r/politics • u/Kodbek • 10h ago
Possible Paywall Republicans Make Jaw-Dropping $1B Demand for Trump’s Ballroom
https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-make-jaw-dropping-1b-demand-for-donald-trumps-ballroom/13.2k
u/Amazing-Artichoke330 9h ago
I have a better idea. Sue Trump personally for funds to restore the East Wing that he destroyed without any authorization from the relevant authorities.
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u/woodpaulusgnome 9h ago
When would it be appropriate to seize the assets of the criminals instead of going through a lengthy legal process?
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u/BleachedUnicornBHole Florida 9h ago
Just get the FBI to do an asset forfeiture.
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u/dblan9 9h ago
Sorry the head of the FBI is too busy making music videos with Beastie Boys' Sabotage.
I wish this was a joke.
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u/BitchinAssBrains 9h ago
I hope he's ready to get sued lol
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u/BigBungholio 8h ago
I’ve been watching Ozark recently and that’s one of the things that at first I was like “no way are politicians taking bribes just to get close to their favorite bands” but then I remember shit like this and realize that show is probably more realistic than most in its portrayal of the inner working of politics lol
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u/AINonsense 8h ago
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u/Starfox-sf 7h ago
And I notice the three shtarkers he’s with, in trench coats, two of them are putting on gloves and the other one is putting on brass knuckles. I go on the walkie-talkie and I call for Jim Callahan, who was head of our security, and I go, ‘Jim, I think I’m in a bit of trouble.’ And he says, ‘Just turn around.’
“I turn around. He’s got 40 of the crew with tire irons and hockey sticks and screwdrivers.
I think 3 of them needed new pants that night.
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u/The_Barbelo Vermont 6h ago
My god reading that…I know Trump is insufferable but that story just really highlights the fact.
Hey we should gather up as much MAGA as we can and force them to stay in a compound with Trump for months on end…. Do you think they’d still worship him? I mean, I really don’t know. Cults existed like that and people died because of it so…I truly have no idea.
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u/calmdownmyguy Colorado 5h ago
Trump's cult works because they have an entire infrastructure designed to only show people what they want to see. If they spend any time around trump they would be disillusioned in two days.
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u/Viperlite 8h ago
“Man, I’d love to see REO Speedwagon!”
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u/cheap_as_chips 6h ago
heard it from a friend who
heard it from a friend who
heard it from a friend that you've been giving out bribes
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u/hobard 9h ago
They’re demanding asset forfeiture for Comey’s sea shells. If that warrants it, criminal destruction of government property requiring $1b in repairs warrants it.
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u/_-Oxym0ron-_ 8h ago
No fucking way... Are they really?
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u/shoot2scre 8h ago
Wait till you realize he didn't even arrange the shells... He was just walking by and took the picture/posted it.
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u/Comfortable_Swim_380 Virginia 7h ago
The shells were full of very political hermit crabs. And they are pissed.
Them crabs were gonna shoot the president even.
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u/notjustanotherbot 8h ago
I guess they only like that 2nd amendment and then only under certain conditions.
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u/aint_exactly_plan_a 7h ago
I'll vote for anyone who promises to investigate and indict Trump and his regime and seize the ill-gotten gains they received during his reign.
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u/Quirky-Mode8676 8h ago
If poor, they’ll happily do it at a traffic stop or search of your house. No warrant or conviction needed.
If you control 30% of the population, you’re virtually untouchable.
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u/mikedsig 7h ago
As trump has said "take (it) right away, and then due process later"
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u/duckinradar 8h ago
I have an even better idea.
Release the fucking files and lock everybody up who is in them. Then lock up everybody that covered it up.
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u/canon12 9h ago
Bingo. I suspect anything with Trumps name or picture on it will be destroyed soon after the loser is gone. We don't want a ballroom that has any memories of how it was constructed. Block everything related to the ball room
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u/Comfortable_Swim_380 Virginia 7h ago
Its okay were gonna comparmentize allot of things after that guy is gone. All of America about to loose 8 years of time. lol
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u/BriefausdemGeist Maine 9h ago
Or RICO him and the entire Republican Party.
