The American President is a film that randomly lives rent free in my head. Starring a host of other big mid-90s actors, it was the sort of movie TBS would throw on as part of their daytime lineup, when they wanted to show something different from reruns of ER and Law & Order.
The movie tells the tale of a fictional mid-90s president played by Michael Douglas. His character is also a widower, after his wife passed away during his presidential run. At the beginning of the movie, he meets a fiery lobbyist played by Annette Benning. He’s immediately attracted to her, invites her as company to a big event, and the two start dating.
And that’s pretty much the whole premise of the movie. There is some drama about his re-election campaign and trying to secure votes for some crucial bills, but the crux of the movie is “how crazy would it be for the president to have a girlfriend?” (It’s quaint now to think something so small could be a scandal.)
A running joke in the film is that the President struggles to order flowers for his girlfriend. He wants to do it himself, but red tape and bureaucracy keep getting in the way. Then, at the end of the movie, Michael Douglas' character presents a beautiful bouquet to Annette Benning.
"How'd you finally do it?” She asks. “Manage to give a woman flowers and be President at the same time?” Michael Douglas gives her a warm smile. “Well, it turns out I've got a rose garden.”
It’s a corny joke yes, but also a cute reference to the White House Rose Garden. First planted in 1913 by the wife of Woodrow Wilson, it’s been an iconic part of the White House grounds for more than a century.
At least it was until earlier this year, when President Trump announced plans to rip out and pave over the Rose Garden to make room for a new $250 million ballroom funded by outside donors. A lot of people were upset by it. I’ll admit that I was one of them.
If that weren’t enough, earlier this week, demolition crews began unexpectedly tearing down the East Wing of the White House. If the Rose Garden was upsetting, the East Wing is shocking on multiple levels.
Setting aside the fact that there’s not agreement on whether or not Trump can legally order major White House renovations on his own, Trump himself had already publicly stated the East Wing wouldn’t be touched.
“[The ballroom] won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it,” Trump said, in statements. He then promised to pay “total respect” to the structure of the White House. Press Secretary Katherine Leavitt would affirm that stance in a press conference afterward, acknowledging the “special history” of the White House and stating that “nothing will be torn down.”
Both of them were lying through their teeth, and now here we sit a few months later and the East Wing is in ruins, because a man who angrily rejects the notion that he’s a dictator acted unilaterally on a whim.
One has to wonder why Donald Trump feels the need to build a gigantic, garish ballroom in the first place? Pondering that question somehow brings me back to that silly romantic movie from 1995.
The American President is a film that was written (by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin) under the assumption that the office of the President meant something special. It had decorum, dignity, and was above everyday pettiness. The person holding the office was expected to have standards for the ways they carried themselves. They were supposed to at least pretend to care about every American – even the ones that didn’t vote for them.
As I watch the White House get gradually demolished by this repugnant excuse for a man, all I can think about is how far we’ve fallen. We have a president who maligns and attacks the people he’s supposed to serve if they're not on "his side." How will we look back on this time period when the spectacle of seven million peaceful protesters led our President to respond with a disgusting AI video of him bombing Americans with sewage?
Shared with the world by the President of the United States.
We could talk all day about the collective flaws of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and so on. None of them were perfect people or perfect presidents. That said, not one of them would ever have behaved the way Donald Trump does. Nor do I believe any of them would have shown the blatant contempt for our history, laws, and legacy, that Trump shows almost every day.
Donald Trump wants a giant ugly ballroom, because he has no real notion of what genuine dignity means. He respects and cares about nothing. All he believes in are the shallow notions that might means right, gold means rich, and bigger means better.
It doesn’t matter that he is literally the most powerful and famous man in the entire world. Donald Trump is insecure down to the very pit of his soul, and he’ll tear down the White House and America itself if it makes him feel less pathetic for even the smallest of moments. We can only hope there's something worth anything left in the rubble when he's done.
