Letter to Editor: I Can’t Take It Anymore

I’ve had it with Donald Trump. And I think with every passing day, millions more Americans will agree with me.

It has never failed to amaze me that every time Mr. MAGA  does something so blatantly illegal, so nakedly corrupt that we’re not allowed to measure it because he’s turned the Republican Party, Justice Department, IRS and even the U.S. Supreme Court into toady tools enabling his need to spread hateful lies to get even, and – perhaps worse, for the dismissive violence he commits against simple human courtesy – after all that, he still manages to act out even more despicably. 

Following the 7-million-strong peaceful “No Kings” rallies across the nation, I wondered what terrible retribution The Trumpster would inflict on us come Monday morning. Ever more rampant and virulently indiscriminate ICE arrests of anyone browner than a tanned SoCal lifeguard? No. That’s been done before. If for nothing else, Donald has proven himself ingenious at making us more disgusted with each of his spoiled-brat hissy fits. This time, he came up with a doozy: Let’s take a wrecking ball to the White House! 

I can’t take it anymore. And neither should you. I wrote to Maryland’s two U.S. senators, Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks. And because I saw no purpose in writing our First District congressman, Andy Harris, I sent through friends and relatives who live in Jamie Raskin’s district my expression of outrage and what we can do about it. Why Raskin? Because the demolition contractor hired to do this work is based in his district. The company, ACECO, is located at 901 Stoddard Pl., Silver Spring, 20910, and can be reached at 301-588-0707. I would give you its web address except when trying to access it you get: “ACECO: Redefining Demolition” and under that, ironically, “THIS  SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.” 

But more importantly, now that demolition is complete, the lead company in the construction of the ballroom for which the East Wing was destroyed is Clark Construction, with Maryland headquarters in Bethesda, 7500 Old Town Rd., 20814; telephone 301-272-8100; website clarkconstruction.com, with other offices in Baltimore and Capitol Heights as well as ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY. Protestors can turn up anywhere in the USA to oppose Trump’s sociopathic vanity project.

Here’s what I wrote to our senators and to Rep. Raskin on Monday, Oct. 20, as demolition had just begun: “A federal crime is being committed right now at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I bring this to your attention because the company hired to take a wrecking ball to the White House is based in your district (and here I supplied the street address and landline number.)

   “The demolition work they are doing is illegal because the federal agencies whose authorization is required are shut down along with most of the rest of the government. And they have been shut down for three weeks. It is imperative that an emergency request be filed for a judicial cease-and-desist order to halt further destruction of any part of the White House, which has been designated as a federal historic landmark since 1960.

   “Trump is a tenant in the White House. He knows full well that tenants have no right whatsoever to demolish any part of the property they are inhabiting for a limited period of time. His “rent-free lease” expires no later than high noon Jan. 20, 2029, if not sooner. This architecturally criminal and aesthetic offense against the ‘people’s house’ must be thwarted.”

I don’t know yet if anyone has acted on my plea. But in the meantime, here’s some of what we can do to stop this obscene assault on a historic symbol of our nation and the democracy we cherish, even though our current president does not. Easiest of all is to picket ACECO. Your “NO KINGS” protest signs can be handily repurposed. But be as respectful as we were at any of the rallies you may have attended on Saturday, Oct. 18. Was ACECO management thinking this historic wreckage would be good for business? Had I known, I would have warned them that Donald Trump is infamous for signing contractors and then paying 50 cents or less on the dollar. I know this from 33 years at Newsday on Long Island and New York City. We covered Donald regularly and this was the Trump Inc. modus operandi.

Of course, he claims now that he’s paying for all this out of his own pocket. Anybody, including ACECO, is a fool to believe that. Even his billionaire cronies should not believe he can deliver on any promises he made for them to foot this bill. It’s you and me, taxpayers, who will be stuck with the tab. 

So what can we do to make the point – to stick it to Donald, if only symbolically? The president has suspended all White House tours indefinitely. But with a network of supporters, we can fan out to usual Trump hangouts – Mar-a-Lago and Trump International Golf Club in nearby West Palm, also Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, or Trump Tower in Manhattan. Or even his two links courses in Scotland. Draw up a document serving as an eviction notice regarding his 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue address. Make a harmless delivery of some kind to one of these sites and present to whomever accepts it an eviction notice addressed to DJT. Such a notice is a warning from the landlord. It is not a summons. So we don’t need an attorney to draw it up. Just type up something along the lines of  “You are hereby notified, Donald J. Trump, that you are subject to eviction from your TEMPORARY residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington D.C., 20500, unless you cease and desist your demolition and reconstruction of our property at that address.” Or, instead of personal delivery, just mail it to the President of the United States and demand a response. Support USPS, which Donald has tried to destroy for vote-by-mail purposes, by sending him eviction notices by the millions. 

All of us are landlords of “the people’s house.” Never mind that Donald Trump is shameless. He deserves to be shamed, nevertheless, in the eyes of we, his taxpaying supervisors.

Steve Parks
Easton