Donald Trump is once again driving the left into a frenzy — this time over renovations at the White House. Liberal commentators and media outlets are claiming he’s “demolishing” the place after videos surfaced Monday showing construction crews removing part of the East Wing façade. In reality, the work is preparation for a new, privately funded ballroom — but that hasn’t stopped the usual outrage machine from melting down over another Trump project.
Oh…did I mention it is “privately funded?” As in…zero taxpayer dollars? Yeah, so there’s that. Also, the facts of what’s going on here are much less boring and sensational than leftist Democrat rhetoric of “Trump’s destroying the White House!”
Yes, nothing screams “desecration” quite like building a permanent space so future presidents don’t have to host major events under canvas tents. By that logic, Barack Obama “desecrated” the White House when he added a basketball court.
But facts rarely matter to the outrage crowd. Even CNN’s Jim Acosta jumped on the bandwagon, apparently oblivious to the fact that nearly every president in history has made changes or additions to the White House grounds:
In reality, the East Wing that’s being worked on isn’t even part of the original White House. It’s a plain, functional office building added by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942—on top of a bunker, no less. There’s nothing “sacred” about it; it was never intended to be anything more than a practical expansion. For that matter, the current Oval Office isn’t original either—Harry S. Truman rebuilt it.
And let’s not forget Richard Nixon, who literally tore out the first bowling alley from the West Wing and installed another in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Somehow, the republic survived.
What Trump is doing is completely normal — well within the bounds of presidential tradition. Countless presidents have updated the White House to make it more functional, comfortable, or visually impressive. But predictably, Trump Derangement Syndrome-addled Democrats and their media buddies can’t resist turning routine renovations into another so-called “scandal.”
This has to be the most inside-the-Beltway meltdown imaginable. Picture the average working-class American trying to pay their bills while the media hyperventilates over a ballroom construction project. It’s laughable. Every time the press treats a non-story like the apocalypse, it only strengthens Trump’s hand.
When everything is “the end of the world,” nothing actually is — people stop caring. The endless outrage cycle has numbed the public, and judging by Trump’s rising approval numbers even during the ongoing government shutdown, that reality is already setting in.