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** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
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Saturday, December 13, 2025


** Trump’s Gilded White House Makeover Is All About Power
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** Aaron Schwartz/Pool/CNP/Zuma
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Listen to the episode ([link removed])

Back in August, our colleagues at Mother Jones asked ([link removed]) readers what they had to say about President Donald Trump’s White House makeover. Their answers: “Gaudy and cheap.” “Reminds me of Putin’s House.” “Eeewww.” And since then, the president and his administration have only ramped up their goal to transform the aesthetic of the Executive Mansion to that of a Cheesecake Factory bathroom.

Since taking office, Trump has:
* Demolished the East Wing, to be replaced with a 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
* Paved over the famous White House Rose Garden, which was created ([link removed]) in 1913.
* Practically covered the White House in brassy gold appliques.
* Established plans for an “Arc de Trump,” which is expected to mirror France’s Arc de Triomphe and could cost over $100 million ([link removed]) .

And, if you’re anything like me, you’re probably asking yourself: What is the point of Trump doing all of this? Art historian Erin L. Thompson has an answer: It’s all about power.

“The aesthetic is a way to make the political physically present,” says Thompson, the author of Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America’s Public Monuments. “It’s a way to make it seem like things are changing and like Trump is keeping his promises when he’s actually not.”

On this week's episode of More To The Story, Thompson joins host Al Letson to talk about why Trump has decked out the White House in gold (so much gold), the rise and recent fall of Confederate monuments, and whether she thinks the Arc de Trump will ever get built.

(Spoiler alert: Probably not.)

It’s a fascinating interview you won’t want to miss. Listen here ([link removed]) .

-Arianna Coghill

Find this episode wherever you listen to Reveal, and don’t forget to subscribe:
Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) | Spotify ([link removed]) | iHeartRadio ([link removed]) | Overcast ([link removed])


** Lessons From Trump’s “War” on Chicago
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Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times/AP

Chicago has been one of the latest stops on the Trump administration’s deportation tour. “Operation Midway Blitz” started in September and, for months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents have been roaming the streets and detaining hundreds of people.

This week on Reveal ([link removed]) , host Al Letson and producer Ashley Cleek visit Chicago to see Operation Midway Blitz in action and find out what it’s been like for those targeted by it. Letson and Cleek found citizens detained, Chicago police officers pepper-sprayed, and communities terrified. Most Chicagoans arrested by federal agents in the operation had no criminal record, not even a traffic ticket.

Letson and Cleek also see how communities are mobilizing to protect each other and how some of the tensions over immigration raids stretch back to decisions made by the city in 2022.

They also learn from 404 Media’s Joseph Cox about face-scanning apps used by federal agents—and how this kind of surveillance points to a broader shift in how the US government deploys its technologies against people inside the country.

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🎧 Other places to listen: Spotify ([link removed]) , Overcast ([link removed]) , iHeartRadio ([link removed]) , or wherever you get your podcasts.
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** In Case You Missed It
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** 🎧 The Gaza Flotilla Story You Didn’t Hear ([link removed])
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Activists sailed to Gaza to deliver aid, but were met with drone attacks and imprisonment—an exclusive look at the Global Sumud Flotilla.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Gulcin Bekar
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** 🎧 One on One With Trump’s Black MAGA Pastor ([link removed])
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A candid—and sometimes heated—conversation with Lorenzo Sewell, who claims President Donald Trump is actually an anti-racist who is improving Black lives.

Photo Credit: Saul Loeb/DPA/ZUMA
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** 🎧 What Is Riley Gaines Hiding? We Investigated. ([link removed])
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Reporter Madison Pauly teams up with journalist and podcaster Pablo Torre for a deep dive into right-wing superstar Riley Gaines, a swimmer who tied a transgender woman for fifth place and became a viral figure with outsized influence within the MAGA movement.

Photo Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty
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** 🎧 Alabama’s Threats to Prosecute Abortion Helpers ([link removed])
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When Roe v. Wade was overturned and abortion became illegal in Alabama, helping people get out of state came with the threat of jail time.

Photo Credit: Charity Rachelle/Produced with support from the Magnum Foundation and Commonwealth Fund
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This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Arianna Coghill and edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

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