Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner raises the issue of gun violence in America, including the ease of access to firearms that kill thousands each year. There are also questions about lax security at the event in question and what the Secret Service did to protect President Donald Trump and other key officials who were attending.
But instead of focusing on these issues, Trump and Republicans are arguing the shooting justifies the construction of his gaudy White House ballroom, an infamous slush fund for corruption.
“What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Sunday.
This is false. Virtually nobody but him has been calling for the new White House ballroom.
He added, “This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House.”
Echoing Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the incident meant it was “time to build the ballroom.”
In a letter to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is suing to block the construction of the ballroom, the Department of Justice is demanding that the suit be dropped. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said in the letter that if that doesn’t occur, the department will ask the courts to throw out the suit and use the shooting as justification for doing so.
Republican members of Congress clearly got the memo.
Appearing on Fox News, House Speaker Mike Johnson said, “The ballroom will be a solution for this because it will be on the most secure compound in the world, it won’t have hotel rooms above it, and it’ll have 7-inch-thick glass, for example, on the windows. So it’ll be a very safe environment to do events like this. We need a place, we have needed a place like that, and the president keeps pointing it out.”
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York told Fox Business the incident showed that “a ballroom is imperative.” And Republican Rep. Michael Rulli of Ohio told the network, “We gotta build that ballroom as soon as possible.”
The ballroom has never been about security, and the Republican argument does not pass the smell test. After all, Trump has hosted events at dozens of venues that aren’t the White House, including his frequent parties at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
The ballroom is Trump’s attempt to maul the existing White House structure, which is owned by the American public, not him. Courts have ruled that the construction project exceeds his presidential authority, and the process was sanctioned and approved by Trump-picked cronies at every step along the way, without little independent oversight and public input.
What we know of the financing for the project involves shady donations from individuals and corporations seeking to sway the president on other matters, meaning the opportunities for bribery run rampant.
Aesthetically, the plans Trump has shown for the ballroom reveal the further growth of the gaudy, gold-plated design that he has installed in other parts of the White House, turning a symbol of American democracy into an echo of Trump’s signature Las Vegas-style sensibility.
Trump and other Republicans are avoiding the obvious connection between the shooting and gun violence, continuing the GOP’s embrace of the guns-everywhere ethos of extremist organizations like the National Rifle Association.
But claiming that the shooting means Trump needs a bribery-soaked ballroom is on another level.
Published with permission of Daily Kos
UPDATE (Karoli):
Geraldo Rivera has entered the chat
And here is Trump himself pretending anyone could use the ballroom just like Mar a Lago for weddings and even White House Correspondents' Dinner. Just so the press can be cozier, I guess.
