At a time when his poll numbers are sagging, the economy is sputtering and the war he launched in Iran simply will not end, President Trump spent Tuesday morning showing off his skills in the profession he feels most comfortable with: real estate.
Mr. Trump summoned reporters to the White House to give them a peek at the giant hole where the East Wing once stood, before he had that part of the complex torn down to make way for a $400 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
“We have a little breakfast for you,” Mr. Trump said as White House staff members laid out bacon-and-egg breakfast sandwiches and Cokes.
While the president held court, construction workers busied themselves behind him, hammering and banging and beginning to erect columns to support the weight of the ballroom. Mr. Trump attacked his critics, called Democrats “Dumocrats,” and discussed the latest in the Iran war.
But the president also made clear that discussing the ballroom was when he felt most at ease, and that the real estate development business, which Mr. Trump entered following the footsteps of his father, was where he felt most talented.
“I’m a really good builder,” he said. “The thing I do best in life is build.”
It was a glimpse of the mind-set of a president who has increasingly come under criticism for being out of touch with the things that Americans are most concerned about: the economy, for one, and seeing an end to a deeply unpopular and expensive war.
“I don’t really have enough time to explain it to people,” Mr. Trump said about the complexities of the war and the dangers of Iran having a nuclear weapon. He said he was “too busy getting it done.” But on Tuesday, he had ample time to go over his design choices for the ballroom.
“If you take a look at this section,” Mr. Trump said, pointing to the different styles in the ballroom’s design and describing how they were inspired by ancient Greek or Roman architecture. “This is a Greek, more or less. It comes out of Greece. This is the ultimate facade for Greece. This face is the Treasury building. This face is a different facade — that’s Rome.”
He then began to detail the security features involved in the project. Mr. Trump said it would include a secure bunker extending six floors into the Earth. The bunker, the president has said, will have bomb shelters, “very major medical facilities,” such as a hospital, and the latest secure communication methods and defenses against bioweapons.
“It’s a shield,” Mr. Trump said of the ballroom, which he added would be made out of “impenetrable steel, and also impenetrable glass.”
Congressional funding for the security portions of the project are in doubt. Republicans have attempted to include $1 billion for security at the White House, including the ballroom project, in a filibuster-proof budget bill. But that provision has fallen afoul of Senate rules.
Even so, Mr. Trump said wealthy business donors would fund the construction of the ballroom.
“It’s a gift from me and from incredible, successful companies and patriots, and they put up close to $400 million,” he said.
In his second term, Mr. Trump has been pushing ahead at a breakneck pace to remake Washington in his own style.
Mr. Trump is in court fighting to close the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which was renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center, for a major renovation. He has proposed building a 250-foot triumphal arch near Washington’s border with Arlington, Va. He has proposed a large project to create a National Garden of American Heroes. Next to that is a golf course that Mr. Trump wants to make into a luxury destination. The president also said he was fixing up the water fountains in Washington.
Many of the projects, including the ballroom and the plans for a National Garden of Heroes, have grown in size and scale as Mr. Trump has become more interested in them. He has begun a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which is costing seven times more than the president originally said it would.
“I got so into it — I’ve upgraded it like you wouldn’t believe,” Mr. Trump said of his work on the pool. “I’m doing all the walkways outside. I’m doing it properly. But it’s a much bigger jump. But you see, it’s happening now. It’s going to be beautiful. It’s going to be waterproof. It’s going to be reflecting again.”
Democrats and other critics of the president’s actions argue that he has become too focused on construction projects and redecorating the White House while in office, distracting him from the needs of Americans.
“It’s a sad thing,” Mr. Trump said of those who have criticized his renovations. “I want to see Washington be beautiful. To me, it’s very important.”
At another point, he said of his ballroom: “I’m a great builder, and I build beautiful products. There will never be anything like this.”
Before he left, the president made sure the reporters saw the breakfast sandwiches that had been laid out for them.
“Enjoy it,” Mr. Trump said as he walked back into the White House. “Eat before it gets cold.”
Luke Broadwater covers the White House for The Times.
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