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[WaPo] Trump plans $200M overhaul of East Wing in significant change to White House

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Os Trigonum, Jul 31, 2025.

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  1. FrontRunner

    FrontRunner Member

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    #121 FrontRunner, Oct 25, 2025 at 3:25 PM
    astros123 likes this.
  2. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

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    Congress could write a bill, discuss in committee, make amendments and then vote on it, like we do many things. Like we did with the last renovation. Congress could even create a bipartisan commission to run it like they did in 1949, the last time they did a renovation this significant.

    But it isn't about representation. Trump is elected to represent us too. It's about the way he sneaks around like a little b****, actively lying to the public about his plans lest anyone try to get in his way.

    I wouldn't say I reflexively complain because it is Trump. But I will confess I give him no benefit of the doubt. I assume the most malignant of intentions of him. And maybe the knee-jerk defenses MAGA make for him are not really reflexive -- maybe it's just from extending him the benefit of the doubt and assuming his intentions are good. I don't see how anyone could think so, but starting from that premise, I can see how one might forgive or overlook or rationalize a lot.
     
    #122 JuanValdez, Oct 25, 2025 at 4:56 PM
    ThatBoyNick, jchu14 and Os Trigonum like this.
  3. Buck Turgidson

    Buck Turgidson Member

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    I'm assuming Os-Basso and the Wackos are totally cool with all this?
     
    #123 Buck Turgidson, Oct 25, 2025 at 5:47 PM
  4. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    LMAOOOOO

    I clicked through each of those slides and about fell out of my chair laughing when the following slides hit:

    1) Monica Lewinsky giving Bill Clinton a BJ in the Oval Office
    2) Obama hosting the Muslim Brotherhood
    3) Cocaine found in the White House and Hunter Biden's photo
    4) Joe Biden with a topless transexual in the Rose Garden

    How trashy are the Democrats who have resided there? WOW.
     
    #124 El_Conquistador, Oct 25, 2025 at 10:34 PM
  5. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Okogie Only Fan
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    WaPo weighs in

    gift link, works for everyone

    https://wapo.st/3J2IdIh

    Opinion
    Editorial Board
    In defense of the White House ballroom
    Donald Trump vs. the NIMBYs
    October 25, 2025 at 5:42 p.m. EDT
    Yesterday at 5:42 p.m. EDT

    The teardown of the White House’s East Wing this week is a Rorschach test. Many see the rubble as a metaphor for President Donald Trump’s reckless disregard of norms and the rule of law, a reflection of his willingness to bulldoze history and a temple to a second Gilded Age, paid for by corporate donors. Others see what they love about Trump: A lifelong builder boldly pursuing a grand vision, a change agent unafraid to decisively take on the status quo and a developer slashing through red tape that would stymie any normal politician.

    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. 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 State Dining Room seats 140. The East Room seats about 200. Trump says the ballroom at the center of his 90,000-square-foot addition will accommodate 999 guests. The next Democratic president will be happy to have this.

    Preservationists express horror that Trump did not submit his plans to their scrutiny, but the truth is that this project would not have gotten done, certainly not during his term, if the president had gone through the traditional review process. The blueprints would have faced death by a thousand papercuts.

    Fortunately for Trump, the White House is exempt from some of the required regulations that other federal buildings must comply with. Because it has become far too difficult to build anything in America. 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.

    Many homeowners have become red-pilled by their struggles to navigate the slow-as-molasses maze of government bureaucracy when they’re trying to make even modest renovations, such as adding a deck. D.C. alone has 70 historic districts and other random entities that can throw sand in the gears.

    Though the fundraising for the ballroom creates problematic conflicts of interest, two examples validate Trump’s aggressive approach. After a fence jumper got inside the White House in 2014, it was obvious that better perimeter fencing needed to be installed. But doing so involved five public meetings of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) over two years, as members took pains to ensure the fencing complied with environmental rules. Construction didn’t begin until July 2019.

    Or consider the modest Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial near the National Air and Space Museum. Congress authorized its creation in 1999. Architect Frank Gehry was selected in 2009. The NCPC rejected Gehry’s initial design proposal in 2014 before approving a revised plan the next year. The Commission of Fine Arts gave its approval in 2017. The memorial wasn’t opened until late 2020. By contrast, Eisenhower planned and executed D-Day in about six months.

    The president has said the project will cost $300 million but that he’s raised $350 million from private donors. The White House released a list of 37 donors on Thursday, including Apple, Amazon, Comcast and Lockheed Martin. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post.)

    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 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 White House cannot simply be a museum to the past. Like America, it must evolve with the times to maintain its greatness. Strong leaders reject calcification. In that way, Trump’s undertaking is a shot across the bow at NIMBYs everywhere.

    ​
     
    #125 Os Trigonum, Oct 26, 2025 at 12:19 PM
  6. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Okogie Only Fan
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    lol

    Fact check: Democratic leaders misleadingly snip White House press secretary’s ‘main priority’ quote out of context

    https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/politics/fact-check-ballroom-press-secretary

    excerpt:

    A reporter asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a Thursday briefing: “In addition to the ballroom and the Rose Garden patio, is the president looking at any other renovations or significant kind of projects here at the White House?”

    Leavitt responded: “Not to my knowledge, no. But he’s a builder at heart, clearly. And so his heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds. But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority.”

    So Leavitt was clearly referring to the planned new ballroom as Trump’s main priority for White House renovations. But on social media, various Democratic members of Congress have cut out the first part of the exchange to make it sound like she was saying the ballroom was Trump’s overall main priority.

