Trump’s ballroom is no ‘monument’ — it’s an abuse of constitutional power

When Fox News host Jesse Watters asked Donald Trump about his motivations for undertaking the planned nearly-billion dollar, 90,000 square foot ballroom project at the White House East Wing, Trump explained, “It’s a monument. I’m building a monument to myself — because no one else will.”

The controversial ballroom had been temporarily blocked by the lower federal courts, but now Trump has his critics exactly where he wants them: in the Supreme Court. Last week, the government asked the court to give the project a healing benediction.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress to guard America’s historic buildings, sued to stop construction of the ballroom, asserting that the president had resisted oversight in violation of federal law. The case is a test of executive authority for the Roberts Court that has largely given its imprimatur to the president’s agenda. It also presents the justices with yet another challenge to one of Trump’s signature initiatives.

Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times, is understandably worried that Trump’s “controlling the House, the Senate and tacitly the Supreme Court — could bring about the end of America as we have known it.”

The ballroom project, undertaken without the consent of Congress, was started as a mega-venue for state dinners and other big events. Under Obama and Biden, such happenings were held in outdoor tents. 

The administration’s lawyers have since reshaped its claims about the project, stating that its main goal is to improve White House security with the addition of an underground military complex. Solicitor General D. John Sauer........

© The Hill