Trump’s $200M White House Ballroom Demolition: A Symbol of Authoritarian Excess
Glenn Kirchner Rips Letitia James Indictment as DOJ Vendetta—While East Wing Comes Down, Global Flashpoints Explode from Gripen Deals to Gaza Terror Rehab
President Donald Trump’s crews are demolishing the entire East Wing of the White House this week to build a $200 million private ballroom, a project far larger than he promised and funded by wealthy donors. The move symbolizes excess as former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirchner, a 35-year DOJ veteran, calls the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James a “textbook vendetta”—a $52.77-a-month “fraud” charge built on leaked secrets and hidden evidence. James faces arraignment Friday. From corporate power grabs to international flashpoints, here are the key developments.
Domestic
Letitia James Indictment: Rule 6 Violations and $52.77 “Fraud” Expose Trump’s Weaponized DOJ Former prosecutor Glenn Kirchner rips U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan for Rule 6(e) breaches via Signal chats with reporters, withholding Brady exculpatory evidence (family member’s rent-free testimony) from the indicting grand jury, and pursuing a laughable $52.77/month bank fraud over a “second family home.” Two unprecedented grand juries, zero comparable low-amount cases—pure vindictive prosecution to appease Trump. Risks disbarment; motion to dismiss pending.
Former Special Counsel Jack Smith Debunks GOP “Wiretap” Claims Facing potential indictment by Trump, former Special Counsel Jack Smith is defending himself through interviews and letters to GOP leaders, debunking allegations that his January 6 probe “wiretapped” Republican lawmakers. A declassified FBI document from the “Arctic Frost” investigation reveals that investigators obtained only basic toll records (date, number, duration)—not content—of calls for eight GOP Senators (Lindsey Graham, Marsha Blackburn, Ron Johnson, Josh Hawley, Cynthia Lummis, Bill Hagerty, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville) and Rep. Mike Kelly, limited to January 4–7, 2021, to trace Trump team recruitment efforts to block the power transfer. Smith’s team emphasizes: No real-time interception occurred; this was standard investigative tool, not spying.
Trump Demolishing Entire East Wing for $200M White House Ballroom Trump is demolishing the entire East Wing to make way for his $200 million White House ballroom, far more extensive than initially claimed. Demolition continues this week (credit: Alex Kent/NYT); tear-down finishes by weekend. Trump promised “no interference” with existing structure and “views of Washington Monument,” but officials say full demolition is cheaper/stronger. Funded by tens of millions in private donations + Trump’s personal contribution (amount TBD). New ballroom includes enhanced security features.
ICE Raid in Wilder, Idaho Terrorizes Community: Military-Style Operation Zip-Ties Children at Family Picnic What began as an FBI probe into illegal gambling at La Catedral Arena horseracing facility in Wilder, Idaho, escalated into a traumatic ICE-led raid on Oct. 19, 2025, involving 200+ agents from FBI, ICE, ATF, DEA, and local police—with helicopters, drones, rubber bullets, and zip ties. Amid a family picnic for ~400 attendees (many Hispanic immigrants), agents stormed in, arresting 105 undocumented individuals (plus 5 on gambling charges: Ivan Tellez, Samuel Bejarano, Dayana Fajardo, Alejandro Estrada). Toddlers and U.S. citizens were zip-tied and traumatized; many families separated, with detainees shipped to multiple states. ACLU Idaho’s Leo Morales: “No American should accept this.” Gov. Little defends as “standard safety,” but advocates decry excessive force on innocents. PODER collecting aid; rally planned.
Anne Applebaum’s Warning: Trumpism as Authoritarian Revolution Beyond Left-Right Divide In Twilight of Democracy (2020), historian Anne Applebaum—Soviet atrocities expert and Orwellian centrist—traces right-wing authoritarianism’s global rise from her 1999 Poland party of “nostalgic conservatives” to 2019’s liberal replacements, as former friends radicalized into alt-right movements (Poland’s Law & Justice, Hungary’s Orbán, Brexit, Trumpism). Key traits: nostalgia, anti-diversity, populism, resentment—amplified by social media echo chambers. Trump embodies “millenarian far-right + revolutionary nihilism + cynical business schemes,” using liberal big-government tactics for conservative faith/family goals. New divide: democrats vs. autocrats. “The center cannot hold”—Yeats.