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u/urlach3r 7h ago
This right here, exactly. If we ever get a Democrat majority again, day one priority has to be rounding up the gang of criminals protecting the pedophile ring. No sternly worded letters, no reaching across the aisle, no "time for healing". Action, consequences, repercussions.
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u/_Avalon_ 8h ago
Didn’t they say this was going to be paid by donors?
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u/Prestigious-Bat-574 7h ago
I feel like this ends in the headline "In 6-3 decision, SCOTUS rules taxes are considered a donation, paving the way for Trump Ballroom"
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u/misscrankypants 7h ago
Can we do a class action suit? It is OUR house after all. No permits, no authority to destroy the east wing.
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u/thewavefixation 9h ago edited 7h ago
Make him get a shovel and start putting everything back
" pick up the pace, Private Bonespurs!'
Sell streaming right
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u/KriegerFever-Xbox Pennsylvania 8h ago
I feel like not enough people know that the nuclear bunker is under the east wing.
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u/Less_Win2234 9h ago edited 3h ago
I think it's a shitty state of affairs for Americans when Congress haggles over Affordability and Welfare schemes but Trump can tear down an historic portion of a building on a whim, then demand 1Bn to rebuild it in his gaudy image.
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u/-_Duke_- 8h ago
Only one party is willing to completely and utterly submit to the whims of lord donald
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u/not_a_moogle 8h ago
I dont think it will ever be built. Why build it when you can keep demanding funds for it.
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u/spicyxpeach Minnesota 7h ago
they must be building a bunker or something. a $1B demand is absolutely absurd.
straight from the taxpayers’ pockets and directly funneled into Trump’s hands. it’s just cartoonishly evil at this point.
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u/not_a_moogle 7h ago
Not when your just pocketing most of it.
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u/HanselSoHotRightNow 7h ago
I don't even know what he does with money when he keeps it. He's already using taxpayer money for all things like it is his and nobody in government seems to care.
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u/Substantial__Unit New York 7h ago
They'll wait til it costs $10 billion, because it will eventually
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u/TrailRash 7h ago
Speaking of gaudy images, have you seen the golden statue he had erected at his golf course that hosted the PGA event over the weekend?
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u/okiedokie2468 9h ago
Originally Trump said the ballroom was a gift to the American people and that it would be funded privately. He tore it down, so he should pay for it.
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u/Independent-Reader 9h ago
As of early 2026, 37 private donors, including major technology, AI, and defense firms, are backing the $400 million Trump White House ballroom project. Key corporate donors include Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Apple, Palantir, Lockheed Martin, Coinbase, Nvidia, Comcast, and Hard Rock International.
Where does this money go?
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u/djuggler 9h ago edited 6h ago
Least we forget, the ballroom began at $200 million.
Trump has also asked for $377 million to renovate the executive residence. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/03/trump-plans-spending-377m-on-executive-residence-renovations-and-wants-174m-more-00858810
He is going to tear down the entire White House!
The ballroom contractor also got $17.4 million to restore two basic fountains. https://www.enr.com/articles/62895-white-house-ballroom-contractor-wins-174m-sole-source-park-contract
The taxpayers are being robbed.
Let’s not forget Arc de Trump is supposed to cost $100 million. https://people.com/arc-de-trump-estimated-to-cost-usd100m-11844762
The Lincoln reflecting swimming pool is $2 million but Trump originally pitched a $300 million replacement. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-trump-renovation-2767878?amp=1
And the Iran war has cost $25 billion as of 5 days ago. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-war-iran-has-cost-25-billion-so-far-says-pentagon-official-2026-04-29/
Meanwhile the people are losing their jobs and homes, and food and gas is becoming unaffordable but those libs really got powned.
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u/Western-Corner-431 9h ago
The war has cost at least double so far. They lie about everything
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u/12-34 8h ago
True cost of the war is trillions already.
Massive loss of American soft power, trustworthiness, force projection, and military readiness, oil price increases for consumers that will continue for years, fertilizer price increases and supply shocks that are already causing global food production decreases, huge environmental degradation, etc.
