King’s Horror Story: Author Slams Trump’s ‘Shameful’ Demolition of White House East Wing as Assault on American Legacy
By Marcus Hale, National Desk
WASHINGTON — Horror maestro Stephen King, whose novels have long conjured nightmares from the mundane, turned his gaze to Pennsylvania Avenue this week, branding President Donald Trump’s audacious White House renovation as nothing short of desecration. In a scathing post on X that has amassed over 600,000 views, the 78-year-old It author excoriated the commander in chief: “The Draft Dodger in Chief has ordered the destruction of the East Wing of the people’s house, which generations of our armed forces fought and died for. This is beyond shameful.”
King’s words, posted amid the rumble of bulldozers and the dust clouds rising from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, have galvanized a firestorm of debate over what critics call the Trump administration’s “ego-fueled ego trip” on America’s most sacred real estate. The East Wing—home to first ladies’ offices, historic event spaces, and a symbol of quiet dignity since its 1902 construction—now lies in rubble, razed to make way for a $300 million, 90,000-square-foot glass-walled ballroom that Trump touts as a “grand addition” for state dinners and galas. But for King and a swelling chorus of historians, preservationists, and even some Republicans, it’s a bulldozer through the heart of national heritage.
The demolition, which kicked off unceremoniously last week despite lacking preliminary approval from the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), marks the boldest White House overhaul in decades. Aerial photos released by the White House on Tuesday show the once-graceful structure reduced to twisted steel and shattered masonry, its Georgian facade scattered like forgotten props on a horror set. Trump, speaking from the Oval Office flanked by architectural renderings, dismissed the backlash as “fake news hysteria,” insisting the wing was a “cheap add-on” unworthy of preservation. “Presidents have wanted this for 150 years,” he declared during a Fox News interview Friday. “We’re building something beautiful—privately funded, no taxpayer dime. It’s going to be tremendous.”
Yet the optics are grim. The East Wing, expanded in 1942 under Franklin D. Roosevelt to shelter the first family during World War II, has stood as a testament to resilience amid global conflict. Eleanor Roosevelt transformed it into a nerve center for wartime volunteers, while subsequent first ladies—from Jackie Kennedy to Jill Biden—used its rooms for everything from literacy initiatives to pandemic briefings. “This isn’t just bricks and mortar,” said Dr. Elena Ramirez, a White House historian at the Smithsonian Institution. “It’s where America’s soft power was forged—diplomacy in drawing rooms, not tents on the lawn. Tearing it down feels like erasing the women who shaped it.”
King’s invocation of Trump’s Vietnam-era draft deferments—”Draft Dodger in Chief”—adds a personal barb, evoking the author’s long-standing feud with the president. The Maine native, who endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, has penned over a dozen anti-Trump essays and tweets since 2015, likening him to the despotic clowns in his own fiction. In a follow-up post Thursday, King escalated: “Trump’s destruction of the East Wing is part of a pattern. Because he never has to stand for election again (at least, under normal Constitutional rules), he is like a gleeful toddler, not toilet trained, beshitting everything he can reach.” The quip, blending King’s signature gallows humor with pointed critique, drew 21,000 likes and thousands of reposts, including from fellow celebrities like Bette Midler and Rob Reiner.
The controversy erupted July when White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the ballroom project, framing it as a “modernization” that would relocate East Wing offices temporarily without demolition. “Nothing will be torn down,” she assured reporters. But by mid-October, crews arrived at dawn, wielding jackhammers under the cover of a hastily erected scaffold. The White House now admits the full razing was always the plan, with the new structure—mimicking the neoclassical style but featuring floor-to-ceiling windows and climate-controlled atriums—set to rise by 2027. Funding, Trump emphasizes, will come from “patriot donors” and his personal coffers, sparing the federal budget amid ongoing shutdown woes.