Jamie Dimon’s AI Gambit: JPMorgan’s Trojan Horse for Fossil Fuels & Authoritarian State JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s 2023 shareholder letter hails AI as transformative as the printing press—but it’s a narrative shell game to justify massive fossil fuel expansion. Truth Bullet: One ChatGPT query uses 10x electricity of Google search; JPM projects 6-13B cubic feet/day extra natural gas demand. As world’s #1 fossil fuel financier, Dimon engineers self-fulfilling prophecy: champions “clean” AI that locks in dirty energy profits.
JPMorgan’s $1.5T “National Security” Shield: Fossil Fuels as Patriotic Imperative JPM’s Security & Resiliency Initiative bundles AI/tech investments with “energy independence” and defense buildout, partnering with DoD to remove “excessive regulations” and “bureaucratic delays.” Pocket Razor: Reframing pollution as national security makes environmental rules “delays,” protesters “threats.” JPMC operates as quasi-state actor, merging corporate profits with state power.
Corporate-State Symbiosis: Blueprint for American Autocracy (Donziger Case) JPMC builds authoritarian infrastructure: energy grid, surveillance tech, financial plumbing for fascist state. Steven Donziger case proves it—Chevron-funded prosecution, house arrest, disbarment after $9B Amazon pollution win. Vertical War: Not Left vs. Right, but unaccountable corporations + unaccountable state vs. people. No King’s Day (Oct 18) protests this corporate aristocracy.
Shared Residual Liability for Frontier AI Firms Ben Gil Friedman argued that sharing catastrophic harm liability between frontier artificial intelligence (AI) firms would resolve thorny incentive issues that hamper AI safety. Despite the risks, frontier AI firms continue to underinvest in safety. This underinvestment is driven, in large part, by three major challenges: AI development’s judgment-proof problem, its perverse race dynamic, and AI regulation’s pacing problem. To address these challenges, I propose a shared residual liability regime for frontier AI firms. Modeled after state insurance guaranty associations, the regime would hold frontier AI companies jointly liable for catastrophic damages in excess of individual firms’ ability to pay. This would lead the industry to internalize more risk as a whole and would incentivize firms to monitor each other to reduce their shared financial exposure.
Reconfiguring U.S. Cyber Strategy in the Wake of Salt Typhoon Alistair Simmons outlined a series of steps U.S. government agencies can take to defend against future cyberattacks like Salt Typhoon, emphasizing the need to deter attacks through proportional and predictable offensive cyber responses. The U.S. government should counter persistent cyberattacks on telecom providers by strengthening defenses and clarifying its offensive posture. Credible deterrence depends on resilient networks that can withstand retaliation. To strengthen defenses, government agencies can coordinate to sanction threat actors, disrupt compromised devices, and remove vulnerabilities. To clarify offensive posture, policymakers can set clear thresholds for deterrence and balance offensive operations with intelligence priorities. Denying adversaries long-term access to U.S. networks will reinforce deterrence and sharpen cyber capabilities.
Defying Trump’s “Flood the Zone” Chaos In his Lawfare essay “The Situation: On Slowness” (Oct 2025), Benjamin Wittes—a Brookings senior fellow and legal scholar—personally reflects on deliberate slowness, thoughtfulness, and rest as resistance against the Trump administration’s strategy to “flood the zone with shit” (Steve Bannon’s phrase). Amid Comey prosecution, Halligan’s leaked texts to reporter Anna Bower, White House bulldozing, and more, Wittes argues slowness reclaims mental control: waiting, playing chess, learning languages, reading unrelated books counters racing thoughts and instant reactions to “vileness.” Speed disorients; slowness defies domination, enabling better judgments.
International
Declassified FBI Doc Reveals Jan 6 Toll Records on 9 GOP Lawmakers: Arctic Frost Probe Tracked Trump Recruitment Calls Newly declassified FBI document (Sep 27, 2023, released Oct 2025) from Operation Arctic Frost shows investigators pulled limited toll records (date, number, duration only—no content) on calls involving 9 GOP lawmakers Jan 4-7, 2021: Rep. Mike Kelly; Sens. Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, Cynthia Lummis, Ron Johnson, Marsha Blackburn, Lindsey Graham. Purpose: Trace Trump team efforts to recruit Congress to block power transfer. Jack Smith: Standard tool, not “wiretap”—debunks GOP spying claims.