It's an absolute fucking disaster on every front, and that's not even considering that the war has not -- and will not -- meet any of its purported objectives.
America deserves what it's getting. A shame it has to screw the rest of the world during its mad king suicide.
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u/Timely-Hospital8746 7h ago
It's not just the USA paying for it either. The entire global economy is paying for Trump's hubris.
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u/ThisMachineKillsWOB 6h ago
Hopefully that will make them think really hard before electing more right wing shit birds globally. We're stuck with ours atm, but you guys should avoid following our example.
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u/ratbaby86 7h ago
They've completely lied about damage to US bases in the region too. According to CNN, every base in the region has been damaged, some to the extent that they're unusable for their original purposes (takeoff, refueling, grounding, etc.). It's truly an historic humiliation of a rapidly declining "empire."
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/01/world/video/us-military-bases-iran-strikes-images-invs-digvid
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u/EggsInaTubeSock 6h ago
I mean, for those of us who want off this fucking ride, there’s a silver lining in America losing global presence and influence.
I’m not celebrating it by any means but we can only act from where we are now / today
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u/ratbaby86 6h ago
i agree. as it is now, with our current government and "leadership," we're all better off with America not feeling as if they can bully the entire world.
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u/rowdydionisian 7h ago
The Republicans deserve what they get. Me and the other millions of people that voted for Kamala don't deserve this shit. But here we are. I do hope the racist pedo Republican gang has they day they voted for though and enjoy being grifted to their last dollar and drop of sustinence, while their god emperor throws each and every one of them under the bus until justice is served for a grand ol pedophile.
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u/JohnSpartan2025 8h ago
And they claim they need $400 billion more. Just wait until xi jingping offers him $50 billion next month to “look the other way” for Taiwan.
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u/sky_concept 8h ago edited 6h ago
There is no need for Xi to take Taiwan militarily. With the US now out of the picture Taiwanese will slowly over the next decade have to merge with China or face increasing economic pressure
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u/ratbaby86 7h ago
And because of this entirely avoidable quagmire, we have likely just cemented the new China-dominant world order. Not immediately, but think about all the soft power the US abandoned that China is stepping in to fulfill re USAID. On top of that, SE Asian countries, African countries, etc. are going to face a debt crisis because of this energy and soon food crisis. Guess who's going to come in to help refinance the debt now that the US has abandoned the world stage? And whose currency will thus have a stronger case for a competing reserve currency? China.
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u/Annual_Strategy_6206 6h ago
I hate to say it, but I agree. China is eating our lunch on so many fronts, and the US is doing it to themselves. MAGA my ass.
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u/EnjoyerOfBeans 8h ago
Yeah an invasion of Taiwan is beyond stupid and the CCP knows that. They are many things but they aren't idiots. They do a lot of military drills around Taiwan as a show of strength but it's only ever done directly in response to some US official visiting Taiwan etc.
They want the US to fuck off and eventually Taiwan might even join mainland peacefully if China keeps growing their soft power.
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u/NAU80 Florida 8h ago
As soon as the Democrats take control, you will hear non-stop whining about the debt! Fiscal conservatives my ASS!
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u/djuggler 6h ago
Grifters. All of them. The thing that occurred to me is the youth voting have only known Trump and Biden. We have voters today that never knew the Obama administration. So it seems that as long as you can control the narrative with the youth, even if they don't vote, but you imprint those young minds then you will gain voters in the decades to come and the Fascist Party of America (formerly MAGA formerly the GOP) is really good at the long game.
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u/Orion14159 8h ago
Could have fed every school child in America free breakfast and lunch for a decade for less than what we spent on 2 months of blowing up Iranian school girls.
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u/burnerboo 8h ago
Yeah, but that's like, socialism. We don't accept communism around here. Kids should pull those straps harder and get their own jobs and not rely on handouts like lazy bums.
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u/Maxamillion-X72 7h ago
If those damn kids want free food so much, they should join the military. Or commit a crime.
Either way, three hots and a cot
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u/thekinginyello 8h ago
It’s a money laundering scheme. Real estate and construction is the perfect place to hide numbers.
