In a moment rife with symbolism, the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was imploded Wednesday morning in Atlantic City just a few weeks after Donald Trump vacated the presidency following his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. While the two events are unrelated (the Plaza has been an eye sore that the city has been trying to get demolished for years), the timing couldn’t be more poignant. And like all things Trump, getting rid of him was an opportunity for improvement.
Case in point: no one was happier than Atlantic City mayor Marty Small, who was so excited about finally getting rid of the Trump building that he told the Press of Atlantic City that he woke up at 4:13 in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. After the former president abandoned the deteriorating building in 2014, Small has been trying to get the building’s current owners to demolish it and bring in a new family-friendly attraction that doesn’t rely on gambling.
As for the rest of the country, people were definitely enjoying the symbolic moment of watching a building that once had Trump’s name on it crumble to dust.
nature is healing https://t.co/VoSjtsOWUZ
— shauna (@goldengateblond) February 17, 2021
https://twitter.com/NotHoodlum/status/1362054255490838532
Infrastructure Week is finally here. Trump Plaza Casino in Atlantic City is now gone. pic.twitter.com/JgL9WHSyBS
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) February 17, 2021
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1362041567524102144
Thar she blows.
Trump Plaza, Atlantic City, is no more.
How’d they do it? SPACE LASERS AND WINDMILLS. pic.twitter.com/TFLuzflhpq
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) February 17, 2021
Metaphor alert: next to the bankrupt Trump Plaza and Casino, just imploded this morning, remains the Atlantic City convention hall where LBJ accepted Democratic nomination in 1964 and touted the Great Society: pic.twitter.com/3Xoaj1Rdwe
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) February 17, 2021
After the pandemic significantly impacted the casino industry in Atlantic City, a major source of jobs for the local economy, the Trump Plaza implosion offered a chance to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club, which has been a much-needed haven for kids who don’t have access to remote learning tools. Unfortunately, a charity auction where you could bid to blow up the building was abandoned over safety concerns, and the hotel industry found others way to support the Boys and Girls Club by offering special room packages with a clear view of the building collapse, according to the New York Times.
The Times also spoke to people who witnessed the Trump Plaza being destroyed, and there was a recurring theme to the event. “For some people, it’s like good riddance,” a New Jersey woman said. “It’s like wiping all the memories, erasing everything with his name.”
(Via New York Times)