Trump said "That White House is a real dump"... supposedly...

That's what Golf Magazine reports. The context was "[c]hatting with some members [of his Bedminster golf course] before a recent round of golf," explaining why he makes so many trips away from the White House.

It sounds like a joke, the kind of sarcasm where you just say the opposite of what's true in an exaggerated voice. Even though it's perfectly explicable as an obvious joke, a White House spokesperson denies that he said it at all.

The Washington Post covers this tempest in a tin cup with the ludicrous "Chelsea Clinton defends staff at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. after Trump reportedly calls the place ‘a real dump.'" Why does Chelsea Clinton keep popping up, opining miscellaneously and sanctimoniously?

That's also very easy to explain: 1. She tweets (and what is tweeting but throwing out little opinions, disconnectedly, one after the other?), and 2. Reporters follow her and lazily appropriate her opinionettes and inflate them into things that have the appearance of newspaper articles.

What did Chelsea Clinton have to say on the topic of whether or not the White House is a dump? Well, she said nothing about the quality of the real estate, where she lived 2 decades ago, when she was a child/teenager. She's not really in the know about that.

What does the quality of the house mean to a kid? I think they're happier if they can jump on the furniture and make a mess. For all I know she contributed to making the place a dump. But it's been 16+ years since she lived there. Who knows the extent to which George and Laura and Barack and Michelle might have fixed it up or allowed it to decline? Not Chelsea.

But I can understand her thinking that if her family and not Trump had won access to the place, they'd have acted appreciative. She would not let it slip if she thought the place fell short compared to the $10-million "luxury fortress" in "the most elegant and historical building" where she lives in Manhattan.

She has a sensitivity to the feelings of the little people who do the voting and lack any hope of moving into a true mansion. Accordingly, her tweet is not about the real estate that is the White House, it's about people:

Thank you to all the White House ushers, butlers, maids, chefs, florists, gardeners, plumbers, engineers & curators for all you do every day https://t.co/rjQS9HeALG

— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) August 1, 2017

Because home is not a house, it's people.* That's what the Trumps don't know and the Clintons do.

I feel a poem comin' on:

Home ain’t a place that gold can buy or get up in a minute;
Afore it’s home there’s got t’ be a heap o’ livin’ in it;
Within the walls there’s got t’ be some babies born, and then
Right there ye’ve got t’ bring ‘em up t’ women good, an’ men;
And gradjerly, as time goes on, ye find ye wouldn’t part
With anything they ever used—they’ve grown into yer heart:
The old high chairs, the playthings, too, the little shoes they wore
Ye hoard; an’ if ye could ye’d keep the thumbmarks on the door....

Ye’ve got t’ sing an’ dance fer years, ye’ve got t’ romp an’ play,
An’ learn t’ love the things ye have by usin’ ’em each day;
Even the roses ’round the porch must blossom year by year
Afore they ’come a part o’ ye, suggestin’ someone dear
Who used t’ love ’em long ago, an’ trained ’em jes’ t’ run
The way they do, so’s they would get the early mornin’ sun;
Ye’ve got t’ love each brick an’ stone from cellar up t’ dome:
It takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it home.

_____________________________

* You know, the servants. The help.