic degenerated into a dictatorship.”
He explains the historical parallel: “Modern historians of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire mostly agree that the Republic collapsed because the enormous loot from Rome’s conquests created a class of incredibly wealthy oligarchs who were too powerful to be constrained by republican norms, institutions, and laws.”
“The modern parallels are obvious,” Krugman concluded, sharing a photo of Jeff Bezos’s $250 million yacht, complete with a large pool, jacuzzi, and personal “beach club,” as a symbol of today’s concentrated wealth and power.
This powerful commentary underscores the dangers Krugman sees in Trump’s leadership — a blending of personal vanity, political intimidation, and the erosion of democratic norms.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-ballroom-2674231902/
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