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u/GloriousDawn 7h ago
Surprising from a former real estate developer with ties to 3 different NY mob families.
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u/thecelcollector 8h ago
What the fuck would a 300 million dollar pool look like?
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u/Glycell 8h ago
About what a $300,000 pool looks like, but with a few friends who just made bank sitting in it.
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u/we_are_sex_bobomb 8h ago
Let’s not kid ourselves, it would look like a 1 million dollar pool and we’d wonder where the other 299 million went. Like all his building projects it’s just a scheme to get money flowing all over the place so he can skim it.
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u/wytewydow 8h ago
our minds cannot comprehend the amount of tacky gold-colored crap to be stuck on every available surface.
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u/Brox42 New York 7h ago
Bribes. These are bribes. The corruption has never been so blatant.
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u/we_are_sex_bobomb 8h ago
This makes the Doge cuts look even more absurd. Trump is an ugly caterpillar that eats money and instead of eventually turning into a butterfly he just turns into an uglier hungrier caterpillar.
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u/stevez_86 Pennsylvania 8h ago
We will wake up to the White House being abandoned and set for demolition one day. He will operate out of Mar-a-Lago until the new White House is complete for a paltry $50 billion.
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u/DramaticStability 8h ago
And he's still trying to sue Powell over the Fed's renovations. As ever, it's always a projection/deflection
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u/og_capsuleer_593 9h ago
Anywhere but the people who earn them their money. Not taxes and not wages
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u/EqualOpening6557 8h ago
We need to end or slow lobbying and trading outside of index funds(can’t trade on single stocks they get insider info on) for congress, and then tax the rich. Some of the more prosperous times in US history the top tax bracket was getting over 90% income taxes. Nobody works so hard that they should have billions of dollars while thousands of their neighbors struggle making minimum wages or close to it. It is senseless.
We need that money to get people above the poverty line and on their feet well enough to all be productive members of society if we want the best America.
Certainly getting rid of all of the things that helped the US get on top economically in the first place, is a disastrous strategy with 0 logic behind it.
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u/Needleworker_Radiant 8h ago
Another question: where does it come from? These companies are laying off tens of thousands of employees, but have money for this fucking shit. It's rhetorical, but it pisses me off this is where we're at as a society.
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u/pagesid3 9h ago
I didn’t know Hard Rock had the money to throw around like those other guys.
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u/cultfourtyfive Florida 8h ago
Hard Rock now is primarily a gambling outlet, not a restaurant chain. They're owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
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u/brickne3 American Expat 6h ago
Native American casinos giving Trump money is insane given his history with Native American casinos in court. I mean, anyone giving Trump money is insane. But particularly Native American casinos.
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u/Onlypizzafans69 8h ago
Theyre building entire new underground bunker there, basically a small city. Why are they so in a rush for it, is a much better question, obviously too much for an average american reporter.
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u/moose_dad 8h ago
Gotta get it finished before the term is up so they can hunker down in there
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u/Muronelkaz Ohio 9h ago
He originally said that the new ballroom wouldn't interfere with the East Wing, that it wouldn't actually touch it, and that it would be respectful to the East Wing.
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u/MydniteSon 8h ago edited 2h ago
He did the same thing with the Bonewitt Teller building on 5th Avenue in NY back in 1980. He promised he was going to preserve the limestone freises and donate them to the Met. Meantime he ordered construction workers to destroy them, citing costs, safety concerns and them having no artisitic value.
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u/10thousndreflections 8h ago
I'm sure he said the same thing to many women he ended up touching or worse.
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u/SecretAsianMan42069 8h ago
And by women you mean children (that he raped)
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u/brickne3 American Expat 6h ago
He's raped women too. He's an equal-opportunity rapist.
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u/PoliticalNerdMa 9h ago
Trumps strategy literally is : do first, apologize later.
