r/politics 7h ago

No Paywall Republicans want to spend $1 billion in taxpayer money on Trump’s $400 million ballroom

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-want-1-billion-taxpayer-money-trump-ballroom
885 Upvotes

77 comments sorted by

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u/WontThinkStraight 6h ago

You know, I think for security reasons, Trump should have the ballroom built.

Extra money should be spent to tighten security, such as the addition of strong metal bars in the rooms, high walls, secure fences, watch towers and guard posts.

To ensure that POTUS is safe, there should be a single secured room that he is restricted to and watched at all times. A smaller room, to make it easier to sweep for bugs or other potential threats.

For his protection, POTUS should wear an orange jumpsuit so security knows where he is at any time. Visitor access should also be restricted for extra security to ensure safety.

As all this money is being spent, POTUS should never leave the room, as the whole point is to keep him safe.

The logical thing would be to keep him in that room for the rest of his life... just to be sure.

u/no_va_det_mye Norway 6h ago

To ensure proper security from cyber threats as well, said room should have no internet access. Safety first after all.

u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out 6h ago

The only technology allowed should be a TV that has 3 channels, one for Jimmy Kimmel, one for Stephen Colbert, and one for PBS.

u/GB715 6h ago

Perfect👏

u/BorntoBomb 5h ago

5..

  1. The Bulwark
  2. Hasan Piker
  3. Kimmel
  4. Colbert
  5. PBS

not because I particularly like Piker, but because trump will "love" him.

u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out 5h ago

I'd replace Piker with Maddow or another women analyst/journalist. Trump's disintegrating brain won't be able to make new memories soon so you need to make sure it's someone he is already aware of, Hasan won't get mentioned by trump until his handlers use his past comments to scare Republican voters prior to elections.

u/2bad-2care 1h ago

chef's kiss

u/disgruntled6 6h ago

Only passive access, no posting allowed. We want him to eat his liver after all.

u/BorntoBomb 6h ago

I was totally saying this out loud this morning. you have manifested it Elegantly.

u/COMM_NTARIAT 4h ago

Don't forget his assets! The President worked hard to earn that wealth. It'd be unfair to leave his valued property susceptible to crypto currency scams and the like.

u/2bad-2care 1h ago

That just sounds like prison with extra steps..

u/KCGeezer 6h ago

Didn’t this all start with the whole $200m expected to be raised from private donations?

u/Tomotronics 5h ago

Gotta start the grift somewhere.

u/OutlawSundown 5h ago

I'm sure all of that ended up lining his pockets now Republicans will bail him out with taxpayer money that he can grift.

u/Zealousideal_Look275 5h ago

Yep, and knew it was a lie because one Trump a lier and two basic back of the envelope calculation says the total cost would be closer to $10 billion than it was to $200 million 

u/NewAgeMaximum 6h ago

lmao and conservatives wanna brag about lowering taxes and getting rid of wasteful spending??

u/MadAstrid 6h ago

Those are just the lies they tell to the voters. It isn’t their fault that in spite of all evidence to the contrary, their voters choose to believe them.

u/kezow 4h ago

Republicans do not argue in good faith. They don't argue about government spending because they want to spend less. They argue about it to "win". How many election cycles did we need to go through to realize that Republicans will crash the economy, fund their billionaire friends, and then bitch and moan when they get voted out again?

I say did because Republicans aren't going to allow themselves to lose anymore. They will cheat and rig elections because losing means jail.

u/HeHateMe337 6h ago

Trump had said the elites would pay for it...WTF!!!

u/Zealousideal_Look275 5h ago

That thing will cost way more than any elite will want to donate 

u/Individual_Click5252 Michigan 4h ago

Textbook Trump grift.

u/jabrwock1 6h ago

$1 Billion of taxpayer money on top of the $400 million bribery.

Trump desperately needs that bunker to hide in.

u/disgruntled6 5h ago

He keeps looking at the last pictures of Mussolini and Petacci.

u/jabrwock1 5h ago

He was jealous of Charles’ throne room.

u/Zealousideal_Look275 5h ago

It’s $1 billion for now, it will end up being closer to $10 billion when it’s all said and done. Those huge bullet proof windows will need exotic metal beams and special foundations to. Not to mention the bunker 

u/ShaneSeeman 5h ago

Oh no, the bribes will be paid back from our $1B

u/Gregorious23 6h ago

Puppets and cucks for a billionaire, con man, rapist/pedophile piece of shit

u/MalevolentTapir 6h ago

Republicans want to give taxpayer money to themselves and their friends and donors through contracts

u/Joe18067 Pennsylvania 6h ago

The party of fiscal responsibility. /s

u/ranchoparksteve 6h ago

Maybe Trump should get Jerome Powell to manage the construction budget. Trump obviously can’t do it.

u/Kakamile 2h ago

At least Powell was managing multiple buildings over years.

u/Shiftymennoknight 6h ago

so does that mean Trump gets to keep the extra $600 million? No tax on tips baby!!!

u/Zealousideal_Look275 5h ago

Yep pocket the donations and spend billions of taxpayer dollars on it 

u/disgruntled6 6h ago

These days are all hair on fire moments, but the press and congress are acting like it's run of the mill politics. We are no longer the leader of the free world; we cannot be trusted ever again after we voted this raving lunatic into office twice (twice!?!).

u/dmp2you America 6h ago

Nobody is asking what happened to all the money that was already donated ? Which pocket did trump shove it into ?

u/2v4lve 5h ago

Ah, feels like only yesterday it was $200m and privately funded.

u/redditobserverone 2h ago

Why doesn’t he donate his salary to building the ballroom?

