The U.S. government shutdown is impacting thousands of federal workers and crucial services, but as the closure continues and the blame game between Democrats and Republicans plays out, one thing that hasn’t shutdown is the construction of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful ballroom” at the White House.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom took note of it and posted a hilarious meme of Trump, of course in all-caps Trumpian style, as the doomed French monarch Marie Antoinette, which has since gone viral with more than 2 million views and 22,000 reposts.
“TRUMP ‘MARIE ANTOINETTE’ SAYS, ‘NO HEALTH CARE FOR YOU PEASANTS, BUT A BALLROOM FOR THE QUEEN!’” Newsom wrote above a hysterical meme of Trump’s face superimposed on the body of Antoinette dressed in full 18th century garb and wig.
Antoinette became an example of callous and selfish lavish luxury while the French people were going hungry and was eventually executed.
Newsom’s team didn’t stop there with the cut throat meme, for nearly 24 hours, the governor’s official X page used the embarrasing AI generated photo as their avatar. Deepening the humiliation for anyone who happened upon the page but missed the earlier post.
View on Threads
The hilarious posts sent social media into overdrive.
“Gavin Newsom’s Press Office is ruthless lol,” wrote one user on Threads to yet another savage post from Newsom’s team.
“Dude is righteously diabolical 👏🏼👏🏼,” praised another.
“OMG look at the profile picture 😂😂,” noticed another.
And, while thousands of people found the humor in Newsom’s troll game, Trump’s MAGA base was hysterical with some claiming it’s a “serious threat” to Trump.
“This is a threat to @POTUS , & @FBI should investigate Governor Newsom because we all know what happened to Marie Antoinette on October 16, 1793.,” X user Dan C.F. Always remember 10 September pronounced.
A Trump opponent weighed in, “Just like the President likes to make jokes, it’s also refreshing that the Governor also likes jokes. Get over it.”
But Dan C.F. wasn’t backing down, “Making jokes is one thing, and I’m OK with it, but posting a serious threat like Gavin Newsom did, I am not OK with that. He knows what he meant when he posted that.”
And Newsom wasn’t either. He doubled down with another clever detail in a repost to a screenshot of a headline from People Magazine that read, “White House Will Continue Construction of 90,000-Square Foot Ballroom During Government Shutdown”, the caption spelled out another humiliation for Trump.
Crooked. Lunatic. Obsessed. With. Nonsense. (CLOWN)
While there’s a lot to laugh about in this social frenzy over Newsom’s meme and MAGA outrage, the government closure is a serious situation.
It closed at midnight Wednesday after Congress was unable to reach a deal to continue funding the government. That means federal workers won’t receive paychecks, even if they’re essential workers and are required to remain on the job, such as air traffic controllers and the U.S. military personnel.
Trump and members of Congress, though, will continue receiving a paycheck.
The showdown and shutdown happened amid a battle between Democrats and Republicans over soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies and looming health care cuts in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Republicans rammed through earlier this summer with no support from Democrats.
The sweeping legislation extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and pays for other administration priorities. But it does so by cutting more than $1 trillion from health programs in the largest such federal rollback in history.
An estimated 10 million people will lose their health insurance and millions more will see their premiums skyrocket. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will add $3.4 trillion to the national debt.
The GOP is accusing Dems of causing the impasse, but Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the House.
Democrats won’t agree to the temporary spending measure unless Republicans agree to extend health care funding and confirm Trump will not withhold spending already approved by Congress.
As the growing crisis causes increasing concern, Trump continues building his massive golden ballroom at the White House. He announced the massive $200 million plan to renovate the State Ballroom in late July.
Construction is underway with Trump and his donors covering the steep price tag. The project is expected to be finished before Trump’s term is over.
