President Donald Trump on Sunday night broke out some props as he spoke with reporters on Air Force One about one of his biggest obsessions.
With the war in Iran passing the one-month mark, the stock market plunging into correction territory, gas prices soaring by $1 a gallon or more over the past month, and the partial shutdown of the federal government entering its seventh week, the president showed off oversized renderings of the ballroom he is trying to have built at the White House.
“This is a view of the columns as they are going to be made, they’re gonna be hand-carved, isn’t that beautiful? Top of the line,” Trump said as he displayed the image below. “They’ll be Corinthian, which is considered the best, most beautiful, by far.”
President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the White House ballroom as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29, 2026.
MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images
As Trump displayed the images, he claimed that people were talking about “how beautiful” the ballroom was, and said it would be needed to host foreign leaders, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping. He also said the military was building a “massive complex” beneath the ballroom.
Over the weekend, The New York Times published a report that said the “rushed” project was full of design flaws, including stairs to nowhere and columns that would block the view. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on X, slamming the authors as people who had “never built anything” and defending the project as “a beautiful ballroom that’s been needed for decades.”
But critics pointed out that the 90,000-square-foot ballroom was far larger than the White House’s 55,000-square-foot main residence, and others slammed Trump for demolishing the East Wing to make way for the structure without first seeking public input. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, a nonprofit that oversees the preservation of historic structures, has also filed a lawsuit that could slow or even stop the project.
Trump’s lengthy aside about his ballroom left critics aghast, especially given everything else going on that would seem to require the president’s attention:
The world is on fire. We’re at war. More than a dozen Americans are dead. The economy is tanking.
But let’s talk about a freaking ballroom. This man is out of touch with reality. https://t.co/Qr0iCovSH5
— Sam K. (@bluesamk) March 30, 2026
Gas skyrocketing, bombs dropping, our standing in the world in tatters, taxpayer dollars up in flames — meanwhile this oligarch dictator wanna-be brags about his new ballroom and the “Corinthian” columns
How is every American not sickened by this? pic.twitter.com/VCBlq4PqTA
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) March 30, 2026
the world is on fire there’s an affordability crisis that’s about to explode and this is what this moron is excited about. and ik his stupid cult will eat this shit up. idiots. https://t.co/r7CXeYKZmG
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) March 30, 2026
All of the peasants economic anxieties will simply disappear at the site of my most beautiful, top-of-the-line, hand-carved, Corinthian columns… https://t.co/vUlOIlme9U
— Hadley Sheley (@HadleySheley) March 30, 2026
This man is making the White House look like something Liberace designed. It’s always been a place of understated elegance, because we aren’t a nation that needs a palace. He’s never understood that, which is why there are No Kings rallies.
— Amanda Berry (@amanda_booberry) March 30, 2026
50,000 Americans deployed to war
Oil over $100/barrel
Costs spiraling out of control
Airports still a mess
The President: https://t.co/uxsBZPlfEz
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) March 30, 2026
‘The peasants will no longer care about TSA lines, healthcare, grocery, or gas prices when they hear my ballroom will have top-of-the-line hand-carved corinthian columns.’ pic.twitter.com/LwAcoozlwh
— Hadley Sheley (@HadleySheley) March 30, 2026
We are about to invade Iran with troops on ground for an indefinite time and we lost a $300 million aircraft, but take a look at the pillars on the Epstein distraction hall I have built. https://t.co/aPKTD5S7MF
— Chad Scott (@cpscott16) March 30, 2026
