The White House on Tuesday dismissed backlash over the first images of President Donald Trump’s renovation of the East Wing, where construction began this week on a lavish, privately funded White House state ballroom.
“In the latest instance of manufactured outrage, unhinged leftists and their Fake News allies are clutching their pearls over President Donald J. Trump’s visionary addition of a grand, privately funded ballroom to the White House — a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of improvements and renovations from commanders-in-chief to keep the executive residence as a beacon of American excellence,” the White House said in a statement.
A photo went viral Monday showing work crews demolishing portions of the East Wing’s facade to make way for the ballroom construction, which was announced in August.
Describing it as “a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people,” the White House noted that the space will eliminate the need for a makeshift tent on the lawn that screens visitors to state events in the East Room, which has a capacity for only 200. Trump has since claimed the ballroom will seat 999.
“You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back,” Trump said during an event Tuesday in the Rose Garden. “That’s music to my ears. I love that sound. Other people don’t like it. I love it.”
The project, which carries a price tag of approximately $250 million, is being funded by Trump himself and private donors, though some critics claim the partial demolition of the East Wing’s facade, built under Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942, is a metaphor for Trump’s demolition of democracy.
“Some metaphors just write themselves,” wrote Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
“Trump’s billionaire ballroom. This is a disgrace. Welcome to the Second Gilded Age,” wrote Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla.
“This image captures his entire Adminstration: Destruction and devestation [sic],” wrote Rhonda Elaine Foxx, who served as the National Women’s Engagement Director for former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Former first lady and his 2016 general election opponent, Hillary Clinton, denounced the move.
“It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” wrote Clinton, whose rebuke prompted rebuttals from social media users who pointed out that her husband, Bill, returned approximately $28,000 in gifts given to the White House they took after leaving office, following criticism.
Former Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., suggested the new ballroom should be demolished when Trump leaves office.
“If I ran for President in 2028, I’d run on taking a bulldozer to Trump’s ballroom, an utter desecration of the peoples’ [sic] house. In fact, I’d invite the American people one weekend to bring their own sledgehammers & crowbars to the White House to help tear that abomination down,” wrote Walsh, whose GOP primary challenge against Trump in 2020 fizzled after he got 1% of the vote.
“This breaks my heart and it infuriates me. Hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new ballroom. Good god,” wrote Maria Shriver, whose aunt, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, secured private funding to conduct an extensive renovation and redecoration of the White House interior and famously gave a televised tour in 1962.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California accused Trump from his official gubernatorial X account of caring more about “bulldozing the White House” than reopening the government, which has remained shut down since Oct. 1 amid a healthcare funding battle in Congress.
From his personal X account, Newsom claimed Trump is “ripping apart the White House just like he’s ripping apart the Constitution.”
Trump’s priorities:
Bulldozing the White House ?
Reopening the government ? https://t.co/0bpUAvnNVo— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) October 20, 2025
Some X users have since attempted to dox the Maryland-based demolition contractor involved, urging others to call and harass the company, which has since been flooded with negative online reviews.
Others pushed back against criticism and suggested detractors are overreacting, noting that several other presidents have overseen extensive renovations to the executive mansion throughout its long history.
Rapid Response 47, a social media account associated with the White House, also mocked the backlash on Monday as “FAKE OUTRAGE” and listed examples of other major overhauls, such as Theodore Roosevelt building the West Wing in 1902 and William Howard Taft adding the Oval Office to it in 1909.
A lot of FAKE OUTRAGE over construction of the big, beautiful (and privately funded) White House Ballroom.
FACT: Presidents have been renovating and expanding the White House for more than 100 years.
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt built the West Wing .
In 1909,… pic.twitter.com/p7opxjsNAm
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 20, 2025
The account noted that Franklin D. Roosevelt completed the East Wing and extensively modified the West Wing; Richard Nixon added a bowling alley and converted the swimming pool into the press briefing room; and Barack Obama added a basketball court.
The White House’s most thorough renovation took place between 1948 and 1952, when the entire interior was gutted and rebuilt during the Truman administration, leaving only the original exterior walls.
Truman lived and worked mostly out of the West Wing or the neighboring Blair House during the reconstruction, which was deemed necessary after his daughter Margaret’s piano nearly fell through the floor.
Other renovation projects for Trump have drawn criticism this year, including redecorating the Oval Office with extensive gold embellishments and an original copy of the Declaration of Independence; remodeling and paving the Rose Garden, which was often prone to muddiness; and installing two large flagpoles on the North and South Lawns.
He also added a “presidential walk of fame” along the West Colonnade that leads to the Oval Office, featuring portraits of every president except Joe Biden, whose portrait is an autopen.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
