Backlash surrounds Trump’s plans for a White House ballroom - Judith Bellmunt discusses the implications.
On 20 October, the Trump administration began demolishing the White House’s East Wing, home to the First Lady’s office, and East Colonnade, its connecting passage. This comes after Trump stated that the construction of the new ballroom would not “interfere with the current building - it will be near it, but not touching it”.
The White House said the ballroom’s construction is expected to be completed by 2029, before Trump’s second term ends January of that year. “The symbolism is he’s not leaving,” comedian Bill Maher said, “That’s what bothers me about it. Who puts in a giant ballroom if you’re leaving?”
Trump did not seek approval from the National Capital Planning Commission as required by law. He also fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, an independent agency that was planning on reviewing the project.
The new ballroom designed to be 90,000 square feet is expected to dwarf the White House which is 55,000 square feet. Experts argue that a ballroom for 1,000 people, Trump’s intended capacity, does not usually require more than 20,000 square feet. This leaves 70,000 square for other purposes that the White House has not specified.
The necessity for the ballroom is confusing with the largest banquet room in Washington D.C, Walter E. Washington Convention Center being 52,000 sq m.
The White House has raised $350 million to build the ballroom. The list of all donors is public except three corporate donors the White House did not disclose. These include Amazon, Apple, Google, HP, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Booz Allen Hamilton, Union Pacific Railroad, Palantir Technologies, the Lutnick family and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
Meanwhile Trump has cut funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which gives food stamps to 42 million low-income Americans, as the U.S. Senate passed a deal to reopen the federal government and has sent it to the President after 42 days - the longest shutdown in American history.