President Donald Trump will likely name his new $300 million White House ballroom after himself, according to senior administration officials. Already, officials are referring to it as “The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom.” That name will likely stick, ABC News was told.
Trump has not publicly said what he intends to name the ballroom, but he is known for branding his construction projects after himself — and it appears this project will be no different. When asked by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce on Thursday if he has a name for his ballroom yet, Trump smiled and said: “I won’t get into that now.”
I’m with JV Last on this.I know it sounds like a low priority and maybe a waste of time. But as he explains it has great symbolic power:
The good news is this means that the next Democratic inhabitant of the White House can demolish the Trump Presidential Palace Ballroom and Casino and restore the East Wing and the rest of the White House grounds to their pre-Trump state.
I can already hear the normie objections.
- Tearing down the structure is a waste of resources. Once a thing is built, you keep it and use it.
- Making the Trump teardown a priority would needlessly antagonize Republicans.
- Where would President Newsom get the money for the project?
- The entire thing would be a distraction from the president’s agenda of making a Real Difference in the Lives of Americans.
As he rightly points out, after despots are gone, their monuments are purged.
Last writes:
If you leave monuments to authoritarians standing, then you encourage (a) resistance from the out-of-power revanchists and (b) future strongmen who believe they can permanently mark history.
Would his supporters be upset? Yes, of course. Who cares? At this point there’s nothing to be gained by trying to appease these people.
Last’s last point is the most important:
Undoing the authoritarian project is not a “distraction.” It is the single most important job of the next Democratic administration.
Real talk: “Undoing the authoritarian project” will be incredibly hard when it comes to salvaging the Department of Justice, dissolving ICE, reallocating DHS functions to more professionalized forces, making the District of Columbia a state (in order to safeguard the rights of its citizens), and reforming the Supreme Court.
The authoritarians are counting on this being difficult. They believe that the ratchet turns only one way. That they can do what they will and even in the unlikely event they are turned out of office this time, they can come storming back to finish the job.
It is maximally important to demonstrate—both to the authoritarians and those who oppose them—that the ratchet can go in reverse. That authoritarian gains are not permanent. That liberal society has the will to undo their grotesqueries.
I agree 100%. This one’s a lay up and it’s symbolically hugely important. They don’t have to make a huge deal out of it. Just do it and say they will collect small donations from individuals to rebuild the East Wing to its historical scale. I’m sure MAGA would squeal but because the monstrosity will be new and paid for by a bunch of billionaires and corporations nobody can say there’s any real reason to keep it. Get rid of it and purge the body politic of this monstrous gilded temple honoring tyranny and greed.