10/28/2026
The race is on to see which can go up faster, consumer prices, rent, healthcare costs or the president’s 300 million dollar ballroom. Nothing signals a “Let them eat cake” level of indifference from the ruling class than tearing down big wet chunks of the nation’s most historic building to construct what is sure to be a tacky monstrosity where the president can shake down foreign dignitaries and corporate titans in comfort next to the buffet tables within arms reach of the chafing dishes full of chicken piccata. You know he’s going to cover everything in fake gold leaf, right? We’ve all seen the pictures of his pre-presidency Trump Tower Penthouse. Fake fur rugs, gold trimmed moldings andmirrored ceilings, the man has the interior design sense of Tony Montana. I can’t wait for the Architectural Digest video on YouTube.
President Trump has picked a strange time to go all in on desecrating the nation’s house by turning it into the lobby of the Bellagio. If you remember, the president secured his second term, and thus the ability to make renovations, by promising to lower prices on groceries and gas. He was going to replace Obamacare with a bigger, better, more affordable healthcare system that would have red and blue states chomping at the bit in anticipation of open enrollment. Ten months in and inflation is still rising steadily, consumer prices just had their biggest jump since January and that revolutionary healthcare plan was really just the concept of a plan, in reality premiums are about to spike and trigger a national case of sticker shock. A chief executive who still had the ability to feel shame would probably care about the optics of firing up the bulldozers and leveling the White House to build an event space. Instead the president spends his time showcasing the architectural drawings for the cameras and dreaming ofthat first time he’ll be able to slap on a tux and welcome the delegation from Belarus for an evening of well done meat and dancing.
If you want to know why Democratic Socialism has a growing appeal, especially among the young, look no further than the former East Wing. Gutting the nation’s ancestral home to build a wedding venue is something an out-of-touch oligarch would do, it’s something an out-of-touch oligarch is doing. Oblivious rich guy nonsense like Trumps quarter billion dollar ballroom is why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders staging rallies that fill arenas and Zohran Mamdani is leading in the polls. The growing discontent with the billionaire class is palpable, and predictable. Harnessing the power of the government to enrich yourself, your friends and family has ended poorly, historically speaking, a number of times. Ask the supposed author of “Let them eat cake”. If Marie Antoinette were alive today I bet she’d have some radically evolved views on income inequality.
A gaudy ballroom may seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but not if you take into account what it represents, unchecked power. Trump didn’t think anything of tearing down a huge section of the White House to build a pet project. He doesn’t think anything of canceling SNAP benefits during a government shutdown and he doesn’t think anything of openly talking about circumventing the constitution to try and secure a third term. Every power grab is one step closer to damage that can’t be undone. Trump has already wreaked untold havoc on our institutions and norms and it’s long past time to take that power back, because trust me, it’s a lot tougher to rebuild a democracy than it is the East Wing.
