From the Annals of Perfect Symbolism: An Architecture Critic Looks at Four Seasons Total Landscaping

Justin Davidson, writing for Curbed:

Four Seasons Total Landscaping joins the slabs of forlorn border wall and the graffiti-encrusted bathroom in Lafayette Square as the real monuments of an administration intent on ugliness and pathetic façades. Maybe the choice of venue was a not-at-all understandable mix-up. Perhaps it was sabotage on the part of a minion who had had enough. There’s speculation on Twitter that Trump announced an event at the Four Seasons (hotel) before it had been booked, and aides had to scramble to find any venue that made his words true. None of these explanations makes sense, because the site was simultaneously too perfect to be accidental and too elaborate to be intentional. An administration marked by episodes of sordid sex, wishful thinking, and mass death took place next door to a dildo-and-porn store named Fantasy Island and across the street from a crematorium. If you were hunting for such a symbolically rich stage, how would you even Google it?

Here’s a timeline of the tweets that seemingly led to this. Truly beyond parody that this obscure, junky-looking parking lot in northeast Philly was the last gasp of the Trump reelection campaign. You couldn’t make up something more fitting if you tried, and I can’t get enough of this story.

★ Sunday, 8 November 2020