The applications have been received, and the new-look Pentagon press—representatives of those publications that were willing to sign Pete Hegseth’s document of standards for state-approved journalism—is in. Gone are all the major news outlets, all the trade publications, even most of the old-school conservative media. In their place will be a motley crew of right-wing content creators and Trump-worshiping streamers: Real America’s Voice, Mike Lindell’s Lindell TV, the Gateway Pundit, the Post Millennial, RedState, and Tim Pool’s TimCast.

What kind of coverage should we expect from this hot new crew? Pool offers a clue: “Our access is mostly for general inquiries and interviews,” he said in a statement. “Should a story, for some reason, end up in our laps that may put us at odds with the Pentagon’s press policy, we will always prioritize the public’s right to know and transparency. However, given that we are not investigative reporters, we don’t expect to find ourselves in these circumstances.” Which is, of course, the whole point. Happy Thursday.

The Asbestos Wing

by William Kristol

Here in Washington yesterday, a fine new organization, the Society for the Rule of Law, held a conference on . . . the rule of law. The panel discussions were well attended, the speakers’ remarks excellent, the mixing and mingling at the reception afterwards was lively. The takeaway: One shouldn’t underestimate the speed and thoroughness of the Trump administration’s assault on the rule of law.

Meanwhile, just over a mile away, it was becoming obvious that one shouldn’t underestimate the speed and thoroughness with which the Trump administration was demolishing the entire East Wing of the White House. It’s expected to have disappeared into the literal dustbin of history by this weekend.

You’ll be shocked to learn that in this instance, as in so many others, Trump is breaking a promise. He had said in July that the existing White House wouldn’t be touched by his ballroom construction. “It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it. And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”

But that pledge by the President is no longer operative. Why not? Well, Trump explained yesterday, the East Wing “was never thought of as being much. It was a very small building.”

Very small is bad. Very big is good. And so Donald Trump decided that the small old East Wing would be summarily replaced by a big new ballroom.

What, you ask, will that grand structure be called? Did you have to ask? According to the pledge agreement sent to donors, they’ll be contributing to the construction of ”The Donald J. Trump Ballroom at the White House.”

The donors seem happy to help. The defense contractor Lockheed Martin is among the companies reported to have pledged at least $10 million. That sum is close to what the company spent in all of 2024 on federal lobbying. Lockheed, which takes in tens of billions in dollars of federal contracts, knows where its bread is buttered—and who in this day and age is doing the buttering. As Jalen Drummond, vice president of corporate affairs, said, “Lockheed Martin is grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and make this addition to the People’s House a powerful symbol of the American ideals we work to defend every day.”

The “addition to the People’s House” will cover 90,000 square feet and will dwarf the main White House.

Perhaps that’s appropriate. That old and sedate building was fit for an older Republic governed by the old-fashioned rule of law. But as the presentations at yesterday’s conference emphasized, it’s by no means clear that we still have such a government.

Abraham Lincoln captured the spirit of that old republican government in impromptu remarks to soldiers of the One Hundred Sixty-sixth Ohio Regiment, who stopped in front of the White House on August 22, 1864 on their way home from the war. Lincoln explained why the fight was necessary:

It is not merely for today, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children’s children this great and free government, which we have enjoyed all our lives. . . . I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has.

That was Lincoln.

Trump, on the other hand, as he sat Tuesday at his desk in his newly gilded Oval Office, looking out on his paved-over Rose Garden, not far from where he plans to build his new imitation of the Arc de Triomphe, said this: “We can never let what happened in the 2020 election happen again. We just can’t let that happen. I know Kash is working on it, everybody is working on it. And certainly Tulsi is working on it. We can’t let that happen again to our country.”

Unlike Lincoln, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to imagine himself a mere temporary inhabitant of the building in which he resides. He apparently doesn’t intend to allow for the defeat of the incumbent administration, and a peaceful transfer of power, in November, 2028.

But at least we’ll be allowed to watch Trump celebrating his triumph over the old republic along with his wealthy enablers in his palatial new ballroom.