This is both a week early and a week late. Next Tuesday is Election Day.

A lot of people still think that off-year election days are less important that presidential or mid-term years. There are no more off-years. We need to be done with that nonsense. Just look at the past year to know the truth in that. Trump should not have won. I don’t say that as a conspiracy theorist, and I don’t know if anything untoward with Elon Musk caused the obvious change in the election, but what I do know is that if you look directly at Trump and his allies, he was losing and he knew he was losing. By the end of the campaign, he could barely stand up or string two coherent words together. And then someone “tried to kill him” in Butler, Pennsylvania. Do I think someone tried to kill him? I don’t know, but I’ll let my quotation marks speak to that. What I do know is that a man who is still whining about an escalator and toilet water has said not one word about his “assassination attempt.” So you tell me, what part of this man’s personality allows him to let this go?

My next point is that Congressional Republicans and the Supreme Court have completely shirked their responsibility and their obligation to their oath with the embarrassing failure of keeping the checks and balances on the Executive Branch. Almost none of his executive orders are legal. His tariffs most certainly aren’t. His murder of fishermen in the Caribbean is absolutely illegal and extrajudicial. His indictments of Comey and James are the pathetic cries of his own incompetence, and I swear on all that is holy that if the Justice Dept gives him one penny of the “settlement” he’s asking for, I will not be held responsible for my actions.

And if trampling over the Constitution and using its parchment to wipe his and his sycophants’ asses wasn’t enough, last week (it is hard to believe that it’s only last week) he took a bulldozer to the East Wing of the White House. No permits filed. No money disbursed by Congress. Private companies don’t get to work on an historic building, one that is one of the foundations of our capital city without the proper protocols in place: environmental impact studies, historic preservation, toxic safety. A wing of the building built in 1942 will certainly have asbestos in those walls they just ripped down. I’ve read that the company doing the destruction doesn’t have a permit or a hazardous waste certificate to clear asbestos, but what do I know. The East Wing also rests atop the secure bunker where the President goes when there’s a credible danger or threat. I guess not anymore, right?

I know our White House isn’t ancient like the pyramids or some castles I’ve been to, not nearly as old as the Western Wall in Israel or the Coliseum in Rome, but it’s part of the fabric of our country, on a scale with the fabric of our flag that this president pretends to care about. He said he wouldn’t change any of the actual White House building for his ballroom. Well, I suppose by the letter of the law, he didn’t change anything – he destroyed it, like he’s destroyed so many lives and norms since he came onto the political scene. He himself is a bulldozer, not caring who gets in his way because all that matters is his satisfaction. His gluttony. His narcissism.

And his puppy, Mike Johnson goes right along. No sir, we won’t do this. No, sir, we won’t swear in the duly elected Democrat from Arizona while at the same time berating her for not “getting to work.” I’d call him a tool, but tools are useful; this Speaker isn’t even that. Republicans haven’t worked in more than 75 days (longer if you count this entire year’s incompetence), and this man is telling a woman to get to work without pay?! Without benefits?! Without a budget or supplies?! Who does he think he is? Well, let’s be honest, he’s a mediocre man barely scraping by with his nails-scraping-a-chalkboard voice and fake aphorisms and platitudes to a G-d he doesn’t actually follow.

Enough time spent on this human garbage; back to the White House.

Every President and First Lady who lived in residence since it was built have treated it like the heirloom it is; the temporary housing; the challenge of living in an historically preserved space and making it home as well as the responsibility of its upkeep for the next President; for the people who visit on a daily basis. And there is always a next President. This is the President’s residence; it is not his house. It is OUR house.

We the people are responsible for its upkeep.

We the people are in charge of its preservation. That is why there are committees, rules, and protocols to follow and ask permission to make any changes or upgrades. Tearing down an entire wing is not a reasonable change and it is completely inappropriate for one President to make this monumental and irreversible change. It is, however no surprise that this President who asks permission for nothing, including sexual assault and fraud, that he didn’t request permission to destroy something so valued to this country. At a minimum, it’s monumentally insulting to everyone who came before him; at most it’s prosecutable.

When we said ‘no kings,’ this is what we are talking about. Presidents don’t need ballrooms; they need workrooms. Even if a ballroom was necessary (it’s not), the donors should be made public. Otherwise, they’re just bribes. No bid contracts for the destruction and construction? Bribes. Money and perks to Republicans only? Bribes.

The destruction of the East Wing is a disgrace, but it is only the tip of the iceberg that is the sad state that we the people find ourselves in.

No one remembers that Benedict Arnold was a Revolutionary War hero at the Battle of Saratoga. They only remember his betrayal. Being called a Benedict Arnold is a disparagement. And one day, being a Donald Trump will also be a disparagement and an embarrassment to those who follow in his disgraceful footsteps.

The destruction is a disgrace.

The incompetence of the Defense Secretary is a disgrace. As is the incompetence of most of the Cabinet from the Education, Heath & Human Services, State Department, Treasury and on – all a disgrace.

The FBI Director – a disgrace.

The racism, bigotry, secret police trawling our streets – a disgrace.

The laughter at tearing up the Constitution for a third term is a disgrace.

Enabling that nonsense is a disgrace.

Ignoring his cognitive decline and not knowing who is really running the country is a disgrace.

Murdering fisherman – a disgrace.

Taking away healthcare – a disgrace.

More money to billionaires than they could ever use  – a disgrace.

Ending SNAP benefits – a disgrace.

The President – a disgrace.