The images that emerged last week of the sudden demolition of the White House’s entire East Wing have inspired an array of feelings. They are jarring, captivating, enraging, even inspiring. One thing is for sure: they are a too on-the-nose metaphor for President Trump and this moment in history. You could look at the images and see the bulldozing of norms and rewriting of history in a way we can’t get back, or you might see the gleeful demolishing of a symbol of the establishment to make America greater.
The photos have an unquestionably blunt impact. There, heaped into a sad pile of rubble, is a part of the world’s most recognizable structures, one that’s been etched into our minds via many film and TV series that recreated the homebase for fictional political dynasties and presidents. The photos signify the start of President Donald Trump’s well-funded, legacy-enshrining big beautiful ballroom replacement, and the path of destruction necessary for it hits hard — not because it’s a too on-the-nose metaphor for Trump and this political moment, but because that building is one of the few to hold a shared meaning for many.
Each era of American politics has had its own distinct portrayal of the White House. Films and television have given the world a version of what America stands for through the decades, which have also reflected our values while coloring our feelings about our government.
Throughout the 1990s, the building stood for power; here was Camelot and the men (and occasional women) who dutifully ran the show. After the Sept. 11 attacks, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. became a panic room as fear took hold, and the lights and art direction dimmed. Ever since Trump came down his gold escalator, the home of the reality TV president has become the set of a spectacle.
The Clinton years and the 1990s, defined by continuous domestic economic growth and headline-grabbing scandals, were a time when liberal idealism was so strong that Aaron Sorkin wrote a show about it. The West Wing’s White House represented a sacred workplace with gleaming wood and flattering lighting that was populated with smart people trying to do good for the country. On the big screen, Rob Reiner fashioned a still-in-his-prime Michael Douglas as a morally centered chivalrous class act; Dave made entry into the White House accessible. Never mind Air Force One’s thwarted terrorists or that Tinseltown blasted the building to smithereens in Independence Day, Bill Pullman’s rousing climactic speech brought the nation together.
But these types of action movies, rom-coms and walk-and-talks through the corridors of American power were unseen after the 9/11 attacks, as 1600 became a more shadowy place. The Hollywood depiction in the era-defining TV series 24 — and films like Absolute Power, and later, White House Down — presented a White House thick with intrigue. This continued with House of Cards and the wild premise of Designated Survivor; the windows thicker, security more intense and morals much murkier.
This slightly softened in the Trump Oval office, where so many unexpected faces have made cameos (looking at you, Kid Rock). Directors and showrunners were no longer meeting the challenge of building an image of the White House — it was too competitive with the real one to make fiction stranger than truth. Veep is, of course, the reigning television champ on this front, but Our Cartoon President similarly leaned into such farce. As for A-list cinema, Trump 1.0 churned out Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up with its circus of denial, branding and Meryl Streep’s president’s memorable demise.
The White House for now, perhaps less of an institution and more of a content studio, has big personality and bigger outrage. When this was punctuated in the Biden years, we saw D.C. power-structure series like current hit The Diplomat find a wide audience and acclaim, as did The Handmaid’s Tale.
So, what’s to become after the Trump years? Perhaps a replacement ballroom, or maybe just a redecoration. In Hollywood, the depiction of power in the halls of Washington will always receive the renovation that the times deserve.