    The House Democratic Caucus’s official account on the social media platform X posted a five-second clip of Leavitt saying only, “At this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority.” The Democrats wrote in the Thursday post: “So, Trump’s MAIN priority is a $300 MILLION ballroom? Not lowering costs. Not saving health care. Not reopening the government. Got it.”
    ​
    more at the link
     
    #126 Os Trigonum, Oct 26, 2025 at 2:40 PM
  7. Andre0087

    Andre0087 Member

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    :cool:

     
    #127 Andre0087, Oct 26, 2025 at 2:59 PM
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  8. Ubiquitin

    Ubiquitin Member
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    #128 Ubiquitin, Oct 26, 2025 at 5:34 PM
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  9. Deckard

    Deckard Blade Runner
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    I hope the next elected president demolishes the "ballroom" trump decided to build without consulting the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts, or the Committee for the Preservation of the White House - all being historical commissions trump would have been well served to have consulted. Visually, it will overwhelm the White House. trump has obviously forgotten that the White House belongs to the citizens of our country. It's not intended as a toy for him to play with, which he doesn't seem to realize, just as it wasn't his place to destroy an enormous amount of history in doing so.

    This monstrosity, this vanity project for trump's ego that he is imposing on the American people, is an abomination.



    [​IMG]
    The East Wing is where public tours of the White House began and where celebrities, dignitaries, and foreign leaders entered to attend state dinners and other receptions.

    [​IMG]
     
    #129 Deckard, Oct 26, 2025 at 5:43 PM
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  10. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    The East Wing was not that great, and the event space there only held 200 people. It's a horrible image to host state dinners in tents on the lawn. Trump is an expert at building gorgeous ballrooms at his clubs. He's the perfect person to take on this project. We need a ballroom befitting our great nation. You've probably never worked with a planning commission before -- I can tell you that they are a complete waste of time... and their efforts do not contribute to a superior outcome. Remember, "a camel is a horse designed by a committee."


    GOOD DAY
     
    #130 El_Conquistador, Oct 26, 2025 at 7:25 PM
  11. astros123

    astros123 Member
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    This is what happens when you allow donations to fund projects. It leads to crony capitalism where you have to bribe the king if you want anything approved @dobro1229 . Completely un American and the opposite of free markets.

     
    #131 astros123, Oct 26, 2025 at 7:36 PM
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  12. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    As a reminder, the natural gas company of Ukraine paid Hunter Biden millions for his "expert advice on the board"... and then Joe Biden authorized $200 billion of American taxpayer dollars for Ukraine's war. In case you wanted to learn about real corruption.
     
    #132 El_Conquistador, Oct 26, 2025 at 7:38 PM
  13. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Okogie Only Fan
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    "Completely un-American" does not follow from "when you allow donations to fund projects."
     
    #133 Os Trigonum, Oct 26, 2025 at 7:50 PM
  14. astros123

    astros123 Member
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    Joe biden didn't authorize 200 billion for Ukraine war. Congress pass aid which funded the war. Also its weird how you somehow never mention biden removing sanctions on Nordstream 2 which was the pipeline from Russia to Germany. This stopped the flow of gas through Ukraine which cost Ukraine billions and enabled Russia to maximize profits to EU.

    Again man my issue with you cultists is just how utterly stupid you people are. I sincerely wish any of you guys had half a brain and could challenge me.
     
    #134 astros123, Oct 26, 2025 at 7:54 PM
  15. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    By any objective measure I am smarter than you. I also have a very pleasant aroma (both clean and fragrant), in stark contrast to your body odor. You lose on both counts.


    GOOD DAY
     
    #135 El_Conquistador, Oct 26, 2025 at 8:00 PM
  16. astros123

    astros123 Member
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    You just claimed UKR paying Hunter to be on some natural gas company proved corruption when that had the opposite effect. Biden skipped UKR all together and allowed gas to flow directly to EU costing them billions. ( https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57180674 )

    Whats corruption is Don Jr being paid to be on some board and then less than a year the company got its first government in history



    This is what actual corruption looks like and not your dumbass low iq comparison
     
    #136 astros123, Oct 26, 2025 at 8:03 PM
  17. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    Are you referring to the pipeline that was later BLOWN UP? (likely with US contributions...) LOL, that's your argument? A new low for astros123. What a dunce!

    To think that a little foregone pipeline sanction money is equivalent to literally saving Ukraine's existence with $200 BILLION of taxpayer dollars? What a hilarious comparison.

    This is another CLEAN WIN for El_Conquistador. Take that L, amigo!

    GOOD DAY
     
    #137 El_Conquistador, Oct 26, 2025 at 8:06 PM
  18. astros123

    astros123 Member
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    That pipeline was costing ukraine tens of billions of dollars bcz it allowed gas to be exported directly to EU without first being transported through ukraine which was a major revenue generator.

    Again biden did not authorize 200 billion dollars for Ukraine. Funding was passed through congress. How in the world did you "win" when your dumbsss comparison proved the opposite of what to were claiming.

    I have no idea why I waste my time with you. You just spew the lowest iq talking points which can be proven wrong in seconds.
     
    #138 astros123, Oct 26, 2025 at 8:23 PM
  19. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    You lost bad. Nordstream 2 was blown the F up! That was your offset to the $200 billion Biden gave Ukraine? LMAOOOOO

    You lost, amigo. Really bad.


    GOOD DAY
     
    #139 El_Conquistador, Oct 26, 2025 at 8:27 PM
  20. astros123

    astros123 Member
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    No matter how many times you want to claim biden gave UKR 200 billion doesnt make any of it true. Congress passed funding on a overwhelmingly bipartisan basis

    Bottom line is UKR paying Hunter biden to be in some board did not have the desired effect as biden bypassed ukraine and allowed RU to deal with Germany directly.

    I sincerely wonder if you have down syndrome? If youre mentally challenged then just say so
     
    #140 astros123, Oct 26, 2025 at 8:41 PM
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