STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have some reactions this morning to President Trump's demolition of the East Wing of the White House. The reactions come from citizens, tourists who came by to see the part of the building that was not torn down in favor of a gilded ballroom. Roseanne Siegel (ph) recently moved to Washington, D.C., from Pennsylvania and was visibly emotional.
ROSEANNE SIEGEL: I can't go to Mount Vernon without crying. I can't go to different places, historical places, without being moved. This is one of them.
INSKEEP: And she calls the East Wing demolition, quote, "intolerable."
SIEGEL: This isn't a real estate deal. This is a living, breathing building. It actually hurts, as a citizen. It's us. It's our home. This doesn't belong to anybody except the blood, the sweat and the tears of every president.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Steve Thompson is visiting from Nevada with his family. And he says he doesn't mind if President Trump makes changes, as other presidents have - like when President Franklin Roosevelt added a swimming pool and Harry Truman added a second-floor balcony.
STEVE THOMPSON: Donald Trump is funding - at least partially funding this himself and with other donors, so I don't see a problem with it. I think it's good to have a nice big ballroom for our country.
MARTIN: Our colleague Tamara Keith reports the president's renovation is being funded by people with business before the government. Brooke Thompson (ph) says everything else changes, so the White House can too.
BROOKE THOMPSON: You're creating a new area in the White House that might be housing world leaders, other world leaders, and you want to make a good impression and have a nice area for them to come visit.
INSKEEP: Now, North Carolina visitor Holly Noel (ph) called the ballroom a, quote, "selfish endeavor." We asked if she would feel differently if the plan had been put through a normal process with some oversight.
HOLLY NOEL: Possibly, but Trump doesn't operate that way. He's quick to act, impulsive. He just - he's very reactive, and that's affecting the public opinion.
MARTIN: College student Hope Diffenderfer says the changes don't respect history, and she points to personal experience.
HOPE DIFFENDERFER: My own house in Florida was built in the 1920s. My parents had to go through extensive permitting processes to add on a reasonably sized kitchen and an additional bedroom. We're not even allowed to knock down what is a structurally unsafe building in the back of our house because it's considered historic.
MARTIN: The administration says the president is committed to, quote, "preserving the special history of the White House while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future administrations and generations of Americans to come," unquote.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOLLY LEWIS' "CRUSHED VELVET (FEAT. THEE SACRED SOULS)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
