A White House ballroom has been on President Trump’s wish list for years.
Now, he has demolished the East Wing of the White House to build one — a 90,000-square-foot, $300 million endeavor, which is the largest renovation to the White House in decades.
Mr. Trump initially pledged that the White House would not be touched by the construction of a new ballroom. But as heavy machinery bulldozed the East Wing, it became clear that one of the nation’s iconic buildings was getting a bigger makeover, with virtually no discussion.
We talked to seven voters across the country to see what they thought of the project. Their answers reflected the deep political divide on what the White House symbolizes and to whom it belongs.
‘Almost every president has wished to have more space for entertaining.’
Randy Dutton, 69, Grays Harbor County, Wash.
Randy Dutton, a retired Navy commander and a Republican, was pleased with Mr. Trump’s efforts to remake the East Wing. It made sense on many levels, he said, because Mr. Trump and future presidents will now have more space to have receptions.
“Almost every president has wished to have more space for entertaining,” he said. “Guest lists for presidents and kings can get pretty big. Diplomatically, if you can get more people in there, you can enhance the prestige of the United States.”
Another plus, he said, was that new construction allows for new security measures that could defend against modern war technology, like drones.
“This drone warfare will eventually come to the U.S.,” he said. “The genie is out of the bottle. This is our opportunity to plan and design for those risks, where we don’t even have to pay the bill for it.”
— Sabrina Tavernise
‘We’re desecrating a part of history.’
Thien Doan, 36, Orange, Calif.
Thien Doan, a Democrat, visited the White House once as a child.
George W. Bush was president at the time, and Mr. Doan remembers feeling proud to be an American as he walked through the hallowed halls, admiring paintings of past presidents and the founding of the country.
But pride is not what he’s feeling now, as he sees images of the East Wing being demolished. He feels outraged.
“We’re desecrating a part of history that we should have been celebrating,” Mr. Doan said.
The ballroom doesn’t seem necessary to him. Instead, he sees it as a vanity project.
“They’re molding buildings and the country after his own image,” he said. “It shouldn’t be about him. It should be about the people.”
— Laurel Rosenhall
‘No matter what it is, the far left just has to create an uproar. It’s got to be evil President Trump doing something.’
Brian D. Kozlowski, 41, Orlando, Fla.
Brian D. Kozlowski, who voted for Mr. Trump, said he was not especially interested in the White House demolition and construction.
“What is interesting,” he said, is the reaction from Mr. Trump’s critics, whom he called the “far left.”
“It doesn’t matter what the administration does,” he said. “Criticism is levied extra hard — and provided more media coverage — because it’s President Trump.”
Mr. Kozlowski acknowledged that the East Wing project was particularly extensive but said that many presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, had redone parts of the White House and did not face the same level of scrutiny.
“Every president does it,” he said.
— Patricia Mazzei
‘It just doesn’t make sense.’
Adria Laboy, 43, in the Poconos of Pennsylvania
Adria Laboy, who calls herself a political independent, has mixed feelings about the president’s decision to start building a ballroom this year. On the one hand, the multimillion-dollar construction project will create jobs, she said, but on the other hand, the timing seems off, given all the other urgent issues.
“It’s a weird time to see it,” said Ms. Laboy, who does community outreach for a health insurance agency. “We have all these things happening, like crime, him trying to control crime in certain cities.”
“And then they’re building a ballroom. It just doesn’t make sense.”
— Pooja Salhotra
‘To me, it’s just a building.’
Annabelle Collins, 37, Mercedes, Texas
Annabelle Collins, who voted for Kamala Harris, said she understood why some people were upset that Mr. Trump was tearing down the East Wing, considering its historical importance. But the White House does not hold sentimental value for Ms. Collins, and she feels indifferent about the president’s efforts to change it.
“To me, it’s just a building,” she said.
The government shutdown is a more pressing issue, Ms. Collins said. Her husband is a Border Patrol agent, and while the president has allowed federal law enforcement officials like him to receive pay during the political stalemate, she was worried about other workers, such as air traffic controllers.
If anything, for Ms. Collins, the demolition of the East Wing served as a metaphor: “It almost symbolizes what he’s doing to American democracy.”
— Pooja Salhotra
‘I personally think it should be a building that people are awe-struck by and can be inspired by.’
Charles Vaughters, 24, Laramie, Wyo.
When Charles Vaughters, a history major at the University of Wyoming who served in the Marines, heard about the demolition of the East Wing, he shrugged.
Just like any old building, the White House needs to be updated and revamped, he said, adding that the president is simply trying to maintain the White House as “a building of national prestige.”
“It’s pretty important that the White House looks nice and new because I want our nation’s capital to be the best capital in the world,” said Mr. Vaughters, a Republican. “It’s something that a lot of people may discount nowadays, but I personally think it should be a building that people are awe-struck by and can be inspired by.”
He said he could understand criticism if the project was being funded by public money, considering the national debt and Mr. Trump’s promises to rein in government spending. But, he said, private funds are paying for it.
“The people against the demolition,” Mr. Vaughters said, “are just trying to find something, anything, bad about Trump.”
— Juliet Macur
‘The buildings in the capital city tell us the story of where we came from.’
Clifford Eugene, 74, Lacombe, La.
As Clifford Eugene watched footage of the East Wing crumbling into a heap of debris and dust, he felt a range of emotions. Sadness. Disappointment. But mostly anger. To Mr. Eugene, the demolition was just another example of an unchecked president who regularly tramples on norms.
As a former federal bank examiner for the U.S. Treasury, Mr. Eugene has visited the White House at least a half-dozen times. On every visit to the historical site, he said, he swelled with pride. “The buildings in the capital city tell us the story of where we came from,” he said.
Mr. Eugene, a moderate Democrat, is skeptical of the ballroom’s $300 million price tag and the claim that it will be privately financed. He believes the public has a right to know not only who the contributors are, but the amount of each donation and whether Mr. Trump has made promises in exchange for the money.
Mr. Trump’s claim, he said, reminds him of the president’s earlier promise to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. “That didn’t happen.”
— Audra D. S. Burch
The post 7 Voters Weigh In on Trump’s New Ballroom appeared first on New York Times.
