Teddy Roosevelt built the West Wing and added bathrooms. Woodrow Wilson built the Rose Garden. Franklin Roosevelt built the East Wing. Harry Truman gutted the entire Executive Mansion. Jimmy Carter added solar panels. Gerald Ford added a swimming pool. Barack Obama added a basketball court.
Every president has left his mark on the White House – a building that, in addition to belonging to the American people, is also a home to the First Family. But despite all those past renovations (which were at taxpayer expense), Democrats and the liberal media are now in full meltdown mode over President Donald Trump using personal donor funds to add a ballroom to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Construction crews began dismantling the East Wing on October 20 as part of the long-planned, $200 million project to finally give the White House a large gathering space. Until now, presidents have had to use tents to accommodate big events.
The Trump administration explained in July the necessity of this project: “The White House State Ballroom will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.”
Currently, the White House is “unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance.” The construction will end with a stunningly beautiful room that can host up to 999 people.
The need to create a larger space to hold state dinners and other functions is well-established. In 2009, a Wired magazine reporter said the existing White House facilities were “smaller than… expected.” In 1990, President George H.W. Bush had to move a signing ceremony for the Americans With Disabilities Act to the South Lawn because it could not accommodate the anticipated number of attendees.
Nevertheless, Trump Derangement Syndrome induced a hysterical reaction when footage began circulating of crews tearing down the East Wing to begin construction.
“Trump is demolishing the White House to build a $300 million ballroom paid for by his billionaire pals. But that’s not all,” socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) incredulously wrote on X. “He is demolishing the Constitution. Demolishing our health care system. Demolishing our democracy.”
Another group of left-wing lawmakers likewise suggested sinister motives in Trump accepting private donations for the project. Five Democrat Senators, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) accused the National Park Service’s nonprofit trust, used for fundraising purposes, of becoming “a vehicle for politicized fundraising, influence peddling, and donor access to President Trump, amid his effort to pay for and build his $300 million ballroom at the White House.”
“We are concerned about the risk of quid-pro-quo arrangements in which large corporations get backroom favors from the White House and President Trump gets his multi-million-dollar ballroom — all while American families face rising prices during a government shutdown,” the senators bemoaned.
But these left-wing senators are being hypocrites – for years they have wailed about the “rich” not paying their “fair share.” Now private corporations are paying money to renovate a public building which will be enjoyed by many for years to come, and Democrats are apoplectic.
The hypocrisy doesn’t end there. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Trump, whom she lost to in the 2016 presidential election, saying, “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.”
But Hillary and her husband Bill most certainly saw the White House as their house when they resided there for eight years, infamously renting out the Lincoln Bedroom to top donors, turning this sacred room into a fundraising vehicle. As Tim Graham of NewsBusters.org further points out, “President Bill Clinton turned the White House into an intern sex den” and “the Clintons were caught trying to steal $28,000 worth of donated furniture as they vacated the house in 2001.” (The Clintons argued they didn’t know donated gifts to the White House belonged to the American people, not themselves.)
Liberals are also deceitfully eliding the fact that many presidents have made major changes to the White House with no manufactured outrage. An undated entry on the White House Historical Association website affirms this point, stating, “every president and first lady has made changes inside the White House but in very different ways.”
The last “major renovation” occurred under President Harry Truman, something many social media users have pointed out. Truman “completely gutted and rebuilt the White House from the inside,” the Historical Association notes. Other upgrades have also occurred in the 21st century.
In 2008, Congress approved a plan to spend $376 million upgrading infrastructure in the White House, which began in 2010 under the Obama administration. It also included demolition and excavating, as is normal for upgrading a massive complex.
The real issue, of course, is that the left reflexively opposes anything Trump does, even if it involves private money being used for the public’s benefit. The truth is that Trump is building a beautiful new ballroom without costing taxpayers a dime – precisely the opposite of how past First Families like the Clintons used the mansion for their own personal benefit.
Democrats’ issue isn’t the ballroom; that’s an objectively sensible and long-overdue project. Their real problem is that their public enemy number one is doing it – and getting a better deal than anyone could have imagined.
AMAC Newsline contributor Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
What’s the Democrats problem. No taxpayer money us being used, just donors. Vast improvement was needed for proper representation of the government for the world. As usual, past improvements and “oops”, I thought the gifts were mine, totally being ignored. Go President Trump! Keep up the cleaning of the government.
Democrats are not Americans, just Democrats. Listening to them talk about their opposition as anti-democratic, deplorables and fascists is almost laughable. It’s they who are engaged in genocide and tyranny, not their opposition. Enough already!
Instead of writing the article he could have just had a synopsis it says that liberals hate Donald Trump! The person he is everything he has done everything he has accomplished they hate! They hate it even more that he’s modifying the White House at his own expense. A good Democrat would burn taxpayer money for that. They hate everything you stand for. And the feeling is mutual, I hate everything Democrats stand for. Because they don’t stand for anything they are just against everything. Quite a platform to run on isn’t it? Good
Petty vindictive comments only label the Democrats and their media as envious and will further their irrelevance.
