Jamelle Bouie is a columnist for The New York Times. In its hardcopy version, his column in the Sunday, October 4, 2026, edition of the paper was titled as follows: "All The Money Belongs To Trump." If you click that link, you should be able to read the entirety of what Bouie has to say - and that should be true even if you don't subscribe to The New York Times. Do be advised that a different headline will be presented to you, if you do click that link. The online column, though, is the same one I read in the newsprint version.
The point that Bouie wants to make is this, pointing to a basic failure in our current president's understanding of the job (emphasis added):
Trump’s attempt to seize spending power from Congress is not just about his preferred policies; it is also about his effort to etch himself into the nation’s built landscape with new structures and monuments. Hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in taxpayer funds are flowing to the president’s ballroom and triumphal arch, among other supposed beautification projects. This is true despite the fact that Congress has yet to make a specific appropriation for Trump’s gaudy revamp of the nation’s capital.
But much of the trouble involves the president treating the public treasury as his own to use as he sees fit. Trump rejects any distinction between himself and the office he holds. The presidency belongs to him, as does the nation itself. (This helps explain why he felt he could remove journalists from the White House. In his mind, they are in his house, accountable only to him.)
And if it all belongs to him, then who is to say that he can’t decide what he wants to spend? Who has the right to tell him anything at all?
As I believe almost everyone actually understands, the nation does not "belong" to our elected president. The White House is not the president's house. The White House is our house. It belongs to us - to the people of the United States of America.
Maybe our current president is suffering from dementia, and truly doesn't understand his role as president. Some have been suggesting that, recently. Maybe he's just a grifter, elevated to high office by what I have labeled a "mistake" on the part of the people. I, personally, find that explanation more plausible. Maybe there is some other explanation.
The explanation is not the main thing to focus on, however - at least in my opinion. When somebody comes into your house, and then starts making radical alterations, without even giving notice, much less asking permission - and when someone starts spending your money for things that haven't been discussed with you, or authorized, you can, politely, try to get whoever that person is to start acting properly.
And if that doesn't work, what then? Well, that's when you throw the bum out!
Image Credit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House
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