Date: 2026-03-05 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00029284
THE TRUMP SAGA
TRUMP'S WHITE HOUSE EXPANSION ... Sinister Royals
Trump Just FIRED The Entire Team After White House Construction 'Disaster' Exposed
TRUMP'S WHITE HOUSE EXPANSION ... Sinister Royals
Trump Just FIRED The Entire Team After White House Construction 'Disaster' Exposed
Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sABC0fZFE1M
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Transcript
- 0:00
- Donald Trump just made a change that
- nobody saw coming. And the timing could
- not be worse for his signature White
- House project. December 4th and 5th
- changed everything for what was supposed
- to be the greatest ballroom ever built
- in American history. The lead architect
- got the boot and what happened next
- shows exactly how this massive
- construction disaster is playing out
- behind closed doors. But here is what
- almost nobody is talking about. And it
- is the detail that changes the entire
- story.
- The architect who got fired warned Trump
- about something critical that Trump
- refused to hear. And when you understand
- what that warning was, you will see why
- this project might be doomed from the
- start. This is not just about firing one
- person. This is about a 90,000q ft
- ballroom that is bigger than the White
- House itself and the fight that tore the
- entire project apart. James McCra II sat
- across from Donald Trump in August and
- told him something no architect wants to
- tell a president. You cannot build this
- the way you want to build it. McCra had
- 1:02
- been handpicked by Trump himself just
- one month earlier in July to design what
- Trump kept calling the greatest addition
- to the White House since the Oval
- Office. This was supposed to be McCrae's
- career definfining moment. The man who
- builds Catholic churches around the
- country, including the massive Cathedral
- of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in
- Tennessee, was now designing for the
- president. But by late October, McCra
- was out and Trump brought in Shalom
- Banees, a Washington DC architect who
- has worked on Pentagon renovations and
- built government buildings across the
- capital for decades. What happened
- between July and October tells you
- everything about why this project has
- become such a mess. Trump wanted bigger.
- He always wants bigger. When the project
- was first announced, the ballroom was
- supposed to hold 500 guests. Then it
- jumped to 650. Then Trump pushed it to
- 900. By the time McCra stepped back,
- Trump was demanding space for 999 people
- and possibly even more. McCra kept
- 2:02
- telling Trump the same thing over and
- over. You are violating a basic rule of
- architecture. Do not bolt an addition
- onto a historic building that visually
- overwhelms it. The numbers make this
- crystal clear. The White House executive
- residence is 55,000 square feet. Trump
- wanted to add a 90,000 ft ballroom right
- next to it. That means the new ballroom
- would be almost twice as big as the
- building it is supposed to complement.
- Imagine building a garage that is twice
- the size of your house and parking it
- right next to your front door. That is
- what Trump wanted to do to the White
- House. McCra understood what Trump could
- not accept or maybe just did not care
- about. This was not about building
- something beautiful. This was about
- building something that would make the
- actual White House look small. McCreary
- comes from a world where classical
- architecture matters. He was a member of
- the US Commission of Fine Arts from 2019
- to 2024. His firm designs churches with
- traditional forms and careful
- proportions. He teaches at Catholic
- 3:02
- University where students learn both
- classical and modern architecture
- together. For McCra architecture has
- rules that exist for reasons beyond just
- personal taste. The proportions matter.
- The scale matters. The relationship
- between buildings matters. Trump comes
- from a world where bigger is always
- better and gold is always classier.
- These two men were never going to agree.
- Behind the scenes, the relationship fell
- apart through a series of escalating
- arguments about size, scope, and
- timeline. Sources who talked to the
- Washington Post described repeated
- clashes between Trump and McCra
- throughout the fall. Trump kept pushing
- to superersize everything. Make the
- ballroom bigger. Make the ceilings
- higher. Add more gold. Add more columns.
- Make it look like Mara Lago but in
- Washington. McCra kept pushing back,
- trying to scale things down, trying to
- maintain some relationship to the
- historic White House that would not make
- preservationists scream. The White House
- later claimed McCra left because his
- small boutique firm could not keep up
- 4:01
- with Trump's demanding deadlines. But
- people close to the project told
- reporters that size was the real issue.