The reason the democrats are going viral over this. The dems are suffering from TDS. From jealousy and hatred for anything Trump or MAGA. They are using it to get the shut down off the front page. The MSM never mentions the closure unless it’s to say why is Trump in Asia. Everything Trump does they obstruct or tear it down. The biggest thing with the ballroom is. Obama wanted this but couldn’t raise the money. So we the taxpayers paid for his 376 million basketball court. Trumps name will be forever linked to this ballroom, like Lincoln’s name is added to the Lincoln bedroom. That Bill and Hillary rented out close to 1,000 times and made millions. Trump is building it with his own money even if all donors would drop out. For what he has endured from the left he is entitled. In my lifetime I have never seen such obstruction and division in this country. I feared it when Obama became president. The man was raised by a radical communist father. That influence is strong. He never talked about his white mother or grandparents. He created a divide and Trump 45 tried to get the country United again. Then we got Obama 3.0 and the divide intensified by 1,000%. Then number 45 became 47. And every American should be grateful for that. Because all the stink that has come out, all the lies, fraud and grift from the progressive dems since Obama can no longer be unseen nor unheard. No matter how long they scream about the ballroom. Trump has been open about it. And their headlines are nothing more than lies, for all to see.
I guess the Democrats are upset that they can’t control President Trump’s money as they have with taxayer’s money.
Of course they would go nuts. It’s President Trump, after all. They need to get a grip on reality, and themselves. Any Democrat making renovations would be cheered. But since it’s Trump, it has to be bad. He’s just the man to do it, with his building experience.
I just love the fact that their panties are in a wad over this. DJT is the man who stands up to them & ignores their whines. Thank you, President Trump!!!
Getting SERIOUSLY sick of the dems temper tantrum that has been non-stop since 2016. What’s next, they DEMAND President Trump take his salary and NOT donate to charity? He needs to tell people that breathing in Oxygen is really, really great for your health..then the liberals will start wearing gas masks and hauling tanks of some other air mixture around on their backs..and we can watch them die off. What a bunch of babies.
This is Trump at his finest. He’s like a magician making the Lefties look at one hand as a distraction, knowing they always take the bait.
Brilliant!!
The radical liberals (there is nothing Democrat about them) will always melt down about anything President Trump does or says no matter how good it is for our nation. They hate our Constitution and any other laws. They hate we, the people and they hate anyone who dares to stand in their quest to turn us into a communist hell-hole where they rule forever! They are haters with no ideas of what to do about any issue. All they want to do is get rid of Trump. They are the face of Satan who is trying to end our way of life.
I don’t have a problem with the renovation. It didn’t cost the taxpayers a dime and Trump is even adding his own money to the expense. Leftist idiots have no standing.
Obummer probably used the basketball court to entertain his CCP buddies. Yeah, right!
The Clintons wanted the furnishings to hide evidence of Billy’s sexcapades, or maybe it was just because of their greed.
I am not surprised at the democrats outrage. President Trump has made them all impotent banshees carrying on over nothing. The democrats have had it their way for many decades now they can’t stand to lose control. I love President Trump.
I wonder if Democrats will enjoy dining in this soon to be beautiful ballroom during important meetings. Just saying!
C’mon Hillary!!!
You defended your felony rapist hubby when he was running amock all throughout the House of We The People doing illicit sexual things to interns and just about any other female he deemed worthy of defiling.
If the dumba$$ liberals are bellyaching about something President Trump is undertaking, then DJT is putting common sense into operation, and it’s FUN to watch the snowflakes have a meltdown.
Bernie Sanders exists to tear down the wonderful things President Trump is doing for our country. He is a blight to politics. And he needs to politely shut-up.
Why don’t they just say thank you Mr. President. That’s all the F- bomb can come up with is terminal TDS.
So I say libs get over it. Libs are against anything that bears the Trump name attached to it.
Surprising they used quid-pro-quo. Oh, that’s right, That’s how the Democratic party leadership does business.
I think the Democrats are putting the final nail in their coffins. People with common sense see White House improvements as a good thing. Glad his millionaire friends are being so generous. We appreciate it!
Just another effort by the dems to turn ugly rhetoric into votes. They look and sound more like disconsolate rabble every day. Someone needs to compare the attention they pay to every waking moment of the President’s life to the attention they pay to their constituents and the nation they allegedly serve.
Just one more of the near endless list of Trump’s mega and MAGA Promises Made Promises KEPT (Something no other politician since Reagan, has done – putting America and Americans FIRST).
And what makes everyone of Trump’s incredible and successful accomplishments that put America-FIRST, and benefits We the People, is the FACT that each one them simply RUINS the pathetic lives of the corrupt, lying, hateful, NOTHING TO OFFER Democrats (aka America’s ENEMIES WITHIN).
And America (and leaders and the people around the world are LOVING IT.
TRUMP IS GENIUS. (TIG)
I kind of am enjoying watching the Democrats disintegrate in front of our eyes. They accomplish nothing but misery for the nation while they are hopefully in their death throes — before they collapse in their own sewage rather than bring their perfidious brand of Communism to OUR country.
