JFK on Trump's White House Ballroom Obsession

When Jackie and I moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we treated the White House as a historic building belonging to the American people. Jackie was very much into redecorating the place, but she did so with the utmost care, and she brought stakeholders into the process and listened to their perspectives. Flash forward to today, and we have a hotel developer in the Oval Office who is determined to transform the White House into a gold painted monument to his giant ego. Trump's obsessive desire to build a $400 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom where the historic East Wing once stood is not executive leadership’s finest hour — it is a land grab on a grand, imperial scale.

On August 7, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a crucial 2-1 decision upholding an injunction to halt above-ground construction of this massive complex. Judges Patricia Millett and Bradley Garcia rightly observed that the Constitution’s Property Clause vests control of federal property in Congress, not the whims of executive self-help. Last year's demolition of the historic East Wing—to make room for a structure nearly twice the size of the original mansion—was an egregious overreach of executive power. Bypassing Congress by shifting federal funds and courting private donors does not exempt the President from the law. National security is a solemn duty, and hiding a gilded ballroom behind the guise of a military bunker is a PR error that insults both the taxpayer and the Constitution.

We must counter Trump's executive overreach with legislative action. First, Congress must pass a comprehensive White House Heritage Preservation Act, ensuring that no president can unilaterally alter or demolish any portion of this historic landmark without explicit, bicameral approval. Second, we must close the loopholes on private donations and shifted funds being used to bypass congressional appropriations. True strength in a democracy lies in the balance of powers. If a president wishes to expand the nation's symbolic home, he or she must make their case openly to the representatives of the people. Let us build monuments to our democratic principles, not gilded halls to our own vanity.