Barbra Streisand blasted President Donald Trump’s bulldozing of the White House for his ballroom renovations and described it as a symbol of democracy’s “destruction.”
“Trump lied when he said he would not disturb the existing White House for his ridiculous ballroom,” the 83-year-old legendary singer and Democratic donor posted on Threads on Tuesday. “His destruction of the East Wing is symbolic of what he has done to our democracy,” she added.
The president has not responded to Streisand’s post, and the Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Images of a construction team tearing down the East Wing of the historic presidential residence went viral on Monday, despite Trump’s claim in July that he would not “interfere” with the White House while building his lavish ballroom.
Like Streisand, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren also saw symbolism in the photos flooding the internet, posting on X, “This is Trump’s presidency in a single photo: Illegal, destructive, and not helping you.”
After claiming in July that he was “the biggest fan” of the White House, the 79-year-old president said something very different on Tuesday, calling the sound of the East Wing being demolished “music to my ears.”
On Wednesday, Trump gave the ballroom a new price tag of $300 million, $100 million above the figure officially announced in July. The president has also expanded the original 90,000-square-foot, gold-filled ballroom with a capacity of 600 people to 150,000 square feet and 999 people.
The White House revealed that the “entirety” of the East Wing—traditionally the Office of the First Lady and her staff—will be “modernized and rebuilt” for the expanded ballroom renovations.
Streisand joins other Americans in disapproving of the East Wing demolition, with a YouGov America poll showing that 53 percent of U.S. adults are unhappy with the bulldozing.
The “Don’t Rain on My Parade” singer has been a frequent critic of the president, even releasing a song in 2018 taking aim at Trump, in which she sings “You change the facts to justify,” alluding to Trump’s misleading statements.
She also posted on X a month before Trump was elected in 2024 that the “disgraceful man should be nowhere near the Presidency” and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to mock Trump ahead of the 2016 election.
On Saturday, Streisand took to BlueSky to encourage people to attend the No Kings March, organized to oppose the Trump administration’s actions, writing, “We have witnessed the increasing authoritarianism and its policies in our country. We dissent.” More than 2,600 rallies were held across the U.S. and around the world as part of the march.
On Tuesday, people also gathered online to protest the White House demolition, flooding the construction company responsible for tearing down the East Wing with one-star reviews.
In a statement, Carol Quillen, President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said she is concerned the new ballroom will “overwhelm the White House” and urged the administration to “pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes.”
“These processes provide an essential opportunity for transparency and public engagement—values that have guided preservation of the White House under every administration going back to the public competition in 1792 that produced the building’s original design,” the statement added.
Trump’s renovations are the largest since President Harry Truman’s controversial gutting of the White House interior and addition of a balcony, which was a four-year project from 1948-1952.
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