Donald Trump has become so obsessed with his $400 million White House ballroom that he likes to unwind in the evening by listening to updates on the project, according to a report.
The 79-year-old president is reportedly so desperate for the ballroom to be finished that a division president from D.C.-based construction firm Clark Construction works out of a trailer on the White House grounds as a sort of on-call site manager, according to The Washington Post.
Even though the U.S. is currently in the midst of a deeply unpopular war in Iran, Trump reportedly loves bringing the construction executive into the Oval Office in the evenings to go over project details for more than an hour at a time as a way to relax.
“His version of a bourbon is construction,” a person familiar with the bizarre routine told the Post.
The details about Trump’s relaxation sessions were part of a broader report on how the president has devoted an extraordinary amount of time and energy to his 90,000-square-foot ballroom project, even amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
An undeterred Trump remains fixated on the vanity project even as polls suggest Americans—already struggling through a cost-of-living crisis—do not approve of the ballroom.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that 56 percent of Americans oppose Trump’s decision to demolish the East Wing of the White House to make way for his $400 million ballroom, compared to just 28 percent who support the project.
Even though Trump and his administration are facing hundreds of lawsuits, the one filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation seeking to halt construction of the ballroom until it receives congressional approval is reportedly the only case in which Trump has personally intervened.
Last month, the Justice Department filed an unprecedented legal brief that appeared to argue the assassination attempt against Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner proved the ballroom was necessary—using language that resembled one of the president’s Truth Social rants.
“The National Trust for Historic Preservation” is a beautiful name, but even their name is FAKE because when they add the words “in the United States” to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it makes it sound like a Governmental Agency, which it is not,” the Trump-esque filing read.
The legal documents even used phrases favored by the president, including accusing the group behind the lawsuit of suffering from “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
On Wednesday, Trump posted a Truth Social tirade defending the eye-watering $400 million price tag for the ballroom, even though the original estimate was reportedly $200 million.
“The only reason the cost has changed is because, after deep-rooted studies, it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal, which would not have been adequate to handle the necessary events, meetings, and even future Inaugurations,” Trump wrote.
Later that night, Trump held a reception in the White House for the organization that manages donations for the ballroom. Trump’s frequent hosting of glitzy events attended by wealthy donors who fund the project has long raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest and pay-to-play schemes.
The president has insisted private donors will cover the ballroom’s cost. However, Senate Republicans are also seeking a mammoth $1 billion taxpayer-funded reconciliation package to provide “above-ground and below-ground” security for the project.
In a Tuesday blog post, Dan Pfeiffer, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, argued that Trump’s obsession with the ballroom could become a political gift for Democrats heading into the midterms.
“This is a layup for Democrats, because we don’t even have to work that hard to highlight the ballroom,” Pfeiffer wrote. “Trump can’t shut up about it.”
