Don Surber
Trump's ballroom blitz
President Trump is more than doubling the size of the White House as he adds a palatial ballroom to the executive mansion. People magazine reported:
Construction for the White House ballroom is underway.
While speaking to reporters on Sept. 12, President Donald Trump shared that his planned ballroom—a 90,000 square foot, $200 million addition to the East Wing—is becoming a reality. Roughly six weeks after he announced the plans, the president showed off the construction trucks heading onto the White House grounds.
“Right there, you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get for about 150 years,” Trump said. “And it’s going to be a beauty. It’ll be an absolutely magnificent structure.”
A 90,000 square foot ballroom? Finally a place big enough for Edward Coristine.
According to Google AI, “The White House is approximately 55,000 square feet across its six levels, which includes the Executive Residence, East Wing, and West Wing. This area contains 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, and 16 family and guest rooms.”
The last change to the White House was Obama converting a tennis court into a basketball court. It was part of $376 million in changes at the White House made by Obama. Taxpayers paid for his customizing of the People’s House.
Trump and some donors are funding his project.
As with everything Trump does, including breathing, the DC press corps is angry, angry, angry.
Jennifer Rubin wrote, “A White House teardown ordered by a reckless child is the perfect metaphor.”
She billed herself as a conservative when she worked at the Washington Post.
The Bulwark reported, “We Will Tear Down the Trump Palace Ballroom and Casino.”
More true conservatives, eh?
When Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” he meant the 96-mile-long Berlin Wall that held the people of East Berlin hostage, not a ballroom built by a guy whom wackadoodle liberals don’t like.
Having private donors fund construction of the ballroom gives Donald Trump complete control of the project. Without having to kiss the rear of Congress to get the money, it can be completed in months not years.
It means he doesn’t have to beg the National Park Service for permission to build. It means he doesn’t have to consider DEI in letting contracts. It means he can, in the words of Larry the Cable Guy, get ’er done.
Best of all, Judge Boasberg cannot do a thing to stop Trump.
However, Reuters reported Trump will send plans for the ballroom for review by the National Capital Planning Commission, which is headed by White House staffer William Scharf.
People magazine pointed out, “The ballroom’s anticipated design is not unlike the hosting space at Trump’s Palm Beach mansion, Mar-a-Lago. Both are primarily characterized by gold details throughout—the chairs, the intricate details on the ceilings and the chandeliers.”
With Trump, all that glitters is gold.
Upgrade to paid
The press reports are fool’s gold.
CNBC reported, “Tech giant Alphabet is contributing $22 million to help build the White House ballroom under a legal settlement reached with President Donald Trump last month over his being banned from the company’s YouTube platform after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by his supporters.
“Images showing the demolition of part of the White House’s East Wing to prepare for building the ballroom triggered public anger this week.”
Saying Google’s company is contributing $22 million is like saying I contribute money to the IRS each year.
As for public anger, as if. Most Americans want the White House to be a world class facility. A grand ballroom added to his other changes should draw public support.
Late Wednesday, Trump decided to have the ballroom simply replace the East Wing. The much larger West Wing will remain intact.
NYT reported:
The White House is demolishing the entirety of the East Wing to make way for President Trump’s $200 million ballroom, a construction project that is far more extensive than he initially let on, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.
The tear-down should be finished by this weekend, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the plans.
The wing was gone by Thursday. Nevertheless, Politico reported, “A Virginia couple has gone to court to try to block President Donald Trump from proceeding with demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for a new ballroom.”
I expect Judge Boasberg to get the case and demand Trump build a time machine to get the East Wing back.
The East Wing was not part of the original White House. Teddy Roosevelt added it in 1902. I cannot find public outcry against that.
A republic that survived the Obama basketball court will withstand a ballroom nearly twice the size of the rest of the White House.
The Daily Beast screamed, “Devastating Poll Reveals How Much Americans Hate Trump’s White House Teardown.”
Oh no. Trump might not get re-elected.
Anyway, MAGA writers praised the construction project.
Kurt Schlichter tweeted, “In the last three days, Donald Trump has done more construction work, just at the White House than has been done in all of Pacific Palisades in nearly a year.”
This shows why you elect a man who made skyscrapers happen.
Michael Malice tweeted, “The reaction to Trump building a ballroom in the White House makes me hope he installs a shooting range in it next.”
I would prefer turning Obama’s basketball hoops area into a skating rink like the one he built in Central Park.
Cynical Publius tweeted, “A source close to the White House who has requested anonymity tells me that after Trump gets done building his Golden Ballroom, his next project is a Washington Monument renovation.”
Sadly, it was a joke.
Making the White House and the nation’s capital international showcases isn’t a joke. It is what presidents are supposed to do. |