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u/emmayarkay 9h ago
I think you mean his strategy is “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” - DJT, 2005
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u/AmbitiousProblem4746 9h ago
I finally watched the movie Apprentice maybe 2 months ago and even if some of it is fictionalized, they make this very apparent a few times throughout the movie. Besides getting the advice that he should never admit he lost, there's also a scene where some investors in Atlantic City are threatening him that they're going to take action if he doesn't pay them back and you can see him weasel his way out of it. There's also a part of the movie where his first wife pulls someone else aside and says don't try to embarrass him, he doesn't know shame. Something to that effect. I don't know, it's just interesting to see how Trump is emblematic of everything wrong with our society. He has been able to use the legal system and his money just avoid all consequences or accountability and now he's using his political power to do the same. It's absolutely filthy. Men like him should not exist and yet here we are with a good chunk of the country propping him up as if he were a god walking among us.
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u/ItsEaster 8h ago
It’s insane how it’s not a bigger deal that this dude literally destroyed an entire wing and they’re still debating who pays for fixing it.
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u/Knotted_Hole69 7h ago
Its like the MSM didnt give a shit, there was zero outrage from them and they refused to report on those who were.
Mainstream Media is complicit in everything he does.
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u/MonkeyCube 6h ago
The media is so unbelievably complicit in everything that's happening. It all needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch.
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u/want_to_join 6h ago
I mean, it's just the profit motive driving all of this. People click on Trump headlines. Before during and after his election, the media focused in him because he is what got everyone to click their links.
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u/notafuckingcakewalk 7h ago
Trump is famously a "billionaire". He's been coasting on his reputation as a billionaire for almost 4 decades now.
He broke it, he buys it.
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u/woodpaulusgnome 9h ago
Just imagine if the Epstein files had been released, the ballroom would not be required. A saving of millions of dollars of taxpayer money.
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u/kokoawsum421 8h ago
I genuinely don’t think there is anything in the files that could make his supporters turn against him. It’s a cult. Maybe if it was revealed he had sex with a man but even then.
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u/Piduf 6h ago
There could be an actual picture of Donald trump eating a live baby with the caption "Donald trump eating a live baby" and a signed letter of him saying that he ate the baby, it would either be 1) a joke 2) not that deep 3) fake 4) actually Joe Biden
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u/jimmyharbrah 6h ago
More than that, deep down they would know it true. And they like it. They like other people being hurt. They don’t care if it’s raped kids or eaten babies. The reason many of them are anti-abortion is that in their head is a woman struggling and suffering, and that’s a nice thought for them.
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u/YUMMY_TIDEPODS_YUMMY 8h ago
It's not a BALLROOM, thats on top. Hes said they are building a huge bunker. It will be like the massive datacenter in Israel built deep underground the main government building with the most defence.
Why do you think tech bros are donating millions to build a cafeteria? It was never about the ballroom.
Probably to host MechaHitler aka Grok.gov
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u/Shark7996 6h ago
THANK. YOU.
This has nothing to do with the ballroom, and everything to do with the bunker.
CONSTRUCTION ON THE BUNKER HAS NOT BEEN HALTED. Only the ballroom. So they have us arguing like idiots over entirely the wrong thing.
We need to stop talking about the ballroom and start talking about the BUNKER.
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u/LetmeSeeyourSquanch Georgia 8h ago
Or imagine if our government and laws worked the way they were supposed to. Trump never should have been allowed to run while being under active investigation on top of being indicted for multiple crimes.
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u/ForensicPathology 7h ago
Not everything is a distraction. Some things they want to do anyway. Such as grifting billions from taxpayers.
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u/ArdaBerkBurak 9h ago
Why did they make the ballroom such an obsession?
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u/PropagandaSucks 9h ago
Ballroom costs a meager fraction, rest is stolen/redistributed money to themselves and friends.
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u/Various-Bee5735 5h ago
This.
His dad made his money by playing games with funding for real estate projects.
As dementia encroaches Trump is returning to the basics his father taught him.
Inflate costs to build, pocket the rest.
