It's Come Undone

The transportation Secretary announced that his deparment will now be managing Union Station. For those of you who are unfamliar with the DC Metro area – and especially for those of you who are convinced all crime figures were faked and that gangs of thugs – not the ones wearing balaclavas and National Guard uniforms but rather the ones who don’t exist in reality – are roaming unchecked – Union Station is the grand old station that is home to Amtrak. If you’re from NY, you can liken it in grandeur to Grand Central Station.

The Justification

It seems that Trump “[He] wants Union Station to be beautiful again. He wants transit to be safe again. And he wants our nation’s capital to be great again. And today is part of that.” Further justification is that the federal government can do it for a fraction of the cost. So, because one individual has decided that a major part of the rail lines along the East Coast is not as nice as he’d like it to be, it will now be under the control of the federal government.

Who’s Messing With the Crime Stats?

When any of my family travels by rail on the East Coast, we travel on Amtrak – through Union Station. There are shops, restaurants, a very large waiting room, and gorgeous architecture. It’s an open and inviting public space with people coming and going about their personal business at all hours of the day and into the evening. To suggest that Amtrak is crime-ridden, or that Union Station is a malignant pit akin to the Mos Eisley Cantina is unspeakably vile.

It’s Come Undone …

So, not only has Trump gilded everything he can lay his hands on at the White House, poured concrete in the Rose Garden, brought in umbrellas from Mar-a-Lago, and announced that the very thing the White House needs is a Ballroom – all while finding time to alienate our allies and turn back the clock on renewable energy inatiatives – he is now going to impose his singular vision on this bustling example of Mission Moderne style. And, he’s going to do it based upon a personal whim, with all of his supporters falling right into line. Amazing.