The editorial board from the Washington Post is defending the 90,000-square-foot ballroom currently under construction at the White House.
The board let its opinions known in a piece published Sunday, stating the ballroom is needed and President Donald Trump is being needlessly vilified.
“In classic Trump fashion, the president is pursuing a reasonable idea in the most jarring manner possible. Privately, many alumni of the Biden and Obama White Houses acknowledge the long-overdue need for an event space like what Trump is creating,” the board wrote. “It is absurd that tents need to be erected on the South Lawn for state dinners, and VIPs are forced to use porta-potties.”
The board continued by pointing out the capacity of other event places in the White House — 140 in the State Dining Room, 200 in the East Room.
The ballroom will be able to accommodate close to 1,000 guests.
“The next Democratic president will be happy to have this,” the board wrote.
Many have spoken out against the ballroom, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.); former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and late-night host Stephen Colbert, per a report on Fox News.
“The people’s house is basically being sold to the highest bidder,” Jean-Pierre said on ABC’s “The View.” “It is corruption at its core.”
The editors countered by starting, “Prominent Democrats have become vocal this year in calling out their party’s lawyerly obsession with process, which combined with a not in my backyard (NIMBY) mentality, has prevented a place such as California from building a high-speed rail project that its voters approved by referendum in 2008.”
The board also explained that the White House is not bound by the regulations others are. And the project would not happen if Trump was not at the helm.
“If the president had gone through the traditional review process.
The blueprints would have faced death by a thousand papercuts,” the board wrote.
The topic of funding the $300 million was also addressed, including Trump touting he has “raised $350 million from private donors.”
A list of 37 donors were released on Thursday.
The list includes “Apple, Amazon, Comcast and Lockheed Martin” as well as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Post.
The list has raised a few eyebrows.
“It’s very concerning to see them on this list for a project where they don’t have any intrinsic interest,” said Claire Finkelstein, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Finkelstein founded the school’s Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law.
Finkelstein added she is eager to learn more about what the companies were told.
“You don’t want the administration to be a shakedown organization, having the ability to go to private corporations and demand that they turn over money for pet projects,” she said.
The editorial board also pointed out that Trump is not the first president to make changes at the White House.
“Trump joins a long list of presidents who have left their imprint on the White House. Theodore Roosevelt replaced greenhouses to construct the West Wing. William Howard Taft constructed the first Oval Office in 1909. Richard M. Nixon converted a swimming pool into the press briefing room in 1970,” the board wrote. “The modern East Wing wasn’t even built until World War II to cover up an underground bunker. Harry S. Truman gutted the White House interior and added the balcony that bears his name. Purists decried it. Now it’s a hallmark.”
The board said the White House needs to remain fluid — along with the country itself.
“The White House cannot simply be a museum to the past. Like America, it must evolve with the times to maintain its greatness,” the board wrote. “Strong leaders reject calcification. In that way, Trump’s undertaking is a shot across the bow at NIMBYs everywhere.”
IJRIJR
