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Trump ballroom to be a lasting term legacy

By: Susan Page
USA Today

..... For all their furor, the executive orders President Donald Trump has signed can be overturned by the signature of his successor. If and when Democrats are back in control in Washington, the laws the Republican controlled Congress has passed at his behest can be repealed.
..... But a 90,000-square-foot ballroom planted on the east side of the White House?
..... That will be here to stay.
..... Whatever Trump's political legacy turns out to be, in the first six months of his second term he has moved to leave a lasting imprint on the White House complex.
..... Supersized flags raised on new 88-foot poles on the North and South lawns stretch a bit taller than the White House ileitis.
..... The iconic Rose Garden designed by Jacqueline Kennedy has been paved over with what Trump admiringly calls a "very white" stone, making it more resort patio than leafy retreat.
..... The Oval Office has been festooned with gilt and gold on the fireplace and the walls and even the ceiling. "You know, we handle it with great love and 24 karat gold," he boasted to vising Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
..... And the ballroom looms as the biggest project of them all, and one that is hard to imagine reversing. Construction of the $200 million structure is scheduled to begin in September, [2025] with financing that the president says will come from himself and "patriot" donors. He promises it will be completed in time to begin celebrating before his lease on the property expires January 20, 2029.
..... If the second-floor addition to the White House residence in 1948 is universally called the Truman Balcony, it seems more than likely that future presidents will be holding state dinners and other fancy affairs in what will forever be known as the trump Ballroom.

Renovating the real estate, remodeling the set

..... Perhaps it's no surprise that a president who came to prominence as a real-estate developer and reality-TV star would be eager to put his stamp on his surroundings.
..... He has renovating the grounds and remodeling the office where he misconducts the business of the presidency, often in front of TV cameras streaming the scene live.
..... "They've wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years but there's never been a president that was good at ballrooms,: eh said in response to a question posed the other day by USA Today's Josy Garrison. Trump noted that his golf resort at Turnberry in Scotland has a new "incredible" ballroom and added: "I'm good at building things."
..... His inspiration? there's a clear resemblance to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida club and voting address. There. the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom was completed in 2005, with his wedding to Melania Knauss the first event. The room features a reported $7 million in gold leaf and crystal chandeliers.
..... The new White House ballroom also will include crystal chandeliers, as well as coffered ceilings, arched windows, Corinthian Columns and room for 650 dinner guest, more that triple the 200 who can now be accommodated in the East Room.
..... Trump;s love of the regal may have been forged at age 6, when he sat with his Scottish-born mother to wast the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London. In his book "The Art of the Deal," he called it one of his earliest memories.
..... His father "was very brick-and-mortar," he later said, but his mother "loved the ceremonial and the beauty, because no one does that like the English."

Among presidents, not the first, but the most

..... Not everyone is enthusiastic about Trump's redesigns. Critics complain he has turned the rose Garden into a parking lot and the Oval Office int a sea of bling. Memes on social medial ridicule the new ballroom; one portrays it as a giant McDonald's. "What's next, a spa?" one septic posted on the platform X.
..... Still other presidents have made significant changes to the White House, often prompting protest from traditionalists worried about the cost and the aesthetics John Adams, the second president and first resident, is memorialized by a blessing etched on the fire place in the State Dining Room. "I Pray Heaven To Bestow The best Of Blessings On This House Ann All that shall hereafter Inhabit it": it reads. "May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof."
..... But he didn't order the inscription of the quotation, taken from a letter he wrote to his wife, Abigail Adams. That was done by Franklin Roosevelt in 1945.
..... Thomas Jefferson added colonnades. Andrew Jackson the North Portico and Theodor Roosevelt the West Win, to provided the Oval Office for presidents and space for their staff. FDR oversaw construction of the East Wing to cerate offices for the first lady and conceal the constitution of an underground bunker.
..... (The Presidential Emergency Operations Center, dubbed PEOC, was where vice President Dick Cheney and first lady Laura Bush were hurried taken after the 9/11 terror attack in 2001.)
..... But none of those match the number of changes Trump has launched and their scale. His engagement is also notable, including a surprise visit August 5 [2025] to the roof of The White House to take "a little walk" and view the area where the latest additions will be built.
..... Consider this: The ballroom's square footage not only dwarfs the current East Wing. It's also nearly triple the size of the West Wing. It's two-thirds larger that the 55,000 square feet of the White House itself, - all six floors, combined.

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