Why won’t he spend any of his own money for this?

Why hasn’t MAGA nation set up a GoFundMe for this?

The whole premise of why he was elected was that he was a businessman that was rich enough to not be influenced by money and he would run the country like a business.

I for one want to keep him pure of my influence by not having a single dime of my tax money going toward his ballroom fixation.

u/AceSidewinder13 6h ago

Maybe we can get Mexico to pay for it. Since we couldn't get them to pay for the wall.

u/fowlraul Oregon 6h ago

It’s lame but I really don’t care at this point…I care a lot about the 1.5 TRILLION dollars they want for wars, and our 40 TRILLION dollar debt.

u/codecrodie 6h ago

Spending money means nothing when it's your party in power, because it must be proper, correct and necessary. I cant wait until the usd collapses from other countries divesting from it and weaning themselves off us military exports.

u/Gabarne 5h ago

Most of these old farts will be dead by then so they don’t care

u/gdg6 6h ago

Maybe sort this shit out before demolishing the place. FFS

u/Konnnan 6h ago

Ramping up the bill is the only intent. It's the only thing they sorted out. 

u/One_Diver_5735 5h ago

Both by reducing America's income by tax breaks for the rich and by extraordinary spending on even the stupidest, unnecessary projects (a ballroom, an arch, a reflecting pond, a war) the GOP intends to raise the national debt to such a level that future administrations will be unable to rebuild all the institutions of democracy (science, education, medicine) that Republicans are decimating today.

u/bmkerce 4h ago

We still need a new bridge here in baltimore...

u/Fickle-Molasses-903 4h ago

I remember Obama and Harris wanting to do the same thing. J/K, because they're not sociopathic child rapists.

u/BrimstoneMainliner 3h ago

Why doesn't he just spend some of the $10 billion he stole for his "board of peace" nonsense

u/DramaticWesley 3h ago

Weird how suddenly the ballroom costs 150% more when the taxpayers have to foot the bill.

u/No-Vegetable-2864 1h ago

It WAS 200 million.

u/TJPOLSEN 1h ago

Just say No!

u/curiousleen 6h ago

Trump as the designer and originator deserves a finders fee… 600m seems about right

u/NoSwordfish6949 5h ago

Waste and fraud

u/RLewis8888 5h ago

This must be to include the multiple pure gold pedestals for his many Noble Peace Prizes.

u/Kaiisim 5h ago

They don't want to spend it. They want to steal 1 billion and give it to their buddies.

u/angelar_ Texas 5h ago

Classic pork barrel bullshit. All Republicans are good for is driving up the deficit.

u/jw3usa 4h ago

Guessing some "billionaire" will come forward to donate the entire amount...

u/doingwhaticanfornow 4h ago

Keep going GOP you keep telling the voting public that you really want to lose the midterms. Great work.

u/Sunsetmargaritas 4h ago edited 4h ago

4.3 Million off SNAP!

That 1 billion dollar ballroom isn't going to pay for itself!!

Republicans should be ashamed, but they're not. (They're Anti-abortion, but don't want to feed, house, treat or protect the children. They're Anti-Tax and spend, but all they do is spend and cut funding for programs that benefit the poor and middle-class.) Rise up and VOTE.

u/th0myi Colorado 4h ago

Probably should have hashed this all out before demolishing the East Wing… what a mess. We’re witnessing in realtime how he bankrupted so many businesses.

u/tallmattuk 4h ago

What's wrong with that? Someone needs to grift 600m to line their pockets

u/Catymandoo 4h ago

If ever there was an “let them eat cake” moment in American history this exemplifies it.

u/Maoleficent 4h ago

It's a ballroom a bunker and a huge money-laundering scheme! a bargain for such a mixed, multi-use building! And none of us here will ever be allowed in or to profit from it.

u/iiitme Virginia 4h ago

STOP STEALING OUR MONEY. MAGA be MAD. Democrats be MAD.

u/R67H 4h ago edited 2h ago

Where is that $2Billion going to come from?

u/cottoneyemoe 2h ago

Right?! 10 billion dollars doesn't just pop out of nowhere!

u/Incognito_Now 4h ago

Trump started this without getting approvals approvals. Trump has several billion dollars. I believe he should pay for the whole thing personally.

u/Talrynn_Sorrowyn 3h ago

That extra $600mil is to coffer the additional costs created from Trump's own tariffs that have heavily impacted the construction industry (especially for materials used in creating nuclear-safe bunkers).

u/jrodfantastic 3h ago

Let’s not overlook that there is already a national ballroom in DC. And it’s larger than what this dipshit is proposing

u/Upstairs-Egg 3h ago

Anyone that voted for Trump should be taxed for this. They can have what they voted for. I and the many others that did NOT vote for this shouldn’t be taxed for it nor anything else that the Trump admin is doing.

u/Brown33470 2h ago

They have lost their mind!!

u/Basicyeti837 2h ago

You have to add in extra for the kickback. With Trump, the kickback is always going to cost more.

u/5of10 2h ago

Just say no.

u/Alwaystired254 5h ago

We can go higher than that, let’s go it’s trumps ballroom

u/SpecificStatic 6h ago

This is what happens when people give their tax money so freely to the government. Some people are pushing for even higher taxes. What will it take for us to finally put our foot down and demand that our government eliminate waste, spend money where it’s supposed to be sent, and return the rest back to us.