When Donald Trump announced his ballroom project, the entire left lost its mind.
Well, it turns out, this was far from the first time this issue came up.
Former Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod claims Trump offered to build a ballroom during Obama’s presidency, but the administration never responded.
When the left went nuts over the ballroom renovation, the right countered with stories of the $376 million renovation that took place during Obama’s administration.
The story, however, is bogus, sort of.
The renovations were put into play during the Bush administration, then formally approved by Congress in 2008.
However, Obama did renovate the tennis courts into a basketball court. This was not an overly expensive project, and it was likely privately funded. The “scandal” here, if there is one, is that he made a renovation that was self-serving, whereas Trump’s renovation will actually benefit anyone sitting in the White House.
While it did not get much attention, Joe Biden spent about $50 million on renovations during his presidency.
The main beneficiary of the update was the Situation Room, which had not been renovated in two decades.
Another renovation missed by the media was the North and South Lawn renovation, where pavers were replaced, and the driveway was redone.
I bring this up because it appeared that Biden did this to give the old house a cleaner look because his granddaughter was getting married there later that year.
Axelrod just revealed that the White House could have had a new ballroom more than a decade ago, as Trump reportedly told Obama he would do it during his time in office.
Axelrod said Trump told him, “I build ballrooms, I build the greatest — you can ask anybody, my ballrooms are the greatest ballrooms. You have these state dinners, and you have them in these s‑‑‑ty little tents out in the backyard. Let me build a modular ballroom that you can assemble when you have state dinners, so it’ll look good.”
He then added, “I said: ‘Well, that’s really nice of you. I’m going to pass this on to the social secretary, and I’ll have her call you. I did. She didn’t.”
So, what do you think the reaction would have been had this happened during Obama’s term?