- Trump wanted massive and McCra wanted
- appropriate and those two visions could
- not exist in the same building. The cost
- tells its own story. In July when the
- project was announced, Trump said it
- would cost $200 million. By September,
- he was telling reporters maybe $250
- million. By late October, when McCra was
- on his way out, Trump announced the
- price had jumped to $300 million. That
- is a $100 million increase in less than
- 4 months, and construction had barely
- started. Trump claimed the increase was
- because the project was now going to be
- double the original size with higher
- quality finishes and more elaborate
- interiors. He posted on Truth Social on
- December 7th that the ballroom is
- actually under budget and ahead of
- schedule, which is a remarkable claim
- for a project that fired its architect
- and increased its cost by 50% in 3
- 5:00
- months. Let me tell you about what Trump
- demolished to make room for this
- ballroom. Because this is where things
- get really controversial, the east wing
- of the White House. Not part of it, not
- a section of it, the entire east wing.
- Trump promised in July that the ballroom
- would be near the White House but not
- touching it and would pay total respect
- 5:18
- to the existing building. By late
- 5:21
- October, the entire East Wing was gone,
- 5:23
- completely demolished. Bulldozers tore
- 5:26
- it down. The East Wing was built in 1902
- 5:30
- and last modified in the 1940s. Every
- 5:33
- first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt had
- 5:35
- her office in that wing. The first
- 5:37
- lady's staff worked there. Other White
- 5:39
- House offices were there. It housed the
- 5:42
- social side of the White House where
- 5:43
- tourists and guests entered for events.
- 5:46
- Trump just erased it. The National Trust
- 5:48
- for Historic Preservation lost its mind.
- 5:51
- They sent letters on October 21st to the
- 5:53
- National Capital Planning Commission,
- 5:55
- the National Park Service, and the
- 5:57
- Commission of Fine Arts. The trust,
- 5:59
- which is chartered by Congress to
- 6:01
- protect historic sites, said they were
- 6:03
- deeply concerned that the 90,000q ft
- 6:06
- ballroom will overwhelm the White House
- 6:08
- itself and permanently disrupt the
- 6:10
- carefully balanced classical design with
- 6:12
- its two smaller east and west wings.
- 6:14
- They begged the administration to pause
- 6:16
- demolition until plans went through
- 6:17
- legally required public review. The
- 6:20
- White House ignored them and kept
- 6:21
- demolishing. The National Trust has no
- 6:23
- power to stop anything. They can write
- 6:26
- letters and make statements, but they
- 6:27
- cannot force Trump to halt construction.
- 6:29
- The White House is exempt from the
- 6:31
- National Historic Preservation Act, so
- 6:33
- normal rules do not apply. By the time
- 6:36
- McCree was out in late October, the
- 6:38
- project had already imploded
- 6:39
- administratively. The timeline makes
- 6:41
- this obvious.
- 6:43
- July 31st, Trump announces the ballroom
- 6:46
- with McCra as architect. August, Trump
- 6:49
- gives McCra a tour of the roof to survey
- 6:51
- the site. September, the project scope
- 6:54
- increases and costs rise. October,
- 6:57
- demolition begins and McCra is quietly
- 7:00
- pushed aside. December 4th and 5th, the
- 7:03
- White House confirms McCra is no longer
- 7:05
- leading the project and announces Shalom
- 7:07
- Baronis Associates as the new
- 7:09
- architecture firm. The entire leadership
- 7:12
- transition happened while construction
- 7:14
- was actively underway. Baronis now has
- 7:17
- to take over a project that is already
- 7:19
- being built without having designed it
- 7:21
- from scratch. Who is Shalom Baranis and
- 7:24
- why would he take this job?
- 7:26
- Baris founded his firm in 1981 and has
- 7:30
- been designing buildings in Washington
- 7:31
- DC for over 40 years. His resume
- 7:34
- includes the General Services
- 7:36
- Administration national headquarters,
- 7:38
- multiple projects for the Federal
- 7:39
- Reserve work on the Treasury Building
- 7:42
- directly across from the White House,
- 7:43
- and most notably a $1 billion renovation
- 7:46
- of the Pentagon after the September 11th
- 7:49
- attacks. Bans has government building
- 7:52
- experience that McCreary never had. His
- 7:54
- firm employs dozens of people compared
- 7:56
- to McCreary's small boutique operation.
