White House's East Wing partially demolished as work begins on $250M ballroom
theguardian.comThank god they got rid of fraud, waste and/or abuse.
And lowered the price of groceries
The GOP being mum about the razing (with zero outside review) of a building built during the administration of Teddy Roosevelt…to build a ballroom that only one man wishes for…is probably one of the more apropos events regarding our current affairs.
Glad the average American's tax money is well spent on servicing the public good
The source of funding is mentioned in the article.
The president is quoted as saying
Whether that is credible, and whether there is an obligation of financial transparency, is apparently too politicized to dig deeper for The Guardian.The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly.Being paid for by bribes means it will cost the American populace even more than the $250 billion sticker price.
The source for the source of funding is also mentioned in the article.
More accurately, the article quotes White House officials:
So far there's been 200+ days of statements by White House officials of the current administration to the press.Officials said it would be paid for by Trump and unnamed donors.Some of those statements have had questionable accuracy, some have been undeniably at odds with reality.
Apparently it's incredible that Biden wasn't a body-double his entire presidency but it's credible that "anonymous donors" are sponsoring a ballroom at the Whitehouse. I call this Schrodinger's presidency...
they cut down 250 year old trees for this when there exist simple reliable methods to transplant very large old trees
I wonder if now there will be an accident™, and the whole place will burn down and then they have no choice but to build something "better".....
edit:....temporarily in florida
NPR Morning Edition today reported:
01:45 “The National Capital Planning Commission would typically have a role in approving a project like this. But the newly appointed chair of that commission. A top Trump appointee names Will Scharf (sp?) said in September the commission doesn’t have jurisdiction over demolition. […] And the commission is currently closed because of the government shutdown.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/22/nx-s1-5581433/parts-of-the-wh...
Kind of fitting as the presidency has been radically reshaped in so many other ways.
I was upset at the destruction in Gaza and then I realized the pictures were of the East Wing.
You're telling me Trump is destroying the foundation of a centuries old institution to satisfy personal ego and fleeting desire? To be fair, that is the platform he ran on.
I am starting to lose trust in the safety of my tap water, but a ballroom would be a fun thing for a few hundred people to enjoy.
The East Wing is less than 100 years old. The White House is a living building in the same way that the Constitution a living document.
ok so only 100 years of precedent. Because really what did the US accomplish in the last 100 years?
Damn near bankrupted itself with tariff's that spawned a global depression, then Steven Bradbury'd itself to the head of the world order on the coat tails of the World War(s) cluster fuck?
I think you are missing a few things. Saved the world from fascism for one.
Waited to the last minute to pick a side, after a few million Russians cut the Germans in half, you mean?
Maybe "saved facism, on ICE, for the world, in order to bring it back later".
Fun thing about history, so many varied perspectives from different PoV's.
Here's hoping that doesn't happen, but the view from 3000 might look different.
The entire building was gutted in the 50s.
Not to be confused with Demolition of Democracy