Nia-Malika Henderson, Columnist

The White House Didn’t Need a Mar-a-Lago Makeover

October 22, 2025 at 11:00 AM UTC

Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.

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Call it the billionaires’ ballroom.

This week, President Donald Trump began demolishing part of the East Wing of the White House to construct a $250 million entertainment venue bankrolled by some of the world’s deepest pockets. The pictures of a digger tearing into the White House are nothing less than shocking, a symbol of Trump’s disregard for American institutions and values — and his embrace of a new Gilded Age.