President Donald Trump couldn’t resist another victory lap, proudly rolling out glossy new images of his “Great Ballroom” as if the project were already a done deal — even though the massive East Wing overhaul remains tangled in court and nowhere near cleared to move forward.
In a Truth Social post Tuesday, Feb. 10, Trump shared two sweeping drawings of the proposed addition, declaring, “It is on budget, and ahead of schedule!”
“When completed, it will be the finest Ballroom ever built anywhere in the World, one that has been sought by Presidents for over 150 years — and now they are getting THE BEST!” he continued boasting.
Beside the point that a project that hasn’t started can be “ahead of schedule,” Trump dropped an astonishing new revelation.
“Because of its unprecedented structural, safety, and security features, it will also be used for future Presidential Inaugurations,” he added, as if he has any say in future inaugurations. But it also contradicts what he originally said about the project as a needed remodel to upgrade a small and aging White House ballroom,.
Presidential inaugurations have been held at the Capitol since 1829, according to the Library of Congress, where “inaugurations usually take place on the west front of the U.S. Capitol.”
But prior to that, they were also held outside, but on the east steps. Former President Ronald Reagan was the first to use the west front for a presidential inauguration, and they’ve been held there ever since.
The Library says the U.S. Constitution does include the inaugural oath but not the location for the inauguration.
A furious response to Trump’s post quickly followed.
“Additional proof that Trump doesn’t understand separation of powers OR the symbolism of the US Capitol as the location of inaugurations,” a Threads user pointed out.
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Clearly holding it at the Capitol brings two branches of government together for the symbolic event.
“Who is he to say future presidents want to be inaugurated there? Probably in his mind the matter of crowd size on the Mall would be eliminated! Plus, how is a pile of rubble ‘on target’? Dementia grasping tightly,” another Threads user proclaimed, referencing Trump’s sour grapes over how few people attended his first inauguration in comparison to past presidents.
Trump spent years whining and complaining about the official estimate from the National Park Service on the crowd size that day. He even brings it up to this day.
“Presidential inaugurations will be at the Capitol so the general public can view should they choose. Not just corporate donors bribing the incoming administration,” Threads user Jerry Walks Again chimed in.
Others had a different take on what Trump is trying to do with his latest post on his “Great Ballroom.”
“None of this is real,” this Threads user stated.
Then added, “There is no approved project, no congressional funding, no permits, no historic-preservation review. Presidents can’t just redesign a National Landmark. Inaugurations are public ceremonies at the Capitol. If this existed, there would be documents—not adjectives. This is marketing copy built on lies.”
And that “marketing copy” might just be the point of the president’s post, according to critics who contend Trump is worried about the upcoming ruling in a lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation against Trump’s destruction of the East Wing.
The National Trust filed suit on Dec. 12 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia contending that the demolition of the East Wing was illegal. The organization is asking the court to stop the construction project “until the government complies with the law by going through the legally mandated review processes, including a public comment period.”
That court ruling is expected this month, according to ABC News.
When Trump first announced he was planning to build a massive 90,000 square-foot ballroom last spring, he said the cost was $200 million and that MAGA donors would pay for it. By October the cost had soared to $300 million and by December the initial price tag had doubled to $400 million.
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As the cost of the project continued increasing, Trump homed on a renovation project at the Federal Reserve headquarters building in Washington as his fight with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell escalated.
The President has been carping about the pricey remodel for months now and blaming Powell for the $2.5 billion price tag.
In a recent interview on Fox News where his “marketing” campaign continued he went at it again.
“I’m building something right now at the White House, one of the greatest ballrooms so desperately needed anywhere in the world for a fraction of what this guy’s doing,” Trump crowed.
ML Daughterty said it best, “I wish every living president, and any family of former presidents, would rebuke his claims that presidents for the past 150 years have longed for a ballroom. I know it’s petty but I’m so sick of trump lying about every single thing.”
