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THE WEEKLY REVEAL
Saturday, December 13, 2025
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Trump’s Gilded White House Makeover Is All About Power
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Aaron Schwartz/Pool/CNP/Zuma
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Back in August, our colleagues at Mother Jones asked 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 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.
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.
-Arianna Coghill
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Find this episode wherever you listen to Reveal, and don’t forget to subscribe:
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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, 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, Overcast, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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