Philadelphia's top prosecutor publicly fantasized about blowing up the White House ballroom and keeping the rubble as souvenirs — and the establishment press treated it like a weather report.
District Attorney Larry Krasner, speaking Tuesday at Philadelphia's annual slavery commemoration at the President's House in Old City, told attendees that Trump's newly constructed ballroom would be destroyed in an "official ceremony" and the pieces sold off.
"Just so we're clear, in an official ceremony, we're gonna blow it up, and we're going to give the taxpayers their money back by selling old pieces as paper weights," Krasner said. "And I will have one on my desk."
Several attendees applauded. At least one shouted that they "wanted a piece." If a Republican DA had stood at a podium and promised to blow up a Democratic president's building project, the word "insurrection" would be trending within the hour. Krasner gets a pass.
HotAir framed Krasner's rhetoric as a potential threat worth at least a Secret Service visit, noting it "crosses several lines of stupidity and insanity" even if it doesn't meet the Brandenburg v. Ohio imminence standard. The Washington Examiner buried the implications and played it straight, focusing on the event context and local reaction.
Krasner linked the ballroom — a structure in Washington, D.C., privately funded to provide secure space for state events — to a Philadelphia slavery exhibit that has no connection to it whatsoever. The two are separate structures in different cities. But Krasner promised the exhibit would outlast the ballroom and the Kennedy Center, should it bear Trump's name.
"There will not be a ballroom. There will not be a Kennedy Center renamed for a fool," Krasner said. He also called the president a "pain in the a**" and "the embodiment of hate, the embodiment of ignorance, and the embodiment of depriving people of their vote and education."
Not everyone in Philadelphia was cheering. Political strategist Lindy Li told the Washington Examiner: "Krasner is one of the single biggest disgraces from my beloved city. On behalf of my fellow America-loving Philadelphians, I'd like to apologize to the rest of our country for our shameful DA."
The slavery exhibit site has been contested ground since the Trump administration ordered the removal of original panels under the executive order "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History." Multiple lawsuits followed. The courts ruled the administration could replace the panels. New ones went up in July. Krasner told the crowd the original panels would return once "they had won."
A sitting district attorney — a man sworn to enforce the law — publicly calling for the demolition of a political opponent's property in a ceremonial explosion is not normal political rhetoric. It's the kind of thing that, from the other direction, gets you a visit from federal agents. The two-tier system isn't a glitch. It's the architecture.
The open question: Does any authority in this country still apply the same standard to both sides?