Swedish Gripens Intercept Russian Bombers Over Baltic: Two Tu-22M3 Backfires Escorted by Su-27s Met Near Gotland On Oct. 22, 2025, Swedish Air Force scrambled two JAS 39 Gripen fighters to intercept two Russian Tu-22M3 Backfire bombers and their Su-27 Flanker escorts over the Baltic Sea east of Gotland, in international airspace. No airspace violation, but Gripens visually identified and shadowed the formation amid heightened tensions post-Ukraine Gripen deal. Finland’s F-18s initially responded, handed off to Dutch F-35s under NATO Air Policing. Swedish spokesperson: “Routine readiness display for airspace security.”
Ukraine-Sweden Gripen Deal Criticism: Zelenskyy Begged for Tomahawks, Gets 150 Jets He Didn’t Ask For Signed Oct. 22 in Linköping, Ukraine’s 100-150 Gripen E intent (deliveries by 2026) draws fire: Zelenskyy requested Tomahawk missiles as 2022 Christmas gift for long-range strikes; jets excel at drone evasion but lack standoff weapons. Critics: “Like giving a kid a bike when they wanted fireworks.” Ukraine pays full price (no freebies); pilots training now. Govt process “broken”—needs-based requests yield “random crap.” Risks rogue actions; no holiday peace without missiles.
Ukraine and Sweden Sign Intent for 100-150 Gripen E Jets: Zelenskyy Praises “Fantastic” Fighters for Air Force Rebuild On Oct. 22, 2025, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Sweden’s PM Ulf Kristersson signed a letter of intent in Linköping for potential purchase of 100-150 JAS 39 Gripen E fighters—the latest model—to build a “powerful Ukrainian Air Force.” Zelenskyy: “Fantastic planes that can protect us”; first deliveries possible in 3 years, funded via post-war Ukrainian resources or EU-frozen Russian assets (€200B+ total, up to €140B loan). Not final contract; pilots already training. Saab CEO: Could be Sweden’s largest export ever. Zelenskyy warns against Russian propaganda on Ukraine “losing.”
EU and US Escalate Sanctions on Russian Oil: 19th EU Package Targets Gas Phase-Out, Shadow Fleet; US Hits Rosneft and Lukoil On Oct. 23, 2025, the EU adopted its 19th sanctions package against Russia (after Slovakia’s block lifted), accelerating Russian gas phase-out to Jan. 1, 2027, banning 117 more “shadow fleet” vessels (total 558, barring EU ports), restricting Russian diplomats’ EU travel, and targeting banks, crypto, and evasion enablers (esp. in China). Concurrently, US Treasury (under Sec. Scott Bessent) sanctioned Russia’s top oil firms—state-owned Rosneft and private Lukoil (45% of crude exports)—to cripple war funding, calling for immediate ceasefire: “Now is the time to stop the killing.” Oil prices surged 4% on announcement; further US measures threatened if no peace.
Gaza Displacement Crisis: 82% of Strip Under Orders Amid Ceasefire Returns Despite Oct. 10, 2025 ceasefire, over 82% of Gaza remains under Israeli militarized zones or displacement orders (OCHA, Oct 7). Post-ceasefire, 390,000+ movements recorded, including 309,699 northbound from south (10-12 Oct), but Amnesty warns of “catastrophic” forced evictions in Gaza City, displacing 870,000+ since Aug. 2025 offensive. Nearly 500,000 fled north Gaza; returns hampered by rubble, famine risks.
Hamas “Recycling” Fears: Qatar/Turkey Aid Seen as Terror Rehab in Gaza Experts warn Qatar’s heavy equipment for Gaza debris removal (Oct. 16 entry) aids Hamas reconstruction of terror infrastructure under Trump deal guise. Qatar/Turkey push Hamas “rehabilitation” as political force, convincing non-uniforms, no celebrations; seek role in security sans disarmament. Saudis/Emiratis furious at displacement; fear 20-year war cycle if tolerated.
Palestinian Moderation Push: Pragmatists Eye Gaza-First Model for Leadership Amid Hamas/Fatah corruption, calls for pragmatic “moderates” to emerge via Gaza-first approach: nation-building over resistance, empowering mid-level pros (academics, techies) in nonpartisan governance. Technocratic committee (15 approved, Oct. 13) for post-war services; youth polls show job pragmatism despite hardline views. Anti-Hamas protests signal shift, but needs wins to counter victimhood.
Kirchner demands Halligan’s Florida Bar referral and James case dismissal with prejudice. As East Wing rubble piles up and Friday’s hearing nears, the message is stark: Dismantle Trump’s machine—or watch democracy vanish.