- 7:59
- Bane can handle the scale and speed that
- 8:01
- Trump demands. But here is the twist
- 8:03
- that almost nobody has reported. Bannis
- 8:05
- is also an award-winning preservation
- 8:07
- architect. His firm has won multiple
- 8:09
- awards for historic preservation work.
- 8:11
- Earlier in 2025, Baronis was quoted in
- 8:14
- an article about preserving brutalist
- 8:16
- federal buildings, saying that
- 8:18
- advocating for demolition of major
- 8:20
- structures on the basis of stylistic
- 8:22
- preferences strikes him as callously
- 8:24
- irresponsible. Now he is the architect
- 8:27
- helping Trump build a project that
- 8:29
- preservationists universally condemn.
- 8:31
- The White House released a statement on
- 8:32
- December 5th saying that Shalom Barane
- 8:35
- has joined the team of experts to carry
- 8:37
- out President Trump's vision on building
- 8:39
- what will be the greatest addition to
- 8:41
- the White House since the Oval Office.
- 8:43
- They called him highly talented and said
- 8:46
- his work has shaped the architectural
- 8:47
- identity of the capital for decades.
- 8:50
- What they did not say is that Barane in
- 8:53
- 2017 wrote an opinion piece in the
- 8:56
- Washington Post about being a refugee
- 8:58
- who came to America and found success.
- 9:01
- He subtly criticized Trump's immigration
- 9:04
- ban, saying he hoped the administration
- 9:06
- would ensure the travel ban was
- 9:07
- temporary so good, hard-working people
- 9:09
- fleeing tyranny could find a new home
- 9:11
- like he did. Now, that same man is
- 9:13
- working for Trump redesigning the White
- 9:15
- House. White House spokesman Davis Engel
- 9:17
- insisted that McCreary was not really
- 9:19
- fired and would stay on as a valuable
- 9:21
- consultant. Two senior officials told
- 9:24
- CNN that McCra was not fired. They said
- 9:27
- he will remain as a consultant, but one
- 9:29
- senior official told multiple news
- 9:31
- outlets that McCra and his firm would no
- 9:33
- longer be in the picture after clashing
- 9:35
- with Trump over the scope of the
- 9:36
- project, particularly the size. So,
- 9:39
- which is it? Was McCra fired or did he
- 9:42
- step back voluntarily? The answer
- 9:44
- probably depends on who you ask and
- 9:46
- whether you trust the official White
- 9:48
- House spin. What we know for certain is
- 9:50
- that McCra stopped leading the project
- 9:52
- in late October, that Trump and McCra
- 9:55
- clashed repeatedly over size, and that a
- 9:57
- new architect took over. You can call
- 10:00
- that whatever you want, but the result
- 10:02
- is the same. McCra is out as lead
- 10:04
- architect. Let me break down exactly
- 10:07
- what Trump is building now because the
- 10:08
- scale is almost impossible to believe.
- 10:11
- This is a 90,000q ft structure that will
- 10:14
- hold 999 people for seated dinners. Some
- 10:18
- reports suggest Trump wants it big
- 10:20
- enough to host a presidential
- 10:21
- inauguration which would require space
- 10:23
- for thousands of people. The ballroom
- 10:26
- will have bulletproof glass walls,
- 10:28
- ornate chandeliers, coffered ceilings,
- 10:30
- gilded boarts columns, and checkerboard
- 10:33
- flooring. Trump told people it should
- 10:36
- look like the ballroom at Mara Lago, his
- 10:38
- private club in Palm Beach. The exterior
- 10:41
- will supposedly match the neocclassical
- 10:43
- architecture of the White House with
- 10:45
- arched windows, a double- height portico
- 10:47
- and Corinthian columns. A glass bridge
- 10:50
- will connect the ballroom to the
- 10:52
- executive residence. Trump announced
- 10:55
- plans to remove windows from the east
- 10:56
- room to create a passageway so guests
- 10:59
- can flow from the White House into the
- 11:01
- ballroom for cocktails before dinner.
