As Donald Trump sparks more national outrage over his demolition of the East Wing of the White House, one of his favorite guests is ignoring the controversy.
On Friday’s episode of Real timeBill Maher gave a flippant response when guest Michael Steele mourned “the destruction of a symbol of this government” after the Trump administration demolished the historic structure to make way for its ballroom.
“Are you talking about the White House? Oh, it’s a building, Mike. It’s a building.”
Steele argued that Trump “took it down without accountability,” explaining: “It’s a building, maybe to you, but to a lot of Americans, it’s not. And I’ll tell you, as a young kid growing up in Washington, when my dad took me that way. buildingit meant something to me when I was 10 years old. It meant something to me to grow up in a town where everyone in this country came to protest and cried and screamed and laughed. So this building, for me, was my childhood.
Maher rebutted: “First of all, I agree. I said he should have gotten the permits. But that’s the way he does things. I agree. But it’s just a building…that part of the building hasn’t always been there. Presidents change buildings. Nixon built a bowling alley, Obama turned the tennis court into a basketball court. I can’t get mad at everything, Mike, I just can’t not. “
The facade of the East Wing of the White House is demolished by work crews October 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“The symbolism is that he’s not leaving. That’s what bothers me. Who set up a giant ballroom if you leave?” he added. “OK, but that’s the problem, not the building.”
Panelist Kate Bedingfield argued that the destruction is an example of Trump’s behavior being “impulsive, reckless, driven by his own desire for self-aggrandizement.”
“If that was the only thing he did in that area, then I would tell you it’s just a building,” Bedingfield said. “But that’s not the case. This is part of a way of governing that is tearing apart some of the institutional foundations of this country, and that’s frightening.”
Maher then had to eat his own words after his writers apparently didn’t get the memo about his lack of concern about the demolition of the White House, joking on his “New Rules” segment: “Now that President Trump is redecorating the White House, building a ballroom, and hosting brunches in his new Rose Garden Club…”
After an uncomfortable pause, Maher continued: “He has to start a new series called Queer eye for the bossy guy.”
Photos taken Thursday appear to show that the Trump administration not only demolished the East Wing — which was built in 1902 and renovated in 1942 — but also the East Colonnade, which included a movie theater that hosted screenings for decades.
The White House defended the project, pointing out that it was privately funded and that many past presidents had made changes to it. The area is being cleared to make way for Trump’s planned $300 million ballroom, with a list of corporate donors including Comcast and Amazon providing funds.
