\n<\/p>\n
Upon navigating to WhiteHouse.gov<\/a>, the official website for the happenings and history of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, users are met with a banner at the top of the page, \u201cDemocrats Have Shut Down the Government,\u201d it reads, with an active timer tick-tick-ticking away<\/a>, counting, to the second, how long the shutdown has been going on<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of an estimated 1.4 million government workers, roughly half are considered essential workers, and are currently performing their jobs without pay, while the other half have been furloughed. The government isn\u2019t working at capacity, and the executive branch would like you to know exactly who they\u2019d like to blame<\/a>.<\/p>\n Apparently, online trolling falls under the \u201cessential\u201d category, as a longstanding page about the White House grounds\u2019 history<\/a> was updated recently with renderings and statements about Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s demolition and rebuild<\/a> of the East Wing to make way for a very large ballroom, as well as a timeline of \u201cmajor events\u201d in the building\u2019s history.<\/p>\n The events highlighted on the page make sense at first, beginning with George Washington selecting the future site of the White House in 1791, the 1814 burning of the building and subsequent rebuilding, and so on. It\u2019s mostly porticos and additions from there, welcoming the Rose Garden and the Briefing Room to the party, until you scroll to 1998, when the definition of \u201cmajor events\u201d takes an abrupt turn in the first entry after Richard Nixon\u2019s bowling alley addition in 1973.<\/p>\n \u201cBill Clinton Scandal: President Bill Clinton<\/strong>‘s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky<\/strong> was exposed, leading to White House perjury investigations,\u201d the caption beneath an archival photo of Clinton and Lewinsky in the Oval Office reads. \u201cThe Oval Office trysts fueled impeachment for obstruction.\u201d<\/p>\n The next entry takes us to 2012\u2019s \u201cMuslim Brotherhood Visit,\u201d describing President Barack Obama<\/strong> (informally referred to only as \u201cObama\u201d) hosting members of \u201ca group that promotes Islamist extremism and has ties to Hamas\u201d and describes it as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n Lest you think the timeline is all scandal, users next see a recap of the biggest, most memorable headline to come out of 2020. If you think that\u2019s the Covid-19 pandemic, try again. Of course, it\u2019s Melania Trump<\/strong>\u2019s South Lawn tennis pavilion, which \u201cunifies the tennis court, Children\u2019s Garden, and Kitchen Garden, enhancing recreational opportunities for First Families.\u201d If that\u2019s not major, it\u2019s hard to say what is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n