- 11:03
- Trump keeps saying this project is
- 11:05
- privately funded and will not cost
- 11:07
- taxpayers a single dollar. He posted on
- 11:10
- Truth Social that the ballroom is being
- 11:12
- funded by many generous patriots, great
- 11:14
- American companies, and himself. The
- 11:16
- White House released a list of 37 donors
- 11:18
- in late October. The list includes
- 11:21
- Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft,
- 11:23
- Lockheed, Martin, Coinbase, Ripple,
- 11:26
- Tether, Comcast, Palanteer, and dozens
- 11:28
- more. tech companies,
- 11:30
- cryptobillionaires, charitable
- 11:32
- organizations, sports team owners,
- 11:34
- powerful financeers, and Trump's
- 11:36
- neighbors from Palm Beach all donated.
- 11:39
- The White House has not disclosed how
- 11:40
- much each donor gave or how much Trump
- 11:43
- personally contributed. By the end of
- 11:45
- October, $350 million had been raised,
- 11:48
- even though the construction cost
- 11:50
- remained at 300 million. Where the extra
- 11:52
- 50 million went, nobody will say.
- 11:54
- Critics immediately pointed out the
- 11:56
- obvious problem with private donations.
- 11:58
- These are companies that have business
- 12:00
- before the federal government. Amazon
- 12:02
- has cloud computing contracts with
- 12:04
- federal agencies. Google faces antirust
- 12:07
- investigations.
- 12:08
- Meta deals with content moderation
- 12:10
- regulations. Loheed Martin sells weapons
- 12:13
- to the military. Crypto companies want
- 12:16
- favorable regulations. All of these
- 12:18
- donors have reasons to want access to
- 12:20
- Trump and his administration. Jaime
- 12:23
- Diamond, the CEO of JP Morgan, told CNN
- 12:26
- that his bank has an issue with donating
- 12:28
- because they do contracts with
- 12:30
- governments around the world and have to
- 12:32
- be very careful how anything is
- 12:33
- perceived. He said they have to think
- 12:35
- about how the next Department of Justice
- 12:37
- might view donations that look like
- 12:39
- buying favors. JP Morgan did not donate.
- 12:43
- Other companies did not seem to share
- 12:45
- that concern. Trump wants this ballroom
- 12:47
- finished by 2029. that is January 2029
- 12:51
- when his second term ends. He has less
- 12:53
- than four years to complete a $300
- 12:55
- million project that just lost its lead
- 12:57
- architect and has not even submitted
- 12:59
- final plans to the National Capital
- 13:01
- Planning Commission. Will Sharf, who
- 13:03
- Trump appointed as chairman of the
- 13:05
- planning commission, said at a meeting
- 13:07
- on December 5th that he expects the
- 13:09
- White House to submit plans sometime in
- 13:11
- December. That means 3 months after
- 13:13
- demolition started, the administration
- 13:15
- still has not filed the required
- 13:17
- paperwork for review. Sharf said once
- 13:19
- plans are submitted the review process
- 13:21
- will happen at a normal and deliberative
- 13:23
- pace. Normal and deliberative is not
- 13:26
- fast and Trump wants this done in four
- 13:28
- years. The East Room inside the White
- 13:30
- House currently holds about 200 to 300
- 13:33
- guests for events. The state dining room
- 13:36
- holds even fewer. When presidents host
- 13:39
- state dinners for 400 or more people,
- 13:41
- the White House sets up massive tents on
- 13:43
- the south lawn. These tents cost around
- 13:46
- $1 million per event. Trump hates the
- 13:49
- tents. He has called them embarrassing
- 13:51
- and not a pretty sight. He says the
- 13:54
- White House has wanted a proper ballroom
- 13:55
- for 150 years. He claims every president
- 13:58
- has dreamt about this. Historical
- 14:01
- records do not really support that
- 14:02
- claim. Franklin Roosevelt's
- 14:04
- administration floated the idea once in
- 14:06
- the 1930s, but rejected it because of
- 14:09
- cost. Jaclyn Kennedy considered it
- 14:12
- briefly in the 1960s. But no president
- 14:15
- ever actually tried to build one until
- 14:17
- now. Trump posted a cryptic message on
- 14:20
- Truth Social on December 1st, right
- 14:22
- before the McCra news broke. He wrote,
- 14:25
- 'As long as we are going to do it, we
- 14:27
- are going to do it right.' All capitals
- 14:30
- on the word right. People who follow
- 14:32
- Trump's social media understood this was
- 14:34
- a signal. Something was changing.
- 14:36
- Something was not going right with the
- 14:38
- ballroom.