A beautiful new ballroom addition to the White House and it isn’t costing the tax payers a penny, what is not to like. If Truman and Kennedy were alive today they wouldn’t recognize today’s left wing democrat party.
Do you remember when all of those high-profile democrats said they wouldn’t get the “Trump” vaccine, then they did?
I haven’t heard one of them say they wouldn’t set foot in the White House ballroom.
I’m so glad DJT is calling it the Donald J Trump Ballroom. We’ll hear that name with every event held there – except on CNN, MSNBC and the other losers.
Let ’em melt!
The Democraps are stinkers to the end.
If Trump purchased a box of toothpicks, the Democrats would be all over it.
Whats wrong with the damn Left, makes sense & why NOT
Same for Trump Arch too
If the dumbocrap Senators want to outdo President Trump, why don’t they donate THEIR salaries to charity or to paying the troops during this shut down? Huh? Hun? Hun?
Nothing new under the sun!
If ANYTHING is connected to the word “Trump”, even tangentially, the DIMMs will be against it! TDS is a real mental illness because no SANE person would automatically oppose everything just because Trump is involved. After all, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
TDS and BDS DemocRATS are the epitome of HYPOCRISY, LIES AND CORRUPTION.They are dying on the vine of INSANITY and will soon be on the ash pile of other historic FAILURES.
They have NO moral values (LGBTQ+rstuvwxyz etc.); NO ideas except to get Trump; NO vision except to destroy America; AND NOTHING TO OFFER HARD-WORKING TAXPAYING AMERICANS (EXCEPT CORRUPTION, LIES, HIGHER AND HIGHER TAXES, HIGHER INFLATION, MORE AND MORE REGULATIONS, MORE PAIN, MORE LOST JOBS, MORE MISERY, PERVERSIONS, OPEN BORDERS, ILLEGALS, HIGH CRIME, ETC. ETC……..).
They are concerned about a ‘pay for play’ deal. I’m not really concerned at all about that. Even wealthy Democrats have turned more toward Trump. He is doing good on the world stage.
The problem is the liberals are not able to get the graft and payments from the contractors for being able to do the work and they feel left out.:)
Descartes said, “I THINK, therefore, I AM.” Dumba$$ocrat$ say, “I B*TCH, therefore, I am a Dumba$$ocrat.”
Funny, that.
That’s what selfish communists does!
Are they actually tearing the East Wing down?
OR is it just the Car Park leading into it?
Isn’t the East Wing just the entrance to “The Ballroom?”
More “knee-jerk” responses to the President. Whatever it may be, the leftist loons cry foul, scream bloody murder and flip out. And its all part of NOT attending to the matters of state that actually need to be worked through. More politics, more division, more power plays and drama….across the board, across the aisle, ad nauseum. Does it ever stop?!
The left has long been deciding how we want our tax dollars are spent, now they want to control how Donald Trump spends his personal money. Who’s next ? Elon Musk?
Ya gotta love The Donald and despise the liberals.
Pass legislation, democrats no like new ball room. Will never be able to use or enter into new ball. Diaper rash now / un curable cry baby
Democrats just doing what democrats do. Pointing fingers at anything that helps beautify our great nation. They have nothing to offer, only their cheap criticism and hate.
So what’s new? The radical liberals melt down over everything President Trump does! Saw a clip of Kacklin’ Kamala last night in which she stated he was building it for his rich friends. Guess she doesn’t know this gives our presidents a place to hold events like inaugural balls, state dinners etc. He is not spending tax money unlike O’Bama who built a basketball court and unlike whichever president built the bowling alley!! Of course, they were both Democrats so they get no mention!
FYI, the WH was nearly entirely demolished in 1812 due to damage in the War of 1812 and was totskky rebuilt. Nearly nothing was done to the structure of the main building until Truman. The biography I read indicated that when they moved in they recognized that the building was hopelessly outdated(not originally wired for electricity nor planned for indoor plumbing) plus the structure, about 130 years old was rotting and ready to collapse. The total gutting was to replace all the rotting wood with steel girders and install proper electric and plumbing, l don’t remember abt AC but most likely. So this was not a whimsical remodel; it was to save the building. The other renovations seem either based on need for more space and utility, or due to the need of the President/family. I am happy that this renovation is being paid for by private donations. Since the $$ is being widely publicized it is harder to think that there are favors being asked. We would all know it. This case of extreme TDS deserves to be ridiculed.
If the Liberals would rather pay for it, tell them to donate or shut-up!
The Demoncrats need to get over their TDR symptoms before they become health threatening. Why do they do this? Don’t they know the American people see them for what they are: A bunch of whiny babies still crying after losing the 2024 election. Well, any American citizen who isn’t brain dead sees the Democratic party for what they are: Poor losers.
Let’s hope the democrats/communists continue their outrage and have an aneurism and are admitted to a closed down hospital. Sorry, my bad, just wishful thinking.
As the great Condoleezza Rice once said: ‘Socialism is the Politics of envy’. They prove it every day.