President Donald Trump makes Democrats behave unreasonably and fly into overblown rhetoric. That talent, if it can be called such, has been on display since Trump’s decision and fast action to knock down the East Wing of the White House and build a modern ballroom in its place.
Former first lady Hillary Clinton accused Trump of “destroying” the White House. Her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, said Trump was taking a “wrecking ball to our heritage.” Others leaped at the opportunity to describe the physical demolition as a metaphor for his supposed demolition of the Constitution. President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, called the ballroom project “corruption at its core.”
There are legitimate reasons to quibble with the manner in which Trump acted. He cut through red tape to get the project started. By law, most federal buildings in Washington, D.C., must submit plans for such additions or renovations to the National Capital Planning Commission. The White House did submit plans to the commission, but did not wait for them to be approved.
A quick look at past commission practice shows why this was necessary. In 2014, after a man jumped the perimeter fence and into the White House, plans were submitted to install higher, more secure fencing. It took over two years for the commission to complete its environmental reviews, and construction did not begin until 2019. Presidential terms are four years long. It is absurd to wait five years for permit approval.
Trump’s decision to bypass the commission was legal because the White House is exempt from needing NCPC approval. But Trump’s unilateral demolition gave Democrats all the excuse they needed to cry foul. “He has found time to demolish the East Wing of the White House so that he can build a ballroom where he can be celebrated as if he was a king,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffiries (D-NY) complained.
But veterans of the Biden or Obama administrations, who are no fans of the current president, say a new, larger room was needed. The State Dining Room seats only 140 guests. The East Room seated about 200. But a typical state dinner can have 300-400 guests. This has meant world leaders being hosted at the residence of the supposed leader of the free world in tents on the South Lawn and forced to use porta-potties. It was an embarrassment and needed to end.
Trump’s 90,000-square-foot ballroom will accommodate approximately 650 guests at a cost of $350 million. It is being paid for entirely through private donations, and this is also cause for some disquiet, but not for the excessive alarm raised by Democrats. They cry corruption at Trump soliciting funds, but the administration has posted a list of all the donors, including Amazon, Apple, Caterpillar, Meta, Microsoft, and T-Mobile. Like all corporate giving to the federal government, donations for the ballroom are undoubtedly made to buy favor from the recipients. No one is, therefore, secretly buying influence. They are doing so in public. And all the corporate donors have given and are giving money to the Democratic Party as well. It is an unseemly sight, but it is, if anything, a more upfront version of how Washington has always worked, or at least for a long time.
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Trump is far from the first president to add an architectural legacy to the White House. Thomas Jefferson added the east and west colonnades. Andrew Jackson added the North Portico. William Howard Taft built the first Oval Office. Richard Nixon converted FDR’s swimming pool into what is now the press briefing room. These alterations are made sometimes as needed and sometimes somewhat whimsically. The East Wing was itself only created as a cover structure to hide the construction of an underground bunker during World War II. It is not a structure filled with historical significance.
History will vindicate Trump’s ballroom if the Democrats don’t demolish it when they get the presidency back, as many are insisting they should. Trump’s building doubtless ministers to his ego, but it is also a utility, a modern, dignified space where America can host allies in a dignified way. Far from “destroying” the White House, Trump is expanding it and raising its stature as the residence of a true world leader.