President Donald Trump’s poll numbers have fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency. Iranian leaders have dismissed U.S. attempts to reach a ceasefire, threatening to extend the conflict. Other global and domestic challenges continue to occupy the White House and consume the president’s time.
But for 20 minutes on Wednesday morning, those problems were mostly set aside as Trump delighted in one of his favorite roles: showing off new White House construction.
The president took reporters on a tour of his planned helipad, which workers have been constructing around-the-clock on the White House’s South Lawn. Trump approved the project after current and former officials spent years grappling with how to accommodate the next generation of Marine One helicopters, which run the risk of burning the lawn.
The work is being rushed to completion before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to the White House in late September, The Washington Post previously reported.
“The happiest people are the pilots,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to sign the underside of a granite slab in the shape of an eagle’s head that will make up part of the 100-foot-wide helipad. Pilots had told him that landing on the helipad would be preferable to alternatives, he said. The Post previously reported that some past pilots and officials have questioned the need for the project and how it will affect the iconic, decades-old visual of helicopters landing on the White House lawn.
The most visibly pleased person on Wednesday was the president as he discussed the detailed work on the helipad, joked with construction workers and gestured to his other projects, as hammering and other sounds of construction of his nearby White House ballroom carried across the lawn.
The longtime real estate mogul has admitted his joy in renovating the White House — and his desire to keep building. He name-checked some of those projects Wednesday, such as his efforts to overhaul the White House lawn.
“Grass has a life like humans have a life,” Trump said, thanking ScottsMiracle-Gro for making a donation of new sod and pointing out fresh topsoil. “If you’re grass, you’re very happy.”
He invoked his efforts to touch up the White House’s facade, add flagpoles and improve the visiting experience for VIPs.
He also shared his continued frustration over efforts to block his planned ballroom, with the Supreme Court now weighing whether to side with lower courts and temporarily halt construction beginning Friday.
“We’ve gotten tremendous architectural reviews. It’s beautiful,” Trump said, despite complaints from many architects that the planned 90,000-square-foot addition is far too large and will overshadow the White House mansion.
But the main event Wednesday morning was the helipad, with the president partially ringed by construction workers who have been building it.
“This will be here long after we’re gone,” Trump said. He joked that his signature on the granite should be displayed face up, rather than face down as intended, and he urged several members of the construction crew and White House officials to add their signatures, too.
He also acknowledged that he had ordered changes to the helipad because he wanted to address its slope, confirming The Post’s reporting.
“Sorry to take an extra week and a half, but lifting it up was one of the best things we’ve ever done,” Trump said. He added that the helipad would have a “secondary use” — to host events and help greet foreign leaders.
Trump appeared pleased to hear from workers that the helipad would be finished by Sept. 21 — about two days before the planned state visit with Xi.
“We might make it for President Xi,” Trump said. “That’d be nice but not imperative.”
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