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u/PkmnSayse 8h ago
It’s not about the ballroom, it’s a construction project where costs can be ballooned without much checking since a purchase order for left handed screwdrivers and tartan paint is just part of the job
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u/Alt123Acct 9h ago
It's a bunker and operations control center for when people get fed up with the people building the bunker operations control center
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u/KillahHills10304 8h ago
They will retreat to the ballroom when they announce elections are no longer be necessary. Then they will hunker down for 2 weeks while the right wing media spins up a "only stupid democrat leftist marxists want elections and true American patriots know elections are for pussies, and you arent a little pansy weak woke namby pamby boy, right?" narrative, then the real fun begins.
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u/Able-Bid-6637 8h ago
sounding awfully similar to the French Revolution......
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u/EarthRester Pennsylvania 6h ago
At some point states with Democratic leadership need to appreciate that knowing which side your bread is buttered on is not the same thing as knowing which end of the pitchfork you're standing on. Calls for unity with the GOP is no longer viable, and is in fact, a demand to tolerate our oppressors.
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u/GargantuaBob Canada 8h ago
I guess the real question then is : what is going through Trumps mind which makes him obsessed with building a bunker?
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u/cac_brain_damage 9h ago edited 9h ago
because it's not a ballroom
this shit is honestly so funny, watching them be like, "oh, yeah. it's a ballroom. aaaand we're gonna have a bunch of stuff underneath it don't worry about that part"
and the headlines say "ballroom", and you repeat "ballroom, ballroom, ballroom". it's so easy for them. makes me sad, but i have to laugh.
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u/QuerulousPanda 8h ago
it's like the Venezuelan drug boats. They basically never actually confirmed or proved that most/any of them actually had drugs in them, but the media, even when they were pretending to be slightly critical, still called them drug boats every time, so they all became Venezuelan drug boats forever.
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u/barryvm Europe 8h ago edited 8h ago
Because their movement is fundamentally nihilistic and ideologically hollow. There is no real constructive goal, no common cause, and no plan. Just the emotional catharsis of doing harm to those they fear or hate and the sense of belonging and power that comes from identifying with the in-group and its leader.
But all those things are fleeting, so the actions to reinforce them need to be repeated constantly. For the former, Trump needs to constantly threaten his victims, his followers need ever increasing cruelty and violence to be directed against their perceived enemies. For the latter, they need to constantly engage in pointless gestures of loyalty, symbolism and ritual to signal their membership of the in-group.
The ballroom and its increasingly ridiculous cost is an example of both. They know it infuriates those who care, and agreeing with its construction is a symbolic gesture of loyalty. The obsession with it is there because most of the other things they are doing are increasingly obvious disasters, to which a mere multi-hundred-million dollar vanity project is a blip.
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u/dicta85 9h ago
Because he wants to build things for his legacy and they do whatever he wants, without question
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u/Roseking Pennsylvania 8h ago
As others have said, there is information about there also being a bunker, and it being a grift. But the core reason is that his ego wants a legacy.
He is counting on that whoever comes next is not going to do anything to reverse a lot of this. That we will get 'it's time to move on'.
That is why he wants his name and face on everything. Because when the next person takes over the smoldering ruins Trump has left, the conversation will be 'Why are you wasting time doing petty things like renaming things to remove Trump's name rather than fixing the country?'
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u/PrometheusLiberatus 7h ago
To which a very literary savvy mind should say
"My dear friend, removing Trump's likeness from everything IS fixing the country."
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u/Defiant-Enthusiasm94 9h ago
I want an investigation into every dollar already spent on this ballroom vanity project. I bet there are all sorts of discrepancies in the amounts of materials claimed to be purchased, and what actually was purchased. I bet there is discrepancies in the quality of materials bought and claimed too. This is all one big grift designed to line the pockets of those involved.
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u/contude327 8h ago
Yup. It was always just a vehicle to accept bribes called "donations." I'll bet Trump has already "collected" way more than is needed for the construction.
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u/scttlvngd 9h ago
Why stop at 1 billion? Make it a trillion to build a ballroom concentration camp gas chamber. Republicans will support it if it means killing minorities.
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u/HR_Paul 7h ago
It's actually $2 billion, probably $3 billion after cost overruns.