- 14:39
- Two days later, the McCreary story hit
- 14:41
- the news. Trump's message was his way of
- 14:43
- saying the architect was getting in the
- 14:45
- way of his vision and changes were
- 14:46
- coming. Do it right meant do it Trump's
- 14:49
- way, not McCreary's way. Here is what
- 14:51
- preservationists and architects are
- 14:53
- terrified about beyond just the size
- 14:55
- issue. The White House has had the same
- 14:58
- basic exterior appearance since Franklin
- 15:00
- Roosevelt added the current East Wing in
- 15:03
- 1942.
- 15:04
- That is 83 years of consistent design.
- 15:08
- Before that, Thomas Jefferson added the
- 15:10
- east and west colonades in the early
- 15:12
- 1800s. Andrew Jackson built the north
- 15:15
- portico in the 1830s. James Monroe added
- 15:18
- the south portico in the 1820s after the
- 15:20
- British burned the original mansion in
- 15:22
- the War of 1812.
- 15:25
- Theodore Roosevelt added the West Wing
- 15:27
- in 1902.
- 15:28
- Every addition respected the scale and
- 15:30
- character of what came before.
- 15:33
- Architects worked within the logic of
- 15:34
- the existing building. Trump's ballroom
- 15:37
- breaks that pattern. It is bigger than
- 15:39
- the building itself. It overwhelms
- 15:42
- instead of compliments. The Society of
- 15:44
- Architectural Historians released a
- 15:46
- statement urging that such a significant
- 15:48
- change to a historic building of this
- 15:50
- importance should follow a rigorous and
- 15:52
- deliberate design and review process.
- 15:55
- They said while the White House has
- 15:56
- undergone modifications over 230 years,
- 15:59
- the proposed ballroom will be the first
- 16:01
- major change to its exterior appearance
- 16:03
- since 1942.
- 16:06
- The American Institute of Architects
- 16:08
- sent a letter in August raising
- 16:09
- concerns. Over a dozen AIA members sent
- 16:12
- a letter to McCra in November saying
- 16:14
- they believed he had violated multiple
- 16:16
- AIA code of ethics and professional
- 16:18
- conduct rules, though they did not
- 16:20
- specify which rules. None of these
- 16:23
- groups have any power to stop the
- 16:24
- project. They can only complain and hope
- 16:27
- someone listens. Democrats seized on the
- 16:29
- ballroom as a political weapon. The
- 16:32
- east-wing demolition started on October
- 16:34
- 21st during a government shutdown.
- 16:36
- Elizabeth Warren posted on social media
- 16:38
- that Trump cannot hear people
- 16:40
- complaining about the cost of living
- 16:41
- over the sound of bulldozers demolishing
- 16:43
- the White House to build a grand
- 16:45
- ballroom. Hillary Clinton posted that
- 16:48
- this is not Trump's house. It is your
- 16:50
- house and he is destroying it.
- 16:53
- Representative Jaime Raskin compared it
- 16:55
- to when British troops burned the White
- 16:56
- House in the War of 1812, saying, 'Trump
- 16:59
- is destroying the White House while
- 17:00
- fashioning himself as a king.'
- 17:03
- Republicans mostly stayed quiet, though
- 17:05
- retiring Senator Tom Tillis from North
- 17:07
- Carolina told reporters that talking
- 17:09
- about building a ballroom while trying
- 17:10
- to fix the economy is bad timing. Two
- 17:13
- Magnolia trees disappeared during the
- 17:15
- demolition in late October. These were
- 17:17
- not just any trees. One had been planted
- 17:20
- in 1942 as a commemorative tree for
- 17:22
- President Franklin Roosevelt. The other
- 17:25
- was planted in 1947 to commemorate
- 17:27
- President Warren Harding. The Harding
- 17:30
- tree had originally been planted by
- 17:31
- First Lady Florence Harding in 1922 at a
- 17:35
- different location and then moved in
- 17:37
- 1947.
- 17:38
- Both trees were removed to make way for
- 17:40
- the ballroom construction. The National
- 17:43
- Park Service, which maintains the White
- 17:45
- House grounds, never publicly announced
- 17:47
- the trees would be removed. They just
- 17:49
- vanished during demolition. When
- 17:52
- reporters asked about them, the White
- 17:53
- House said nothing. Trump's approval
- 17:55
- ratings on the economy started dropping
- 17:57
- in early November, right as images of
- 17:59
- the demolished East Wing spread across
- 18:01
- news and social media.
