Firestorm follows Trump plan to destroy Jefferson-era White House fixtures

President Donald Trump already destroyed the White House’s historic East Wing to build his ballroom, and now he has announced plans to rip out a fixture installed by one of America’s most iconic founding fathers, President Thomas Jefferson.

The Republican announced a "beautiful, black granite" installation to replace the Tennessee Flagstone pavers on the West Wing Colonnade, according to a Tuesday White House pool report covered by People Magazine. The president said he will pay for the installation himself, with the Jeffersonian originals being sent to a nursery for safekeeping.

"Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come," White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told PEOPLE in a statement. Originally commissioned by Jefferson for an ice house and servants’ bedrooms, it is now best known as a “45-second commute” between the West Wing and Executive Mansion.

When Trump last destroyed part of the White House without public approval, a former Trump supporter exploded in rage.

"This jack—— in the f—— White House is destroying a permanent structure that can't come back," former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) said on his Substack earlier in March. "He can't do this on his own! There's a rigorous, rigorous process to mess with the restructuring, structural changes of the White House, and he just blows right through all of that!"

Walsh was not alone. After the White House announced its decision to demolish the East Wing, they received over 9,000 pages of public comments with “barely any supportive missives.” The remarks included comments like "complete DISASTER,” "NO GAUDY FAKE GOLD STUFF ALL OVER THE PLACE,” “no one wants to be in an adjunct building in a large crowd with lengthened security protocols,” “eyesore,” “abomination” and “appalling.”

Even a sitting Republican lawmaker, Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), expressed dismay at the East Wing’s destruction.

"The stark images of the East Wing demolished in mere days were deeply disturbing to Americans who cherish preservation of our nation's history," Turner wrote in the comments.

Trump’s disrespect toward Jefferson himself is also consistent with an anti-Jeffersonian thrust in his administration. While Trump openly aligns with Christian nationalists, Jefferson — who co-authored the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and is one of America’s most influential founding thinkers — was avowedly secular. While serving as president from 1801 to 1809, he famously wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptists that “believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

In his personal time, Jefferson also rewrote the New Testament to retell Jesus Christ’s story as that of a secular philosopher rather than a religious leader. He finished the so-called “Jefferson Bible,” which was officially titled “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,” in 1820 and argued Christ’s teachings were better when all supernatural and religious elements were removed from them.

Unlike Trump, who opposes scientific education and the ideas proved through the scientific method by established institutions, Jefferson advocated promulgating the sciences throughout American life.

"His 'empire of liberty' offered the potential to dismantle the artificial hierarchies inherited from the past and imbue all aspects of life with the promise of freedom and happiness," Dean Caivano, an assistant professor of political theory at Lehigh University and author of "A Politics of All: Thomas Jefferson and Radical Democracy," told this author for Salon Magazine in 2024. "Although this idealized image of a free and harmonious American society is undeniably marred by the institution and legacy of slavery, overlooking the role of education and science as prerequisites for freedom and equality diminishes our ability to assess the historical and contemporary limits of American democracy critically."

By comparison, Trump’s philosophy toward science "relies on reactionary, draconian, and dogmatic thinking. By launching a direct assault on the scientific community, Project 2025 undermines the foundation of an enlightened citizenry that Jefferson held in high regard. The project advocates for dramatic cuts to research and development, promotes climate denialism, and seeks to hyper-politicize public health and STEM fields."

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