The White House ballroom will never be built [View all]

The White House ballroom will never be built
Trump can't focus long enough, even on his $400 million passion project

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published December 19, 2025 6:30AM (EST)


(Salon) In October, Donald Trump traumatized all true patriots by tearing down the East Wing of the White House. The move, he claims, will clear the way for a ballroom for holding large events that are typically held in tents on the South Lawn. A debate immediately arose online over whether or not the next Democratic president should tear down the ballroom or keep it, albeit with the necessary extensive renovations to remove all the tackiness Trump brings to any project.

Two months later, it increasingly seems that such discussion was a wasted effort, as the chance this ballroom will actually be built is rapidly disappearing. Perhaps it could have if Trump had delegated the management of the project to someone competent, but that’s not what he did. Instead, the famously lazy and disorganized president decided to blow off his actual governance duties in favor of micromanaging a construction project he is incapable of handling. Finishing the ballroom in the next three years would be difficult for anyone, but it’s quickly becoming clear it will be nearly impossible for the famed real estate tycoon to pull it off.

The whole thing is a too-perfect symbol of Trump’s second administration: They are very good at breaking things, but they don’t know how to create anything of value.

....(snip)....

We have no reason to believe that his ballroom plans are any different: lots of talk with limited ability to deliver. Yet it does seem Trump has started to absorb the uncomfortable realization that he is a mortal human being. At nearly 80, he’s started to “joke” about his unlikelihood of getting into heaven. This might account for why he has grown so focused on redesigning the White House; he see it as a way to leave his mark so that people will remember him, no matter how much they wish not to, after he’s gone. ......................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/12/19/the-white-house-ballroom-will-never-be-built/