Aceco, a Maryland demolition company, finds itself in a public relations nightmare sparked by people offended at its role in tearing down the White House East Wing to make way for President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom.
Aceco, a Maryland demolition company, finds itself in a public relations nightmare sparked by people offended at its role in tearing down the White House East Wing to make way for President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom.
So many people posted unflattering messages about the firm — giving it one-star reviews — that Yelp temporarily disabled further comments. Posts included: “Traitors to the United States,” “How dare you destroy part of OUR house,” and “Oops. Bad move tearing down the People’s House.”
Demo companies aren’t accustomed to coping with the social media fallout that comes from becoming an unwitting player in the nation’s politics and culture wars. So what does Aceco do now?
Calls and texts to Aceco were not returned, but Roger Hartley, dean of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs, speculated that the company could say: “We were asked, and since we do this [work], we said ‘yes.’ We don’t pass judgment on somebody for what they want to do. If the president of the United States calls and says it’s OK to do this, we’d typically do it,’ ” Hartley said.
Trump, a Republican, posted on Truth Social earlier this week that “ground has been broken on the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful White House Ballroom.
