I love a good heist movie. Oceans 8, Oceans 11, Oceans 12. The Italian Job. All of them. A great time watching the detailed level that they have to get into in order to make things go right, to play Robin Hood — taking from the rich to give to the poor. Television shows have also catered to viewers who like the thrill of the planning — hit shows like Alias, Mission Impossible, Sopranos, Leverage, and more recently shows like The Mandalorian were all about trying to get hold of an object.
Imagine, however, that the “heist” isn’t about returning something to the rightful owner. And that the heist in question is performed by perhaps the lamest criminals on earth. Welcome to the Trump administration.
There is one problem. You see, items given to the White House and items that are created for the White House are not the property of the administration to hand out as exit gifts.
The American people are used to the Trump heist of anything that has value. I’d say this was brazen, but then again, across the way in Washington D.C. some are trying to forgive sedition so, I guess it is just the new Republican normal.
Note: while many tweets identify the man as Peter Navarro, those with sharp eyes contend it is Ron Vara, and the confusion issue is common (because they are the same). Regardless, theft from the White House is still, well, theft.
The White House normally returns items to museums for the next administration to choose which ones to display. It is… always possible the proper method to return an item to a museum is just have an administration flack pull it off the wall and use one hand to walk into the street with it. I know when I want to move items that belong in national museums that is exactly what I do.