Trump’s White House Ballroom Is a Crude Solution

Long before he was president, Donald Trump was griping about the tent. “I see that the White House … when a dignitary comes in from India, from anywhere, they open up a tent,” he said in a 2011 interview. “A tent! … An old, rotten tent that frankly, they probably rented.” He’s been talking about replacing it with a permanent ballroom for a long time, in his usual Dictator Chic idiom. As usual, we all thought he was too distractible and inept to get it done. In his first term, he was, and now he isn’t. Karoline Leavitt showed everyone the plans today.

Let’s set aside for a moment the symbolism of this project. Viewed that way, it’s monstrous. That Trump will build a ballroom —…