President Trump has mentioned he needs to construct a “stunning ballroom like I’ve at Mar-a-Lago” — seen right here on December 31, 2022 — on the White Home.
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President Trump was getting ready to hash out the ultimate particulars of a commerce take care of European Council President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf course on Scotland’s western coast when he took a detour to boast concerning the cavernous room the place they had been sitting.
“You understand, we simply constructed this ballroom, and we’re constructing an amazing ballroom on the White Home,” Trump mentioned.
As Trump juggles a number of worldwide and home crises in his second time period, he’s additionally carving out time to place his aesthetic stamp on the White Home itself. And as an actual property developer turned commander in chief, Trump says he’s uniquely positioned to make a serious addition to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
“No president knew how you can construct a ballroom,” Trump instructed von der Leyen. “I may take this one, drop it proper down there, and it might be stunning.”
President Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meet within the ballroom of Trump’s golf course at Turnberry Scotland, on July 28, 2005.
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Trump has already made the Oval Workplace far more golden, added new medallions to the sunshine fixtures within the Cupboard Room, laid paving stones over the place the grass was within the Rose Backyard, and erected new flagpoles on the north and south lawns.
However there’s one factor he actually needs, that so far has been out of attain: a ballroom.
“We’re going to make and construct a ballroom, which they’ve wished for in all probability 100 years on the White Home,” Trump mentioned in Could on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“Now we have three or 4 completely different ideas and we’re working with nice architects,” Trump added.
President Trump factors to additions he has made to the sunshine fixtures within the Cupboard Room throughout a gathering together with his cupboard, together with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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The White Home says no last selections have been made, however aides speak about it when it comes to “when” and never “if.” Trump instructed columnist Miranda Devine that he thinks development may start in a few months.
“The president has a spectacular imaginative and prescient to construct an enormous, stunning ballroom on the White Home advanced, and discussions about how you can execute this plan are ongoing,” mentioned White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a press release.
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Trump’s ballroom quest predates his political profession
The White Home ballroom is one thing that Trump has been speaking about for no less than 15 years, actively pitching himself to handle the mission lengthy earlier than he ran for workplace.
“I used to be going to construct a ravishing, stunning ballroom like I’ve at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump instructed a gaggle of feminine athletes gathered within the East Room for a signing ceremony earlier this yr. “It was going to value about $100 million. I supplied to do it, and I by no means heard again.”
The ballroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Membership in Palm Seashore, Florida, as seen on March 15, 2016.
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That provide went to David Axelrod, who was, on the time, a senior adviser to then-President Barack Obama. “An middleman reached out and mentioned that (Trump) wished to talk with me,” Axelrod instructed NPR.
Trump’s name got here in 2010, in the course of a disaster. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig was spewing crude off the coast of Louisiana and Axelrod mentioned Trump was providing to assist. As soon as that scenario was resolved, Trump referred to as Axelrod once more, this time with one other provide.
“‘You understand, you could have these state dinners and you’ve got them in these little tents,'” Axelrod recalled Trump telling him. “And he mentioned, ‘You understand, I construct ballrooms. I construct the best ballrooms and you’ll come right down to Florida to see them.'”
Axelrod mentioned he did not actually know what to do with Trump’s proposal, so he handed it off to a colleague, and he mentioned he regrets not closing the loop.
President Trump within the Oval Workplace on June 5, 2025. He has overhauled the decor of the room with gold ornaments, extra framed portraits, and a replica of the Declaration of Independence.
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP
Trump needs a room that may maintain much more folks — and he hates tents
Trump hasn’t forgotten about that Obama-era slight. “I supplied to construct a ballroom,” Trump mentioned in 2016 at a marketing campaign occasion in Ohio. “They turned it down. I used to be going to place up $100 million to construct a ballroom on the White Home, as a result of having a tent just isn’t that good.”
Trump has mentioned he needs a ballroom that holds a thousand folks. The most important occasion area on the White Home now’s the East Room, which solely seats about 200 for dinner.
So, when the White Home wants extra capability for a state dinner, they go outdoor, often placing up massive fancy tents, full with flooring.
“You must make it so it would not appear to be you are simply exterior sitting on a garden … the decor with the flowers and the lighting and the chandelier, to tablescapes,” mentioned Deesha Dyer, who was White Home social secretary within the Obama White Home. “So, it is a fairly massive operation.”
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Visitors contained in the tent on the South Garden constructed for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on August 5, 2014.
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Visitors arrive for a dinner for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on the South Garden of the White Home on August 5, 2014.
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Gursharan Kaur, the spouse of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, speaks to President Barack Obama throughout a state dinner on November 24, 2009.
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President Obama’s first state dinner on November 24, 2009, for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was held on this tent on the South Garden.
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A White Home employees member units a desk in a tent on the South Garden of the White Home earlier than a state dinner on Could 19, 2010 honoring Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
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Musician Jon Batiste performs throughout President Joe Biden’s state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron, held in a tent on the South Garden of the White Home on December 1, 2022.
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President Trump held a state dinner for Australian President Scott Morrison within the Rose Backyard on September 20, 2019.
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There are a lot of examples of White Homes internet hosting state dinners in tents over the a long time. In current instances, Obama hosted a number of state dinners in tents, together with for leaders from India, Mexico, the Nordic nations, and for a summit with leaders from Africa. Former President Joe Biden held 4 of his six state dinners in out of doors pavilions.
To Dyer, an enormous ballroom feels extra like what you’d discover at a Hilton than the Individuals’s Home. And with restricted actual property, there is a threat that plopping a brand new everlasting construction on the South Garden may hinder the view of the long-lasting constructing.
“I am not that tied to custom, to be sincere,” mentioned Dyer. “However there’s a sure form of cheesy that may form of be put in there and that will, you understand, cross the road.”
It isn’t clear why Trump did not construct his ballroom in his first time period. However he’s unbound in his second, aesthetically and in any other case.
“I believe we have outgrown the tent stuff, proper, do not you assume?” Trump mentioned not too long ago, including with amusing, “We’ll see if Trump will approve it.”
President Trump watches because the flag is raised on a brand new flagpole on the South Garden of the White Home on June 18, 2025.
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