Jurassic Park, Sun Tzu and the East Wing

The reordering of the Republic is inherently spatial in nature, the demolition of the East Wing a seminal demonstration of that fact.

I've seen much of the other commentary related to the demolition of the East Wing to build a ballroom adjacent to the White House. It's ugly. The President plans to name it after himself. A third party entity is using donations from wealthy individuals and American corporations to fund construction. All that chatter ignores at least three lessons state and local leaders and those in opposition should take away from this episode.

They are learning

There's a great scene in Jurassic Park where Sam Neill's character clarifies the security of their situation while hunted by juvenile velociraptors.

Neill: "It’s just the two raptors, right? You sure the third one’s contained?"

Laura Dern: "Yes. Unless they figure out how to open doors."

Cue the raptor opening the door. This is the moment Drs. Grant and Sattler recognize the beasts are learning. And the rapidity with which the Administration planned the ballroom, employed contractors, and demolished the East Wing shows in vivid color this Administration is learning. Gone is the clumsy, inexperienced and often hamfisted administration of 2016-2020. The rapid demolition of the East Wing is not just a construction event — it’s a strategic signal. State and local practitioners fatigued from federal presence in their cities (LA, Chicago, D.C.) and federal actors hoping to retake power must recognize that this Administration has acquired new skills: speed, opacity, and spatial assertion.

They are at war

The parallels between Sun Tzu's revelations about war and the manner in which the Administration executed the East Wing demolition emerge as obvious. Let's review.

Speed is the Essence of War

"Speed is the essence of war, declared Sun Tzu, "take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness . . . strike him where he has taken no precautions." The East Wing demolition is a preemptive strike, spatial dominance executed before resistance can organize.

War is Ceaseless Change

Ret. Brigadier General Samuel B. Griffith in compiling the works of Sun Tzu noted, "Sun Tzu recognized the inherent difficulties, both intellectual and physical, and repeatedly emphasized that the nature of war is ceaseless change. For this reason operations require continuous review and adjustment." Commentators and analysts refer to the Trump Administrations MO as "Flood the Zone," or an unceasing flow of initiatives" designed to keep opponents on their heels. Flood the zone = ceaseless change - and that is a war tactic.

Deception and Surprise are Two Key Principles

Again quoting Griffiths:

All warfare is based on deception. A skilled general must be masterful of the complementary arts of simulation and dissimulation; while creating shapes to confuse and delude the enemy he conceals his true dispositions and ultimate intent. When capable he feigns incapacity; when near he makes it appear he is far away; when far away that he is near. Moving as intangibly as a ghost in the starlight, he is obscure, inaudible. His primary target is the mind of the opposing commander; the victorious situation, a product of his creative imagination. Sun Tzu realized that an indispensable preliminary to battle was to attack the mind of the enemy.

Critics often note this Administration's tendency to "lie," and spread misinformation (false or inaccurate information) and disinformation (false information intended to mislead). But again, recognize this for what it is: a war tactic, deception.

Mao Zedong learned this principle through the work of Sun Tzu, writing, "It is often possible by adopting all kinds of measures of deception to drive the enemy into the plight of making erroneous judgements and taking erroneous actions, thus depriving him of his superiority and initiative."

They are Building Parallel Systems of Governance

As we move forward with the Urban Theater we'll eventually start discussing what the new Federalism might look like. From the Center/Left of governing bodies we've seen Washington, California, Oregon and Hawaii form the West Coast Health Alliance in response to federal retrenchment around national health policy. With the demolition of the east wing we also see parallel systems of governance on display. In more ordinary times White House renovations would have to go through the budget process, GSA, federal contracting requirements, political input, and likely a dozen other entities. In this case, however, an NGO - the Trust for the National Mall - is managing the project and paying for it with donations from corporations and individuals. The current Administration has displayed a keen ability to deploy extragovernmental entities into its service with a private individual donating $130 million toward military paychecks in October, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute giving the Trump Administration an assist in trade policy.

Spatial Takeaways: What the East Wing Demolition Signals

These are not just political gestures—they are spatial assertions that redefine the choreography of governance.

1. Spatial Dominance as Strategic Signaling

• The demolition is a preemptive strike: a physical act that asserts control before resistance can mobilize.
• It reframes the White House not as a civic monument but as a personalized fortress, with the ballroom as a symbolic annex of power.

2. Opacity as Spatial Tactic

• The use of private funding and extragovernmental entities bypasses traditional oversight mechanisms.
• This is governance by proxy, where spatial interventions are executed without public process, budget hearings, or institutional friction.

3. Parallel Governance Architectures

• The Trust for the National Mall becomes a spatial instrument of federal will—an NGO acting as a de facto GSA.
• This mirrors the rise of shadow institutions: privately funded, publicly impactful, and spatially embedded.

4. Speed as Spatial Warfare

• The rapid timeline—from planning to demolition—demonstrates a learned fluency in temporal compression.
• This is not improvisation; it’s choreography. The Administration has mastered the rhythm of surprise.

A partial 'to do' list for subnational actors then looks like this:

1. Codify Spatial Transparency

• Urban Planning: Require public disclosure and review for any federally funded or NGO-led spatial interventions within city limits.
• Law: Pass ordinances mandating spatial impact assessments for federal or extragovernmental projects.

2. Activate Local Oversight Mechanisms

• Public Administration: Create interagency task forces to monitor federal spatial activity (construction, land use, security zones).
• Planning Practice: Map federal footprints and overlay with zoning, emergency access, and community assets.

3. Build Parallel Civic Infrastructure

• Community Organizing: Form local trusts or cooperatives to counterbalance federal proxy entities.
• Narrative Strategy: Use storytelling and visual identity to assert local ownership of civic space (e.g., murals, *naming rituals, public art).

4. Deploy Legal Countermeasures

• Administrative Law: Challenge opaque federal interventions via procedural claims (lack of NEPA review, bypassed procurement).
• Historical Precedent: Cite cases like Penn Central v. NYC or Kelo v. New London to frame spatial rights and takings.

5. Rehearse Spatial Resistance

• Movement Architecture: Treat spatial interventions as rehearsals for civic resistance—train communities in *rapid response, *documentation, and narrative framing.
• Communication: Develop dispatch protocols to signal, interpret, and mobilize around spatial events.

6. Institutionalize Civic Rituals

• Governance: Embed resilience rituals into city charters—*monthly spatial audits, public forums, symbolic acts of reclamation.
• Design: Use urban form (plazas, thresholds, signage) to encode civic memory and resistance.

*We'll cover more of these in detail as the Urban Theater's body of work progresses.