this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
392 points (99.0% liked)

News

33340 readers
2200 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

White House ballroom project has become costlier and larger than originally anticipated

Donald Trump encouraged those working on the construction of his new White House ballroom project to disregard traditional permitting, zoning, and code requirements, according to a new report.

Since announcing the project in July, Trump’s ballroom has become larger, costlier and more destructive than initially thought – raising concerns about whether the president is following historical rules when it comes to a White House addition.

The ballroom’s capacity, initially thought to be 650, has been raised to 900. Its cost has nearly doubled from $200 million to $350 million. Its construction, which Trump initially said would not interfere with the integrity of the current White House, has led to the destruction of the East Wing.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] gezero@lemmy.bowyerhub.uk 21 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I am confused, what ballroom is this talking about? Do you mean the Epstein ball room? That makes sense...

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 10 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Yes, the Trump-Epstein Friendship Ballroom

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

Ignoring the law just because you were told to is no excuse in court.

[–] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 10 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Please let this end the way I hope it will…..

[–] Dogyote@slrpnk.net 20 points 2 hours ago

With an electrical fire in a ballroom full of 900 of Trump's enablers and the doors fail to open due to corner cutting?

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Look on the bright side; hopefully it'll catch on fire due to an electric short, or Canada, or something, during one of Trump's shindigs and him and nine hundred of his “friends” will get trapped inside due to overcrowding and insufficient emergency exits and will burn to death in abject agony.

[–] kmartburrito@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago

🤌 GORLAMI

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago
[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 13 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I think we Canadians would be happy to help with any extensive remodeling your White House requires.

Maybe you can paint it orange this time.

[–] khepri@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago

yeah come give it the ol 1812 special please

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 20 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (3 children)

Code requirements? Dude those are not just useless regulations. Those are for your safety and the soundness of the building. Only a complete moron signs off on a build that ignores building codes. But here we are.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (2 children)

I expect they'll probably follow code anyway? Because you know as soon as dipshit is out of there, they're going to have to inspect that thing for safety reasons. And the contractor probably doesn't want the reputation of building absolute crap.

On the other hand, if he's as good as picking construction contractors as he is at picking lawyers or cabinet positions, well...

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 8 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I'm sure it will be built by a contracting company incorporated just for this purpose. And after this, it will be dissolved. They'll have no reputation to defend.

[–] Archer@lemmy.world 7 points 3 hours ago

Four Seasons Total Landscaping is about to land another big job

[–] UnspecificGravity 9 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Seriously. i get ignoring zoning and permitting because fuck everyone else, but skipping CODE requirements just means your building fucking sucks.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago

I've seen what happens when a construction guy gets to build their own buildings out of sight of inspectors. It's not pretty.

[–] Mastengwe@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 hours ago

Shhhhhhh! Let him play in his castle. It keeps him quiet.

[–] Zugyuk@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

Burned down, fell over, sank into the swamp

[–] shapeofthings@piefed.ca 2 points 3 hours ago

The mad King's Follies.

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 26 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

All he’s doing is giving a future president an excuse to tear it down. Plus, visiting politicians and influential businesspeople usually don’t like to hang out in unsafe buildings.

[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 hours ago

Can’t say as much about submarines, though.

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 66 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

Yes! Disregard the code! Don’t even think about the building code!

And don’t worry, the ballroom certainly won’t fall down with you inside it, piggy!

[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 48 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I have never been horny before in my life, on account of being asexual, but the thought of this ballroom collapsing under shitty building practices while housing the top thousand richest bastards in society, is certainly making me feel something hormonal.

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Never in your life? I always assumed asexual meant very rarely horny, not literally never. Is that common?

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 10 points 6 hours ago

It’s a spectrum, but there are people who are literally never horny. It’s not common though.

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 19 points 8 hours ago

We should be so lucky.

It'll probably collapse on a kindergarten tour group while piggy is in Europe meeting with Putin.

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 9 points 8 hours ago

Along those same lines, they should have a Wizard of Oz ball using the original snow recipe from the movie.

[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 22 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Everything he's doing is probably going to have to be torn down and rebuilt.

[–] forrgott@lemmy.zip 16 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Hey, Canada, that's kind of your thing isn't it? Seriously, though, please just burn the while fucking White House to the ground! (again) Cause we're never gonna be able to get Diaper Donnie's stench out, anyway...

[–] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 10 points 5 hours ago

Uh, it looks like you guys are well on your way to burning it down without our help.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

~~probably~~ certainly

FTFY.

Even if by some miracle it isn't an unsafe, condemned piece of shit, it's still a blight and a travesty of historical proportions that will need to be corrected by restoring it to the previous design.

Just make sure those same fuckin billionaires who donated for this pony up the money for it's restoration, too.

[–] 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 hours ago

Taking others land without permission is on brand of "American values" tho.

He's only going back to its roots

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 53 points 9 hours ago

I'd be surprised if he didn't

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 19 points 7 hours ago

They'll have to tear it down inside of ten years, I guarantee it.

[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Headline says he told them to disregard but the first sentence says he encouraged them to disregard.

Pick one and make it accurate...

[–] khepri@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

And later is says he "told" them a second time, however are we to untangle this Gordian knot of language???

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

He has a history of destroying historical buildings if he has any opportunity.

[–] Punk_face@lemmy.zip 31 points 8 hours ago

White trash doing white trash shit

[–] Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org 19 points 8 hours ago

It's the same playbook as his father in NYC.

[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 19 points 8 hours ago

It’s probably filled with foreign listening devices anyway and will need to be completely destroyed

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 14 points 8 hours ago

"No one knows more about construction than me."

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 17 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

If that ballroom is finished by the end of his term, I'll eat my shoes.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 9 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

If Trump leaves office willingly before it's completed, I'll eat mine.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 6 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

I'm sure he's demanding all the kickbacks up front. That's half the point of this monstrosity after all.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Sure, but he's not going to leave office willingly regardless.

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago

That, and immunity.

[–] Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 hours ago

If I don’t get pay rise, I have to eat mine.

[–] FBJimmy@lemmus.org 20 points 8 hours ago

If the US gets a new president in 2029, I'll be devastated if they don't take the opportunity to do a major speach or something against the backdrop of a half derelict East Wing - it would be iconic.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›