President Donald Trump’s announcement at a Friday press conference that he intends to name the big, beautiful ballroom currently under construction at the White House the “Donald J. Trump Ballroom,” has sent Democrats, already angry over the project, into a rage. In fact, they’ve become so unhinged since construction began last Monday, pundits have coined a new term to describe it: Ballroom Derangement Syndrome.
In a Saturday post on X, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) called on all candidates seeking the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination to “pledge to take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE.”
It is, of course, the stupidest idea in the world, and Swalwell deserved all the incoming that came his way.
Perhaps that’s why he followed up with a less dramatic — but equally stupid — idea on Sunday. He wrote, “***Or, as @RubenGallego proposes, rename it the Barack Obama Ballroom. But a Trump monument to corruption will not stand.”
Swalwell, like all BDS sufferers, has lost touch with reality. The idea of naming this ballroom after Obama, a president from three administrations ago who has nothing to do with this project, and frankly, has lost much of his influence during the 2024 election, is simply preposterous.
And how is this project corrupt? Because the Democrats say it is?
The White House has never had a true grand ballroom, and this project fills a clear functional gap that will benefit every future president. And, unlike every previous renovation, this one places no burden on taxpayers. It is being funded entirely by Trump and a group of private donors.
Presidents have renovated and expanded the White House for generations. This initiative is well within that tradition, and portraying it as improper simply ignores history.
The White House announced this project in July, but it wasn’t until demolition began on the East Wing last week that the smoldering resentment turned into an uproar. Stacey Matthews reported on the furor — and the hypocrisy — here.
Swalwell has always been one of Trump’s most vocal critics and has a long record of playing fast and loose with the truth. His public pronouncements of Trump’s guilt during the days of the Russian collusion hoax were second only to those from then-Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
But Swalwell is best known for his romantic involvement with a Chinese woman in the early 2010s named Christine Fang, AKA “Fang Fang,” who turned out to be a spy for the CCP.
Axios broke the story in December 2020 that Swalwell had been targeted by what “U.S. officials believe was a political intelligence operation run by China’s main civilian spy agency between 2011 and 2015.” The report says she “took part in fundraising activity” for Swalwell’s 2014 campaign and even “helped place at least one intern in Swalwell’s office.”
He also has the dubious distinction of having farted on national television.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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