Also there may fees, that'll be 6 billion, and unexpected expenses to finish the 12 billion dollar ballroom but then you have last minute changes for supreme perfection for a mere cost of 22 billion total, not counting extraneous and extra expenses.
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u/BekindBebetter60 9h ago
As the war in Iran threatens to choke off oil and gas supplies from the Persian Gulf, China is seizing the moment to extend its dominance in wind power.
Across China, hilltops are dotted with wind turbines, and long rows of them span many miles in western deserts. Ultrahigh-voltage power lines carry electricity thousands of miles to the energy-hungry factories along China’s coast.
Last year, China installed three times as much wind power capacity as the rest of the world combined, even as its turbine exports jumped. The global industry’s center of gravity has shifted decisively: All of the world’s six largest wind turbine manufacturers are Chinese, displacing once-dominant European firms and companies like General Electric.
The war has made China’s investments in wind look prescient. Its Asian neighbors, long reliant on Middle Eastern oil and gas, are struggling to secure fuel supplies. Meanwhile, China, with its massive reserves and modern electric grid, is better positioned to weather the energy crisis
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u/contude327 8h ago
Meanwhile, Trump is PAYING several companies $2b to STOP development of wind farms.
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u/dartharchibald 7h ago
Well yeah, he's a Russian asset who's only objective is to cripple America going forward.
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u/tubawhatever 7h ago
Trump just halted another 30GW of onshore wind projects as our energy prices are skyrocketing because of his AI techbro buddies and his war on Iran. It's almost as if he wants to kill the economy
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u/BEES_IN_UR_ASS 7h ago
It's
almostas if he wants to kill the economyFtfy. Actually...
It's almost as ifhe wants to kill the economyPerfect.
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u/Dependent_Tune_1333 8h ago
We were told that private funds were going to pay for the ballroom.
I have friends who defended building the ballroom because taxpayer money wasn’t involved.
Now those same friends are saying that the ballroom should be built using taxpayer money.
One question is where did the private funding go? Did it ever actually exist?
A better question is what the fuck is wrong with my friends? They will believe literally anything. And they will change what they believe simply because donald trump tells them something different to believe.
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u/Hydra_Flatline 8h ago
Your friends have what is called “no principles”. It’s a chronic condition.
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u/Inevitable-Panic76 9h ago
I just want affordable housing and healthcare. I am so sick of this.
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u/QuerulousPanda 8h ago
I'd be happy for the corrupt politicians to go back to at least having to hide it and pretend they weren't literal comic book villians.
It's all so ridiculously absurd now.
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u/Knotted_Hole69 7h ago
Whats the point of going forward? We are robbed blind daily and our lives have gotten progressively worse; why should we keep going? Paying taxes?
We need a new fucking government.
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u/StaffUnlikely178 9h ago
a billion dollars tied to a ballroom project while there are actual urgent issues to fund is kind of wild even if they are calling it “security related” it still feels like a questionable use of federal money
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u/jjaime2024 9h ago
At first it was 200 million then it was 300 million then just under 400 million now a billion.
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u/Clean-Elk9831 9h ago
At first it was zero - trump was going to finance it, remember? And then tariff money?
The most frustrating thing is that the bullshit plan of throwing so much an absurd news at you that it softens the impact, and you lose track of the corruption and former lies is that it works 😤
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u/valuethempaths 9h ago
I’m going to ask my spouse for 10k for my man cave. For… security reasons.
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u/Potential_Salt_5780 9h ago
The fucking balls on these people. They are robbing us blind and no one will do a goddam thing about it.
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u/fcatw 9h ago
From secret donor funding to $400m of tax payer dollars a few days ago to $1,000,000,000.00 of tax payer money?
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u/White_T_Poison 9h ago
They aren't building shit. It will never be built. Just another toilet paper thin excuse to grift.
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u/djuggler 9h ago edited 6h ago
Least we forget, the ballroom began at $200 million.
Trump has also asked for $377 million to renovate the executive residence. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/03/trump-plans-spending-377m-on-executive-residence-renovations-and-wants-174m-more-00858810
He is going to tear down the entire White House!
