His appetite for spending money on himself is insatiable

 

Got any spare tacky gold shit?

 There might be an inch or two left in the oval office for it.

And what's the velvet-rope-off deal?

Well, there you go

 

With Congressional Republicans home on indefinite vacation and millions of people about to be cut off from food assistance and unable to afford their health insurance, Trump is totally focused on building monuments to himself.

What else would a narcissist do?

 Did anyone imagine it would have anything other than a giant gold plaque with his name on it?

"I wasn't going to, but so many people came up to me and begged, "Sir, please, you've got to name it after yourself."

So much for "the people's house"

 

I heard Greg Sargent recently explain that Trump's claim for being able to do this rests on the fact that the rules say he only needs permission for construction.  It doesn't say anything about demolition.  !!

UPDATE 11/04/2025:

Trump is America's empress

In the mid-18th century, as the Russian people starved and suffered, a grand palace was going up in St. Petersburg. It didn’t matter that the country’s finances were strapped and that the unpopular Seven Years War was waging across Europe. Empress Elisabeth was determined to complete her Winter Palace. Worse, she was making her own people help foot the bill.

To the serfs and merchants, the Winter Palace represented everything that was wrong with the empire: overly extravagant, grotesquely opulent and a slap in the face to their daily hardships. But to the empress, the palace represented prestige and untouchable power — and just how far she would go to keep it.

[...]

Forget governing: The government remains shut down, federal employees are losing their jobs, and funding for social programs is about to run out. But of course, King Trump is more concerned about building his ballroom. This is no mistake.

The pictures that came out of Monday’s demolition weren’t a mistake either. Because Trump didn’t just break ground on the ballroom. He broke into the White House — literally. Trucks tore into the facade of the East Wing for the sake of Trump’s vanity project, destroying the historic House that’s supposed to belong to the people. The president initially claimed the ballroom’s construction wouldn't touch the East Wing, but like most things that come out of Trump’s mouth, that was clearly a lie.

Let me be clear. This demolition is a message: The White House is no longer the People’s House. It is now Trump’s House.

[...]

Clearly, Trump didn’t go through the proper channels to get this done. While Trump claims that he will pay for a portion of the ballroom himself, that is almost certainly not true.

He has already admitted that anonymous donors will spend $20 million to complete the project. These names may not be public, but it’s safe to assume he knows who they are. The rest of us are left to assume it’s the usual crowd: tech oligarchs who are greedy for favors, corporate giants looking to expand their seedy empires, and long-time Republican donors seeking power and influence.
  Democracy Docket

Or perhaps he'll stick the taxpayers with the bill in the end.

Even more concerning is what this project means for free and fair elections. Trump’s ballroom isn’t the work of a man who plans to pack his bags and get on a plane to Florida in January 2029. He is not generous enough to build something that will benefit the country and presidents to come. He’s building the ballroom for himself, and he’s planning to stay put to enjoy it.

[...]

He’s not simply modernizing the kitchen or swapping out the bathroom tile. Trump is destroying our house and turning it into his own.

Trump wants to be a king. Now, he’s building his palace.

 

source

 

The perfect symbol for Trump's America

 

The stated policy of every Democrat seeking the presidency should be that the first thing they will do is demolish the Trump ballroom and restore the East Wing of the White House and the White House grounds to their pre-Trump state.

Period. It’s the easiest layup in the history of politics. Trump’s transformation of the People’s House into a presidential palace is undemocratic. Presidents are not kings. Erasing this monstrosity is fundamental statement about the right-ordering of our project in self-government.

  Bulwark

Are elite Dems even talking about it?

One last question for the people who keep saying, “ [...] Of course Trump won’t try to remain in office after 2028.”

[...]

If the Trump 2028 hats he passes out aren’t indicative of the man’s intentions, surely this construction project is?

 

Now THIS makes me angry

Right before winter, too.  That will not be looking good for months to come.

We need a No Kings March on Washington.

UPDATE 10/22/2025:

SHUTDOWN - it's happening

Hard to believe the Democrats didn't cave. I know this is going to be a very tough time for some of us, but this truly is the only viable way forward at this time. The Democrats didn't do what they should have when the could have when they had the reins. After Trump's call yesterday to the country's generals to be prepared to neutralize Democrats, I hope at least they all finally understand what we're facing.

This is how the Republicans are pushing what they really want - huge cuts in government spending and personnel - and the excuse to blame Democrats for people's pain.

Plunged into a government shutdown, the U.S. is confronting a fresh cycle of uncertainty after President Donald Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep government programs and services running by today’s deadline.

Roughly 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed, some potentially fired by Trump’s Republican administration. Many offices will be shuttered, perhaps permanently, as Trump vows to “do things that are irreversible, that are bad” as retribution. His deportation agenda is expected to run full speed ahead, while education, environmental and other services sputter. The economic fallout is expected to ripple nationwide.

[...]

This is the third time Trump has presided over a federal funding lapse, the first since his return to the White House this year, in a remarkable record that underscores the polarizing divide over budget priorities and a political climate that rewards hard-line positions rather than more traditional compromises.

[...]

Democrats are demanding funding for health care subsidies that are expiring for millions of people under the Affordable Care Act, spiking the costs of insurance premiums nationwide.

Republicans have refused to negotiate and have encouraged Trump to steer clear of any talks.

[...]

Across the government, preparations have been underway. Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, headed by Russ Vought, directed agencies to execute plans for not just furloughs, as are typical during a federal funding lapse, but mass firings of federal workers. It’s part of the Trump administration’s mission, including its Department of Government Efficiency, to shrink the federal government.

Medicare and Medicaid health care programs are expected to continue, though staffing shortages could mean delays for some services. The Pentagon would still function. And most employees will stay on the job at the Department of Homeland Security.

  Chicago Tribune

UPDATE 10/01/2025:

American president

 

OMG

 

It fucking DWARFS the White House.  

Let it become a museum to the downfall of Trumpism.

Surprise!

 

He was never going to pay for it.

"The people's house"

 

Prick can't tell you how much of YOUR money he's spending on tackifying the oval office.  That "beautiful office" may be available online because it's cheap plastic sprayed gold.

Tacky vs. tasteful.

And still going...

God awful.

Transforming the White House into tacky Trumpshit

 

UPDATE 09/06/2025:

The Court of King Donald.

Louis XIV

 

With the new ballroom he's planning, his palace will be a cheap replica of French and Russian palaces. His administration is already a bunch of elite idiots.

UPDATE 08/08/2025:

It's more than "ish" - the Rose Garden is a replica of the Mar-A-Lago patio.

UPDATE 08/23/2025: