In October 1994, the week before the midterm elections, a man standing among tourists in front of the White House pulled an assault rifle from beneath his coat and fired roughly 30 shots at the presidential mansion and the West Wing. Remarkably, no one was hurt in the incident.
In the aftermath, political figures and officials condemned the violence. They did not, however, call for the East Wing to be replaced by a giant ballroom to the benefit of Bill Clinton and his successors.
Years later, during Barack Obama’s tenure, the Democratic president faced repeated threats, including a September 2014 incident in which made a man jumped the White House fence and ran through much of the main floor, dashing past a stairway that led to the first family’s living quarters.
Again, the incident received careful scrutiny, but it didn’t seem to occur to anyone to respond to the developments by demanding the construction of a fortified new structure, attached to the White House, for assorted parties and social gatherings.
But in the aftermath of the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which an armed gunman attempted to breach, countless Republicans — from the White House to the halls of Capitol Hill, from the Justice Department to every available media platform — cried out in unison, shouting one word to anyone who would listen: “Ballroom.”
Several GOP lawmakers didn’t just throw their support behind the vanity project that Donald Trump has obsessed over, they also unveiled new legislative proposals related to the initiative. Roll Call reported:
Senate Republicans are pushing for passage of legislation that would back the Trump administration’s planned White House ballroom in the wake of a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Katie Britt of Alabama and Eric Schmitt of Missouri announced plans to fund the ballroom project with tax dollars. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, meanwhile, said he plans to ask for unanimous consent Tuesday to pass a bill to authorize the ballroom’s construction without funding it. Both bills are expected to be released Tuesday.
It’s worth emphasizing that there is not yet intraparty unanimity on the issue. Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, for example, noted private funds already appear to be in place to finance the project, so there’s no immediate need for Graham’s proposal, which would impose $400 million in costs on taxpayers.
A Politico report added that “it’s not going to be simple” to push such a measure through Congress, since Republicans would likely need to overcome a 60-vote hurdle in the Senate.
But that’s really just part of a longer list of problems. The proposed ballroom project is still unnecessary. It’s still unpopular. It would still sit empty most of the year. The process through which it’s being pursued is still legally dubious. Even if it existed, it wouldn’t host the White House Correspondents’ Dinner anyway.
And yet a great many Republicans who never gave the idea a moment’s thought, are furiously making the case that this is now a vital national priority in need of immediate federal attention.
As for the ongoing legal dispute, Trump’s Justice Department, reinforcing its reputation as an extension of the Oval Office, demanded on Sunday the National Trust for Historic Preservation drop its lawsuit against the construction of the ballroom. The organization quickly made it clear that it would ignore the DOJ’s demands.
Department leaders, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, nevertheless filed a new motion in the case, which was a poorly written rant that Trump apparently dictated himself, complete with weird and juvenile phrases that often appear in the president’s social media missives.
Writer Julian Sanchez noted in response, “I knew the administration was scraping the bottom of the barrel for legal talent, but dear God. This reads like someone just transcribed Trump muttering incoherently and filed it in court.” Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and an MS NOW legal analyst, described the filing as “a disgrace.”
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