https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-25-2026
"It turns out Trump has not abandoned his plan to paint the massive grey
granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building white. As Philip Kennicott
reported in the
Washington Post yesterday, more than two dozen experts have
sued to stop the plan, saying paint could irreversibly damage the stone and
would be a “taxpayers’ nightmare” as the building would have to be repaired and
repainted regularly.
But on Monday, deputy assistant to the president Heather Martin filed a
declaration saying the White House Office of Administration was beginning
preparations for the paint job. As Kennicott points out, the administration is
using the case to give the president the ability to “erase the nation’s
physical culture, its man-made, natural and cultural wonders.”
The administration is arguing that the General Services Administration (GSA),
the agency that normally handles maintenance of federal buildings, has ceded
control of the building to the White House Office of Administration. The GSA
follows the requirements of the
National Historic Preservation Act and the
National Environmental Policy Act, laws that require extensive reviews and
input from experts and the public.
Those laws do not apply to the White House Office of Administration. Greg
Werkheiser of Cultural Heritage Partners, one of the organizations that sued to
stop Trump from painting the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, told
Kennicott: “The precedent is potentially devastating. Anytime the president
takes a personal interest in a project, he can simply pluck it out of an agency
that is subject to review and put it in his own shop.” That change would not be
limited to buildings, Kennicott explains. It could be used, for example, to
rush a pipeline through pristine wilderness.
A White House official told Kennicott that the White House conducts necessary
reviews and that taking over for the GSA allows the White House “to more
efficiently and economically manage the project.”
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool would like a word."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
