This story appeared in The Logoff, a every day publication that helps you keep knowledgeable in regards to the Trump administration with out letting political information take over your life. Subscribe right here.
Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump’s renovation mania is reaching new heights.
What’s taking place? Not glad with a paved Rose Backyard, lavish quantities of gold, and a granite walkway paid for with nationwide parks cash, Trump is at the moment including a helipad to the White Home garden. Building, begun in June, has been working 24/7, with the aim of ending the undertaking earlier than a go to from Chinese language President Xi Jinping in late September.
However all will not be effectively: Because the Washington Publish reported on Tuesday, contractors at the moment are undoing their work as Trump calls for a superbly stage helipad (on a South Garden that’s something however).
It’s the newest proof of one thing that New York Occasions reporter Maggie Haberman not too long ago described in a podcast with Ezra Klein: By her estimate, round 70 p.c of Trump’s “thoughts share” is tied up not with the Iran warfare, affordability, or the upcoming midterms, however “on his renovations,” which she describes as a “legacy factor.”
What else does Trump have within the works? Along with the helipad, Trump is at the moment engaged on renovating Lafayette Sq., throughout the road from the White Home; on Monday, he mused about his “large determination” on whether or not to alter the park’s pavers from pink brick to granite.
He’s additionally re-gilding 4 statues close to the Lincoln Memorial in vivid 23.75-karat gold; repairing the re-drained Reflecting Pool, which was the sufferer of a rush job the primary time round; and transferring forward along with his plan for a 250-foot arch, which might be accepted by early subsequent month and which the Nationwide Park Service not too long ago concluded would have “antagonistic results” on greater than three dozen historic websites within the DC space.
What’s the massive image? Trump’s development fervor has solely accelerated since he returned to workplace final 12 months, particularly as different agenda gadgets have eluded him. A midterms loss will additional curtail his choices for the ultimate two years of his presidency, so don’t count on it to cease right here.
And with that, it’s time to sign off…
Right here’s a stat I didn’t know, courtesy of my colleague Bryan Walsh: Visitors accidents are “the main reason for demise for everybody between the ages of 5 and 29 — forward of malaria, forward of warfare and murder, forward of each illness we spend extra time worrying about.”
That’s fairly grim, and never very Logoff-y. However there’s excellent news, too: As Bryan studies, between 2011 and 2025, international highway deaths have fallen by 21 p.c, whilst extra autos take to the roads — thanks largely to a change in how we take into consideration site visitors accidents. You possibly can learn Bryan’s full story about what modified — and what we nonetheless must work on — right here with a present hyperlink.
Have a fantastic night, and we’ll see you proper again right here tomorrow!
