The DC Circuit Court of Appeals just handed President Trump a big, beautiful win — kind of like the big, beautiful ballroom he’s building on the spot where the East Wing used to be. In a 2-1 ruling on Saturday, the appeals court slapped down a lower court judge who tried to shut down construction and told him to go back, sit in his chambers, and actually think about the national security implications before throwing around injunctions like confetti at a Democrat fundraiser.
Somewhere in Washington, a group of historic preservationists just watched a wrecking ball swing past their feelings. Again.
Here’s the backstory for those of you who haven’t been following this saga. Back in October, the Trump administration started demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make room for a brand-new, 90,000-square-foot ballroom that will seat 1,000 guests. The thing is going to have drone-proof roofing materials and blast-proof glass, because apparently we live in a world where the President of the United States needs to worry about someone flying an Amazon drone loaded with explosives into his dinner party. Welcome to the future.
The project is expected to cost somewhere north of $300 million — and before the liberals start hyperventilating about “your tax dollars,” it’s being funded by private donors. That’s right. Not a single penny of taxpayer money. Private citizens who want the President to have a secure, world-class venue are writing the checks. You’d think the “party of the rich” crowd would appreciate some good old-fashioned private philanthropy, but you’d be wrong. They’re too busy filing lawsuits.
And file they did. The National Trust for Historic Preservation — a group whose entire purpose on this earth is apparently to make sure nothing ever changes, anywhere, ever — ran to court back in December claiming that Trump couldn’t tear down the East Wing without asking Congress for permission first. Because nothing says “functional government” like requiring 535 politicians to vote on whether the President can renovate his own house.
They found a willing audience in U.S. District Judge Richard Leon — a George W. Bush appointee, by the way, which tells you everything you need to know about the Bush wing of the Republican Party. Judge Leon agreed with the preservationists and issued an injunction on March 31st ordering construction to stop by April 14th “until Congress authorizes its completion.”
Congress. Authorizes. Its completion.
These are the same people who just spent 52 days failing to end a government shutdown. We’re supposed to wait for THEM to sign off on a ballroom? We’d be waiting until the year 2087. The ballroom would be a historical landmark before they finished debating whether to form a subcommittee to discuss it.
But here’s where it gets good. The Trump administration appealed, and they played the card that nobody on the left wants to talk about: national security. See, underneath this ballroom, there are some very important things being built. Bomb shelters. Medical facilities. Military installations. The kind of stuff you want underneath the building where the leader of the free world lives and works, especially when you’ve got Iran testing everyone’s patience and half the world in various stages of wanting to blow things up.
The DOJ told the appeals court that halting construction mid-build would cause “irreparable harm” to national security. And unlike most legal arguments in Washington, this one actually makes sense. You can’t just leave a half-demolished building sitting on the White House grounds with exposed bunker construction for every satellite and spy drone on the planet to photograph. That’s not a preservation issue — that’s an intelligence disaster.
Judges Patricia Millett and Bradley Garcia got it. They issued the stay, told Judge Leon to go back and actually consider the security arguments he apparently ignored the first time around, and gave him until April 17th to figure it out. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao dissented, but two out of three ain’t bad when you’re trying to build a ballroom.
The construction crews are back at work. The concrete is pouring. And the National Trust for Historic Preservation is going to have to find something else to clutch their pearls about.
Now look — we can argue all day about whether a 90,000-square-foot ballroom is “necessary.” But here’s what the preservation crowd doesn’t understand: the East Wing is already gone. It’s rubble. It’s history. The demolition happened in October. You’re not preserving anything at this point except a construction site. The only question now is whether we finish the job and give the President a state-of-the-art, blast-proof facility with critical security infrastructure underneath it, or whether we leave a giant hole in the ground because a Bush-appointed judge thinks Congress should get to play interior decorator.
President Trump is building something that seats 1,000 people, shrugs off drone attacks, and sits on top of the kind of bunker that would make the Pentagon jealous — all on somebody else’s dime. The appeals court just cleared the path. And the people who tried to stop it are going to spend the next few years watching it go up, one beautiful floor at a time.
Expected completion: 2028. Just in time for a certain someone’s final year in office.
We are building, folks. Literally and figuratively. And no amount of lawsuits from people who think a 200-year-old building is more important than the safety of the President is going to stop it.
