‘The East Wing Is Gone’: Trump Destroys Part of the White House, Demands the Justice Department Give Him $230 Million–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Oct. 23, 2025

Indy Digest: Oct. 23, 2025

A couple of weeks ago, I spent weekend in Phoenix at a journalism conference—and the experience truly rattled me.

Newsgeist, which is produced by Center for News, Technology and Innovation, brings together about 180 journalists and news leaders from around the world to discuss the topics and concerns on the minds of the attendees. This year, themes included dealing with AI, how to better reach audiences/potential audiences, and the topic that left me rattled: the immense threat to press freedoms by the actions of the federal government since Donald Trump reassumed the presidency.

I went to Phoenix knowing about these threats, of course—but the gravity of the situation we’re facing right now in the United States really set in after journalists from other countries, where press freedoms were taken away, pointed out that what happened in their countries is happening here, but a lot more rapidly.

Look at what has happened in Hungary, for example, and notice the parallels. This is from a 2024 story by The Associated Press:

Since 2010, Orbán’s government has promoted hostility to migrants and LGBTQ+ rights, distrust of the European Union, and a belief that Hungarian-American financier George Soros—who is Jewish and one of Orbán’s enduring foes—is engaged in secret plots to destabilize Hungary, a classic antisemitic trope. …

According to press watchdog Reporters Without Borders, Orbán has used media buyouts by government-connected “oligarchs” to build “a true media empire subject to his party’s orders.” The group estimates that such buyouts have given Orbán’s party control of some 80% of Hungary’s media market resources. In 2021, it put Orbán on its list of media “predators,” the first EU leader to earn the distinction.

The title didn’t come out of nowhere: in 2016, Hungary’s oldest daily newspaper was suddenly shuttered after being bought by a businessman with links to Orbán. In 2018, nearly 500 pro-government outlets were simultaneously donated by their owners to a foundation headed by Orbán loyalists, creating a sprawling right-wing media conglomerate. And in 2020, nearly the entire staff of Hungary’s largest online news portal, Index, resigned en masse after its lead editor was fired under political pressure.

This is the same Orbán who has given well-received speeches to American conservative groups. The same Orbán considered an ally and “a great man, a great leader in Europe” by Donald Trump.

And now Donald Trump is following Orbán’s playbook to silence the news media.

I think there’s a lot to be learned from Trump’s treatment of the White House. As reported today by The Washington Post:

The East Wing of the White House is gone.

Wrecking crews had completely removed the decades-old annex by midday Thursday, just three days after they started, to make way for a pet project of President Donald Trump: a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The destruction, which The Washington Post first reported Monday, prompted a massive backlash from historic preservationists and Democrats, who accused Trump of destroying a national landmark and doing so under a cloak of secrecy.

The work also drew thousands of tourists to Pennsylvania Avenue this week to watch—or rather listen to—the heavy machinery. The Trump Administration has restricted the public from most vantage points, ordering employees of the adjacent Treasury Department not to share photos and escorting away journalists trying to shoot video.

Donald Trump has taken something that is ours, belonging to the American people, and defiled it in secrecy, after lying about his intentions. It’s sickening. He’s acting as if the country belongs to him.

I was worried before Newsgeist. Now I am legitimately afraid.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Here are two more stories that show how Trump and his administration are going full dictator. First, The Washington Post reports: “Nearly one week since a rash of Pentagon journalists turned in their press credentials after refusing to sign a new restrictive press policy, the Defense Department announced a ‘new media’ press corps, largely hailing from right-wing outlets. The 60 people from various news organizations represent, ‘a broad spectrum of new media outlets and independent journalists,’ Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in a statement Wednesday on X, adding that all of the publications agreed to the agency’s press policy. According to a draft of the announcement obtained by The Washington Post ahead of Parnell’s tweet, the coalition of signatories includes the cable network Real America’s Voice, streaming service Lindell TV (started by MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell), the websites the Gateway Pundit, the Post Millennial, Human Events, the National Pulse, and RedState. It also includes Turning Point USA’s media brand Frontlines, as well as influencer Tim Pool’s Timcast, and a Substack-based newsletter called Washington Reporter. The memo said that ‘many independent journalists’ also signed, but did not specify who they were.” Very Orbán-esque.

• And now he’s demanding that the government pay him hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money. The New York Times says: “President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims. It is also the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department.”

• Meanwhile, millions of the poorest Americans may go hungry next month due to the government shutdown. Politico says: “Millions of low-income Americans will lose access to food aid on Nov. 1, when half of states plan to cut off benefits due to the government shutdown. Twenty-five states told POLITICO that they are issuing notices informing participants of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — the nation’s largest anti-hunger initiative—that they won’t receive checks next month. Those states include California, Arkansas, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi and New Jersey. Others didn’t respond to requests for comment in time for publication.”

• Yep—California is on that list. The Los Angeles Times elaborates: “Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued a stark warning that food assistance benefits for millions of low-income Californians could be delayed starting Nov. 1 if the ongoing federal shutdown does not end by Thursday. The benefits, issued under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and formerly called food stamps, include federally funded benefits loaded onto CalFresh cards. They support some 5.5 million Californians. Newsom blamed the potential SNAP disruption—and the shutdown more broadly—on President Trump and slammed the timing of the potential cutoff just as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.”

• Meanwhile, Gov. Newsom is mobilizing the National Guard and pledging funding to help Californians in need. KTLA reports: “Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that he will deploy the California National Guard and state volunteers on a humanitarian mission to food banks in response to the ongoing federal government shutdown. ‘Trump’s failure isn’t abstract—it’s literally taking food out of people’s mouths. This is serious, this is urgent—and requires immediate action. Millions of Americans rely on food benefits to feed their families, and while Republicans in Washington drag their feet, California is stepping up once again to fill in the gaps,’ Newsom said in a statement. The National Guard will not be acting as law enforcement; instead, it will be supporting food banks, according to the governor’s office. The National Guard held a similar role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Newsom also announced that he is fast-tracking upwards of $80 million in state support ahead of funding delays.” Will that funding replace the lost SNAP benefits?

• There’s yet another outbreak of measles—a disease once considered eradicated—this time in Arizona and Utah. NBC News reports: “The nation’s second-largest measles outbreak this year is spreading beyond its epicenter along the Utah-Arizona border. Most of the known measles cases—123 as of Wednesday—are linked to a tight-knit community of twin towns: Colorado City, in Mohave County, Arizona, and Hildale, which is in Washington County, Utah. Within the past few weeks, there have been three cases in nearby, larger towns, such as Hurricane and St. George, Utah. Those exposures occurred in hospital and urgent care settings, according to the Southwest Utah Public Health Department. … Many of the clusters started in schools, said David Heaton, public information officer for the health department. ‘But now we have community spread,’ he said.“

• And finally … I am so sorry about all of the bleakness today. So, hey, here’s a story, with video, from The Associated Press about elephants playing with pumpkins! A snippet: “A baby elephant at the Oregon Zoo had more tricks than treats to show when handlers gave it a small pumpkin to play with during an annual fall event where giant elephants smash half-ton pumpkins. Weighing just 775 pounds (351.5 kilograms), eight-month-old Asian elephant Tula-Tu is about the heft of one of the giant pumpkins so (she is) is too small to smash them. Instead, zoo handlers gave her a small pumpkin to practice with. The little elephant dribbled the gourd around like a soccer ball, a video from the zoo shows.” Aww!

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