Charles Lipson The real reason Democrats are in meltdown over Trump’s White House ballroom They see it as a metaphor for the president’s attack on institutional norms. Shame for them that ordinary voters don’t care
Democrats say their opposition is noble. They want to preserve the integrity of the White House building and prevent its wanton desecration. Republicans respond that the project will make the White House much more usable for public functions. Future presidents, Democrat and Republican, will need a serviceable, year-round space for large events, and no one is better qualified to oversee its construction than a successful builder.
Republicans add that the new ballroom won’t cost taxpayers a dime. It will be given to the public by private donors, including Trump himself. “Opposing that is silly and selfish,” they say. “Why look a gift horse in the mouth and complain about the teeth?”
It goes on and on.
Whatever you think of these arguments, they can’t explain what is most interesting about the dispute: the Democrats’ volcanic anger. They can’t explain why so many are truly enraged by the demolition and new construction. They can’t explain why at least one Democratic lawmaker has made tearing down the new ballroom – after it is built and paid for – a litmus test for his party’s next presidential candidates.
That’s because the Democrats’ anger is ultimately not about blueprints, bricks, and mortar. It is about symbols and their meaning, especially the powerful, evocative symbols that define our constitutional democracy.
Few symbols of that democracy are more potent than the buildings that represent the three branches of American government: the Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
For Democrats, the destruction of the East Wing symbolises everything they hate about Trump, personally and politically, and everything they fear about his presidency. They see so many of his decisions as flagrant, authoritarian breaches of American norms and violations of the settled constitutional order. They see him acting unilaterally, without constraints. Against that background, they see the destruction of the East Wing as a painful metaphor for his destruction of America’s institutional structure.
Nor do they like what Trump proposes to put in place of what he has destroyed. Again, the metaphor tracks the larger complaint. Democrats think the new ballroom will be “too Trumpian”, too much gold leaf and too little upper-class restraint. They make the same point about his redecoration of the Oval Office.
These complaints are really a version of Old Money, Ivy League disdain for a president they consider boorish and déclassé. They see Trump as a real-life version of Rodney Dangerfield’s over-the-top character in the movie Caddyshack.
They might pause to consider who were really the good guys and bad guys in that movie. The hero was Rodney’s character, Al Czervik, the uncouth, self-made millionaire beloved by the kids who caddied for rich golfers. All of them were outsiders, including Czervik. The insiders were the butt of the joke, the smug, old elite at the country club.
Long ago, the caddies’ families would have been Truman Democrats. Today, they are Republicans and none too happy with a Democratic Party that always seems to criticise America. As voters, they care about public safety, taxes, their kids’ education, and dysfunction in Washington, not about how the East Wing is rebuilt. They don’t give a damn about the metaphor.
If the White House is given a free upgrade, fine, as long as it doesn’t damage the historic residence. If that’s what Trump gives them, he’ll have the voters support. After he cuts the ribbon, he can raise a gold-rimmed glass in the new ballroom. The Democrats’ fury will have been for nothing.
Charles Lipson is the Peter B Ritzma Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Chicago. His latest book is Free Speech 101: A Practical Guide for Students. He can be reached at charles.lipson@gmail.com
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https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2025/10/27/real-reason-democrats-meltdown-trump-white-house-ballroom/
Donald Trump has demolished an old office wing attached to the White House and begun building a large new ballroom, big enough to accommodate state dinners and other major events. Currently, those have to be held outdoors, under a temporary tent, because the White House lacks a large, permanent space.
Democrats are outraged by Trump’s move. They have filled social media with pictures of the demolition. Oh, the humanity. Tearing down any part of the White House is a travesty, they say, and an assault on one of our cherished national landmarks.
“Dial down the hyperbole” is the Republican reply. The renovations will improve the White House complex without damaging the central residence, where the president and his family live and where the historic public rooms are located. The only destruction is to a decrepit wing of offices built by Franklin Roosevelt, now lacking adequate electricity, plumbing, and electronic connections.
Republicans add that renovating the White House has been done many times and that the most extensive work, by far, was by a Democrat, Harry Truman, who gutted the entire White House residence and rebuilt the interior. While that work continued, the president and his family lived across the street in Blair House.
That’s all ancient history, say today’s Democrats, and it is not what matters now. What matters now is that Donald Trump is deliberately taking a wrecking ball to a national treasure. Worse, he’s doing it for his own aggrandisement, not for the country he serves. Republicans reject those arguments, of course. In fact, they think the Democrats’ whole meltdown over the issue is ridiculous.