President Donald Trump could barely conceal his delight about the demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for a huge ballroom similar to the one at his Mar-a-Lago estate.The president purred about the construction project, which began in earnest this week, as he spoke from the Rose Garden patio ahead of a lunch with Senate Republicans on Tuesday. (Watch a clip at the end of the story.)The White House’s current configuration means there is only a “cocktail area” that holds 88 people “if it’s tight,” Trump said, as he described the new event space as a “world-class ballroom.”The president continued: “You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that’s music to my ears. I love that sound.”“When I hear that sound, it reminds me of money,” added the former real estate developer. “In this case, it reminds me of lack of money because I’m paying for it, so it’s the opposite.”Trump has said the 90,000-square-foot, $250 million event space will be “zero cost” to taxpayers, with funding reportedly coming from the president himself and private donors.He last week thanked donors to his ballroom fund at a dinner attended by representatives from Google, Meta, Palantir, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, HP and Lockheed Martin, The New York Times reported.After pictures of a demolition crew tearing through the East Wing’s facade on Monday went viral, “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough said Trump had taken a “wrecking ball” to the historic building and called the spectacle “just grotesque.”The White House has been keen to emphasize that the East Wing, which was added in 1902, has been altered many times before.Other Trump-driven recent alterations to the White House since his return to office have included gilding the Oval Office, paving the Rose Garden and adding two massive flagpoles.Trump on Ballroom: You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that is music to my ears. I love that sound. When I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. pic.twitter.com/NvVS9waqd2— Acyn (@Acyn) October 21, 2025Close