President Donald Trump recently boasted to reporters about his White House ballroom project — and people online were enraged.
Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump pulled out oversized renderings of the project while claiming that “a lot of people are talking about how beautiful” the $400 million building will be. The ballroom will have the capacity to host dignitaries and the presidential inauguration, he said, adding that the military was building a “massive complex” beneath it.
At several points, Trump described the ballroom as “beautiful,” insisting that it will be “the finest ballroom of its kind anywhere in the world.” He also shrugged off a recent New York Times article that quoted architects and preservationists criticizing the building’s design. He said the latest rendering doesn’t include some of the features they discussed.
“A lot of people are giving it really good reviews — some are giving it reviews without even seeing the building,” he said before going into detail about design features including bullet-proof windows and “drone-proof roofs.”
Trump said the ballroom will be funded by private donations and that “not one dime of government money” is going into the building. When a reporter tried to ask a question, the president said, “Wait, excuse me, wait,” and continued to talk about the ballroom.
