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From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

President Trump demolishes the east wing of the White House in a matter of days,

making way for a new ballroom of about 90,000 square feet that he says has long been needed

at the complex to host state dinners and other large events.

Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal.

We're joined today by my colleagues on the editorial page,

columnist Bill McGern and editorial board member Colin Levy.

President Trump has long talked about wanting to build a big, beautiful ballroom at the White House,

but the swiftness of the teardown and the changing nature of the president's plans caught

many people by surprise this week.

In July, Trump promised that his plans for this ballroom would not interfere with the current

building, quote, it'll be near it, but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing

building, which I'm the biggest fan of, unquote.

But on Monday, images hit the wires of heavy construction equipment, tearing into the facade

of the East Wing, and by Thursday, the East Wing was no more. Let's start with President Trump.

This is him in the Oval Office this week, acknowledging a change of plans.

We determined that after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in

the world, we determined that really knocking it down, trying to use a little section.

...