Trump’s childish defense of hugely unpopular money-grab falls flat

President Donald Trump can seemingly focus on little else besides his contentious White House ballroom construction project, which has turned off many voters with its ballooning price tag and the demolition of the historic East Wing that made way for it. Now, a childish attempt by the president to defend the high cost of the structure has fallen flat, per a new breakdown from MS NOW.

The ballroom has reentered the national spotlight after Trump insisted that it was necessary for security reasons after the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting. Republican lawmakers, in turn, fell in line with this argument, with some putting forward bills to earmark tax dollars for its construction, as well as a new proposal to secure it to the tune of $1 billion.

In a recent post to Truth Social, Trump attempted to defend the rising costs of the ballroom, which he first claimed would only cost $200 million to build, before later upping that estimate to $300 million and then $400 million, all of that before the security measures. His claims were characteristically hyperbolic, with one New York Magazine report summing it up as, "Trump Says His Ballroom Only Costs More Because It’s More Awesome."

"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's post read. "It will be magnificent, safe, and secure!"

On Wednesday, Trump once again defended the bill for the ballroom when pressed about voter disapproval of the project, claiming that it would be a small chunk of the country's total spending, while also repeating claims that he would be funding the construction himself.

"No, we need it. We need it,” the Republican replied. “No, no, it’s a tiny — it’s one one-millionth of a percent of what we do. That’s a small deal. And I’m putting up a lot of money myself. So, you know, it’s largely financed by me… I’m putting up 100, I’m putting up $400 million.”

As longtime MS NOW contributor and producer Steve Benen observed on Thursday, many of these arguments put forward by the president fall apart in the face of the facts.

"To date, the White House has presented no evidence to suggest that the project will be 'largely' financed by the president. Similarly, there’s no available information about why Trump sought so many private donations if he’s 'putting up $400 million' toward construction," Benen explained. "Hours after talking to PBS, the president claimed at a White House event that the ballroom project 'really has become very popular.' The latest Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, released last week, showed 2-to-1 opposition to the project, and the question in that survey emphasized private financing."

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