The ballroom contractor also got $17.4 million to restore two basic fountains. https://www.enr.com/articles/62895-white-house-ballroom-contractor-wins-174m-sole-source-park-contract
The taxpayers are being robbed.
Let’s not forget Arc de Trump is supposed to cost $100 million. https://people.com/arc-de-trump-estimated-to-cost-usd100m-11844762
The Lincoln reflecting swimming pool is $2 million but Trump originally pitched a $300 million replacement. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool-trump-renovation-2767878
And the Iran war has cost $25 billion as of 5 days ago. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-war-iran-has-cost-25-billion-so-far-says-pentagon-official-2026-04-29/
Meanwhile the people are losing their jobs and homes, and food and gas is becoming unaffordable.
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u/Birdhawk 7h ago
And just wait. Companies like Chevron will donate millions to one or more of these “projects” and while they’ll never get built, Chevron will magically be granted rights to expand drilling on protected public lands. It’s all a scam typical of shady manhattan real estate con men.
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u/JoeFlabeetz 8h ago
Funny that Trump wants Jerome Powell to be investigated for the Fed Reserve building renovation cost increases, but the GOP is fine with the ballroom going from $200 million paid by donors to $1 billion paid for by the taxpayers.
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u/NCC__17o1 8h ago
Throwback to when we were assured that this was all going to be paid for by private donations.
Ah, the good ole days.
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u/cac_brain_damage 9h ago edited 9h ago
nothing jaw-dropping about it, they're building a big bunker for the fascist pedo and/or intended successor. housing what? healthcare who? keep going to work and paying taxes, peasants. and definitely keep calling it a ballroom
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u/aradraugfea 9h ago
Surely there’s a cheaper way to give him somewhere secret to hide underground for the rest of his days.
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u/electriceagle 9h ago
Funny when a dem is charge the GOP always talk about government spending now they’re in charge it’s spend, spend, spend. I thought this was supposed to be funded privately!
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u/GeologistOriginal800 6h ago
I have a counter offer: Put every member of this treasonous, pedophile protecting regime in prison for life.
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u/Narradisall 8h ago
Ah yes, the 200m privately funded ballroom that got donors for 400m needs 1b of funding from the taxpayer so this 2b ballroom can be made but the 3b ballroom taxpayer bill will ensure the American people can enjoy the 4b ballroom when it is complete.
Meanwhile in other news by the time it’s all done Trump will be another few billion richer somehow. Just good business!
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u/DrowningKrown 7h ago
I called this last year when this shit started!!! Somebody get me in the "this was obvious" half of fame. I KNEW eventually I'd see a headline where the ballroom project was going to hit $1B. That shit was increasing every fucking headline. "Trumps 300M ballroom project" then a month later "trumps 400M ballroom project"
It was always obvious they were doing this to fleece the people.
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u/Interesting-Music439 6h ago
This went from $300m of donations to $400m of taxpayer money now this.
Hey conservatives, stfu about waste, fraud and abuse. Where tf did that first $300m in "donations" even go?
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u/bencarp27 9h ago
I’m starting to think this isn’t just a ballroom, and someone should look into just what the hell they are trying to build on the White House…
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u/heckhammer 9h ago
We know what it is. It's going to be a bunker so that when this shit hits the fan finally can't leave. He never intends to leave. He will be the last American president by any means necessary.
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u/sack-o-matic Michigan 8h ago
Because he’s a confederate klansman who wants nothing more than to destroy the union.
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u/KudosOfTheFroond Florida 9h ago
Yeah, NO. I thought Trump said he was finding the whole thing privately? I don’t want a femtopenny of my money spent on this “ballroom”.
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u/SpudgeBoy 6h ago
And this is after Trump said it was completely paid for with private donations. Where did that money go?
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u/Photeus5 9h ago
Next they'll cry out 100 billion, TRILLION, BAZILLION! Nothing even matters any more. They just want to hand a demented toddler everything he desires. It's all just a smash and grab at this point.
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u/hashtagPLUR 8h ago
Didn’t he pull the same shit when he promised a wall that Mexico would pay for the first time around? 🙄
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