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Well, folks, while we’re out here in Franklin County worrying about the price of groceries, gas, and whether the kids can afford college, it seems Donald Trump has been spending our money redecorating the White House. And not with a fresh coat of paint or new curtains, mind you. We’re talking about a brand-new 90,000-square-foot party and ballroom – roughly the size of one and a half times the Chambersburg or Waynesboro High School football field – built right where the East Wing of the White House used to stand.
The latest estimate? Around $600 million.
Now, Trump keeps saying this fancy party palace won’t cost taxpayers a dime. Private donors, he says. Patriot contributors. But according to government documents reported by The Washington Post, a lot of that money is coming straight from government agencies. That’s your tax dollars, friends. The same dollars that should be paying for roads and schools.
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Here’s the kicker: Congress never approved this project. A federal judge said so. An appeals court agreed. But this week, the Trump-appointed Supreme Court stepped in with a temporary stay, letting construction rumble on while they sort it out.
According to the New York Times and the Supreme Court, a 250-person crew is working 20-hour days, seven days a week, to keep this fancy party palace “ahead of schedule.” The truth is that Trump is rushing ahead so that it becomes difficult for the Supreme Court to permanently overturn other court rulings without being in a position to order the tearing down of what would be already built.
Put in other terms, imagine if the Superintendent of the school district tried to knock down the high school gym and build a grand ballroom and party palace without asking the school board or the voters. There’d be pitchforks at the next meeting.
But when it’s the White House – the People’s House, as the courts called it – apparently the rules are more like suggestions.
Trump calls it a “Military/Ballroom Complex” vital for national security, complete with bomb shelters and drone shielding underneath. Maybe so. But slapping a dance floor on top of a bunker doesn’t change the fact that the president isn’t supposed to just tear down and rebuild parts of the White House on his own say-so. That’s Congress’s job. The Constitution says so.
And while the chandeliers go up in Washington, out here we’re still patching potholes on Route 30 and watching Interstate 81 stay clogged with trucks because the money’s going to a ballroom and party palace instead of building that third lane we desperately need. Priorities, right?
The whole thing has that familiar ring – big promises, bigger costs, and somehow the regular folks end up holding the bag. Whether it’s tariffs jacking up the price of steel or a ballroom that somehow gets government funding without Congressional approval, it feels like the same old story.
Maybe when it’s finished, they’ll invite a few of us from Franklin County to the grand opening. We could bring some scrapple and see how the Washington crowd handles real Pennsylvania cooking. But I’m not holding my breath.
In the meantime, the construction cranes keep swinging, the bills keep piling up, and the People’s House gets a little less “of the people” every day. Some dance floor.
Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System Of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, former Shippensburg University Trustee, awarded numerous patents, as well as Founder and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. eLynxx provides cloud-software for automated sourcing and managing of mail marketing, swag, packaging, and all things print. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at Bill@eLynxx.com
