Both fans and foes of President Trump see his presidency as something of a wrecking ball. Fans praise him for tearing down broken systems — like the federal bureaucracy or global trade — to build them anew. Foes see him as simply breaking things — like NATO or vital political norms. Then, this week, as if to drive the point home, he literally tore down part of the White House. My colleague Jess Bidgood writes more below.

I write the On Politics newsletter.

Washington has been breezy, bright and autumnal this week — the perfect backdrop for a stroll to the White House to watch President Trump’s swift demolition of its East Wing.

I could see the arms of two excavators, too tall to be hidden by the thick, white fence around the fresh construction site. Behind them, a cloud of dust obscured the clear air.

It wasn’t so long ago that Trump was promising that his plan to build a $300 million, 8,300-square-meter (90,000-square-foot) ballroom addition to the White House wouldn’t “interfere with the current building.” But, in fact, the entire wing will be razed.

Images of the demolition have rocketed around the globe, serving as a perfect Rorschach test for a deeply polarizing presidency.

“This is Trump’s presidency in a single photo,” wrote Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, on X. “Illegal, destructive, and not helping you.”

The project has left historians and architects deeply alarmed. The National Trust for Historic Preservation urged officials to pause the demolition until it could go through the “legally required public review process.”

Trump’s allies insist that the renovation shows a president shaking up Washington, just as he promised. Administration officials called the uproar a “manufactured outrage.”

“He’s the builder in chief,” the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said brightly on Fox News on Tuesday. “In large part, he was re-elected back to this People’s House because he is good at building things.”

Trump, ever the developer, has certainly spent a lot of time building things at the White House. He paved over the lawn in the Rose Garden to create a patio. He has added gold filigree to the Oval Office and ornate chandeliers to the Cabinet Room, remaking the White House with an indelible imprint of Mar-a-Lago maximalism.

“Thank you for having us at your home,” John Thune, the Republican Senate majority leader, told Trump on Tuesday, while commending him “for everything you’re doing to make this such a beautiful place.”

Trump is also, arguably, pretty good at tearing things down, including longstanding alliances — like the one NATO’s secretary general sought to bolster on Wednesday in Washington — and the guardrails intended to contain his impulses as he seeks revenge on his enemies.

“He seems to be upending all the norms that are associated with the presidency,” Matt Smith, a tourist from Lexington, N.C., observed after riding up to the White House on a Lime scooter. Smith, an independent voter who did not back Trump, had hoped to spend his trip to Washington visiting Smithsonian art museums — but with those spaces closed by the government shutdown, he settled for this particular spectacle instead.

“This is him physically doing it to us,” Smith said, “just to show that he can.”

White House officials have repeatedly said the ballroom will be paid for privately; Trump last week hosted a private dinner for donors, who may see a donation to the project as a way to curry favor with the president.

But this week, Trump suggested that he might use taxpayer funds, from a settlement with his own government, to pay for the demolition and the construction.

Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay $230 million to compensate him for the federal investigations into him — a situation with no parallel in American history. The officials reviewing Trump’s claims are his own allies and appointees.

“If I get money from our country, I’ll do something nice with it, like give it to charity or give it to the White House while we restore the White House,” Trump said. “We’re doing a great job with the White House. As you know, the ballroom is under construction.”

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Trump said he was cutting off trade negotiations with Canada

Trump said last night that he was terminating all trade negotiations with Canada, throwing America’s relationship with one of its closest trading partners into turmoil once again.

The move, the president said on social media, was motivated by an ad, which Trump deemed fraudulent, featuring former President Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs. The ad was taken out by the government of Ontario.

The U.S., Canada and Mexico have been preparing for a review of their shared free trade agreement, scheduled to be completed by next summer. In recent months, Trump has taken an aggressive stance toward Canada, imposing stiff tariffs and suggesting the country should be the 51st U.S. state.

U.S. poured cold water on West Bank annexation

Vice President JD Vance yesterday described a vote in the Israeli Parliament to annex the West Bank as a “very stupid political stunt.”

“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” Vance said as he wrapped up a visit to the country aimed at shoring up the cease-fire with Hamas. His words were echoed by Trump in an interview with Time magazine. “Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened,” the president was quoted as saying.

Vance also said that an international security force would take the lead on disarming Hamas, which has been one of the thorniest issues in mediating peace in Gaza.

My colleague Tyler Pager, who traveled with Vance to Israel, has a recap of the visit in the video above.

E.U. officials approved new sanctions on Russian natural gas and cryptocurrency firms.

A prominent N.B.A. head coach and current and former players were arrested in a case involving sports betting and rigged poker games.

King Charles and Pope Leo prayed together in the Sistine Chapel, the first time a British monarch and a pontiff have done so in centuries.

Dave Ball of the English synth-pop duo Soft Cell, known for the 1981 new-wave hit “Tainted Love,” died in London at 66.

China is on pace to surpass the U.S. in nuclear power by 2030.

Football: These five players at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup made a splash.

Formula 1: Cadillac’s team principal is hoping to bounce back after a disaster.

— The country’s first recorded wild mosquitoes were found by a bug enthusiast using a rope doused in red wine. Experts said the discovery showed how rapid climate change and globalization were changing Iceland.

Much of the cocaine coming from South America to the U.S. is carried in rickety fishing vessels and speedboats, but since the 1990s, traffickers have another method: submarines. Typically, the boats sit below the surface with a fiberglass cockpit just above to allow for navigation. They usually have a crew of up to four and can hold two tons of cocaine.

Ecuador, a conduit for much of the world’s cocaine, recently displayed some of the submersible vessels it has confiscated. Take a look.

What they’re watching … wherever they love baseball

This year’s World Series will have a decidedly international flavor (or flavour).

The Toronto Blue Jays go into Game 1 today as the underdog against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who look unstoppable.

It’s a huge moment for the Jays, Canada’s only Major League franchise, who’ll be squaring off against one of America’s most storied teams. They’re facing off at a tense time for U.S.-Canada relations, as Trump’s tariffs and threats have left Canadians fuming.

On the other side, the Dodgers’ two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani seems to be helping baseball broaden its reach. The audience for the postseason is up sharply, with more viewers in Japan and Canada.

Prăjitură turnată cu mere, a Romanian dessert whose name translates to “poured apple pastry,” features jammy apples sandwiched between layers of vanilla cake. Grate the apples and simmer them in their own juices for a filling consistency that’s irresistibly buttery.

The World is now four weeks old. Thanks for riding along with us. And thanks for the honest, hilarious, constructive feedback from Harare and Prague and Bogotá and Dhaka and Sarajevo and beyond. I read it every day.

Our audience team just shared a stat: The World has readers in — wait for it — 193 countries. (Shout-out to our reader in Tuvalu!) This is truly a global community. I hope you’re happy to be part of it. I certainly am.

In fact, I am somewhat surprised at how happy I am. I was a correspondent for 20 years. Features and deep dives were my thing. When the bosses asked me to host a daily newsletter, it felt a little daunting. A little risky.

But perhaps it was the opposite of risky. Have a listen to this great interview with Malcolm Gladwell, the author and journalist who, seven years ago, changed gears to start a podcast company. He argues that the real risk is not changing your career trajectory: “The risk is just keeping doing what you’re doing and expecting to have the same level of success.” Starting a new thing, he says, “strikes me as a response to a known risk.”

On that note, here’s Bobby “Blue” Bland to play us off with “Up and Down World.” It’s more up than down, I’d say. Just what we need.

Have a great weekend. — Katrin

Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

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