Legal hurdles loom large. The NCPC, chaired by Trump ally Will Scharf, has jurisdiction over major federal builds but claims demolition falls outside its purview— a stance preservation groups call a “convenient loophole.” The National Trust for Historic Preservation fired off a letter Monday demanding a halt until public reviews are complete, warning of lawsuits under the National Historic Preservation Act. “This is the people’s house,” Trust President Carol Quillen wrote. “Razing it without input isn’t renovation; it’s recklessness.”
Historians draw stark contrasts to past makeovers. Harry Truman’s 1948-1952 gutting of the entire mansion—prompted by sagging floors and fire hazards—preserved the exterior shell while rebuilding inside, a $5.2 million effort (over $60 million today) that spared no sacred cows but honored architectural integrity. Jacqueline Kennedy’s 1961 restoration, guided by experts, restored Federal-style elegance without erasure. Even Trump’s first-term tweaks, like the Rose Garden redo, sparked outcry but didn’t topple wings. “Trump’s approach is unprecedented in scale and secrecy,” said architecture critic Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune. “It’s not stewardship; it’s showmanship.”
Defenders, however, rally around the builder-in-chief. Stephen Miller, Trump’s policy guru, blasted critics on Fox as “elitist pearl-clutchers” during a Friday segment, arguing the East Wing was a “1940s afterthought” plagued by asbestos and outdated wiring. “This is about functionality—hosting world leaders in a space befitting America’s greatness, not leaky tents,” Miller said. GOP lawmakers, eyeing donor windfalls, have been mum or supportive. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted: “Finally, a president who builds instead of burns. MAGA!” The White House’s X thread Tuesday chronicled a century of tweaks—from Teddy Roosevelt’s Tiffany window swaps to Calvin Coolidge’s roof rescue—insisting Trump’s vision fits a “proud tradition.”
Public reaction splits along familiar lines. A snap CNN poll shows 58% of Democrats view the demolition as “disrespectful,” versus 22% of Republicans, who largely see it as “practical progress.” Protests erupted Saturday in D.C., with “No Kings” marchers waving signs reading “Save Our House from the Clown Prince” outside the wrought-iron gates. Late-night hosts pounced: Stephen Colbert quipped on CBS, “Trump’s turning the White House into The Apprentice set—next up, evicting the Lincoln Bedroom.” Social media buzzes with King’s post, which has inspired fan art of Trump as Pennywise amid White House ruins.
For King, reached by phone at his Bangor estate amid a crisp autumn chill, the episode is ripped from his playbook. “I’ve written about haunted houses my whole career—1408, The Shining—but this? This is real horror: a man with no reverence for history, smashing symbols of sacrifice because his ego needs a bigger dance floor.” The author, whose latest novel You Like It Darker topped charts this summer, sees parallels to his fictional tyrants. “Trump’s not just renovating; he’s rewriting the narrative. Generations fought for that building—D-Day, Iwo Jima, the Bulge. Now it’s collateral for his Mar-a-Lago North.”
The “Draft Dodger” jab stings deeper, nodding to Trump’s five deferments during Vietnam, a sore spot the president has long deflected. King, a baby boomer who dodged the draft via lottery luck, doesn’t mince words: “He hid behind bone spurs while kids from mill towns shipped out. Now he’s hiding behind scaffolds, pretending this is progress.”
As cranes loom over the debris, broader questions swirl. Is this the opening salvo in Trump’s second-term legacy-building, a gilded monument to his dealmaker ethos? Or a harbinger of unchecked executive whim, especially with a GOP Congress offering scant oversight? Environmentalists decry the carbon footprint of a glass behemoth; architects bemoan the loss of intimate scale. Even some donors, per Politico leaks, are balking at the $250 million ask, whispering of “overreach.”
King, ever the storyteller, ends on a cautionary note. “Houses remember. This one will too—rubble under the ballroom floor, whispering of what was lost. Americans, wake up before he redecorates the Constitution.” With midterms looming and Trump’s approval hovering at 46%, the East Wing’s echo could reverberate far beyond the scaffolds.
In Washington, where power and preservation collide, King’s two cents feel like a chilling prologue to an uncertain sequel.