- 18:03
- Five independent polls from major
- 18:06
- universities and news organizations
- 18:07
- showed Trump's economic approval
- 18:09
- underwater, meaning more people
- 18:11
- disapprove than approve. Four of those
- 18:13
- polls had him below 40% approval on the
- 18:16
- economy. A CNBC poll found 55% of adults
- 18:20
- disapprove of Trump's handling of the
- 18:22
- economy versus 42% who approve. A
- 18:25
- Quinnipic poll showed 57% negative
- 18:28
- versus 38% positive. These are the worst
- 18:31
- economic approval numbers Trump has seen
- 18:33
- in either of his terms. According to
- 18:35
- CNBC, the ballroom became a symbol of
- 18:38
- excess during a time when Americans are
- 18:40
- worried about inflation and cost of
- 18:42
- living. Democrats hammered this message
- 18:44
- relentlessly. Now Trump has a new
- 18:46
- architect who has to deliver on an
- 18:48
- impossible vision. Baines has to design
- 18:50
- a ballroom twice the size of the White
- 18:52
- House that somehow respects the historic
- 18:54
- building. He has to do it fast because
- 18:57
- Trump wants it done in four years. He
- 18:59
- has to do it without going over the $300
- 19:01
- million budget, even though costs have
- 19:04
- already increased 50%. He has to
- 19:06
- navigate preservationist criticism and
- 19:08
- public anger and political attacks. He
- 19:11
- has to work with a client who fired the
- 19:13
- last architect for saying no too many
- 19:15
- times, and he has to do all of this
- 19:17
- while the project is already under
- 19:18
- construction with no approved plans on
- 19:20
- file with the planning commission. White
- 19:23
- House officials keep insisting
- 19:24
- everything is fine. They say the
- 19:26
- transition to Baranis was planned all
- 19:28
- along as part of moving into a new phase
- 19:30
- of development. They say McCra's small
- 19:33
- firm just could not handle the scope and
- 19:35
- speed of the project. They say
- 19:38
- construction is under budget and ahead
- 19:39
- of schedule. They say the ballroom will
- 19:42
- be the greatest addition to the White
- 19:43
- House in history. But the facts tell a
- 19:46
- different story. The facts say an
- 19:48
- architect got fired for telling the
- 19:50
- president the ballroom was too big. The
- 19:53
- facts say costs jumped $100 million in 4
- 19:56
- months. The facts say the entire East
- 19:59
- Wing got demolished despite promises not
- 20:01
- to touch the existing White House. The
- 20:04
- facts say preservationists are begging
- 20:06
- for the project to stop. The facts say
- 20:09
- no approved plans have been submitted to
- 20:11
- the review commission 3 months after
- 20:13
- demolition started. Trump announced the
- 20:15
- ballroom project in July as something
- 20:17
- America has wanted for 150 years. He
- 20:20
- said presidents have dreamt about this.
- 20:22
- He said the White House needs a proper
- 20:24
- entertaining space instead of
- 20:26
- embarrassing tents. He said this will be
- 20:28
- privately funded so taxpayers pay
- 20:30
- nothing. He said it will respect the
- 20:32
- historic building. 5 months later McCra
- 20:35
- is out. Baranis is in the east wing is
- 20:38
- demolished. Costs have exploded and
- 20:40
- nobody knows exactly what the final
- 20:42
- building will look like. The renderings
- 20:45
- released in July showed McCrae's
- 20:46
- classical vision. Those renderings are
- 20:49
- now outdated. Bans has to design
- 20:52
- something new that Trump actually
- 20:53
- approved, something McCra could never
- 20:55
- manage. The critical question is what
- 20:58
- did McCra warn Trump about that Trump
- 20:59
- refused to hear? We know McCra
- 21:02
- repeatedly told Trump the ballroom would
- 21:04
- overwhelm the White House. We know he
- 21:06
- urged restraint. We know he said not to
- 21:08
- let an extension engulf the building it
- 21:10
- is supposed to complement. But there was
- 21:12
- something deeper McCra understood about
- 21:14
- architecture that Trump either could not
- 21:16
- or would not understand.
- 21:19
- Buildings are not just about size and
- 21:21
- money and gold. Buildings exist in
- 21:23
- relationship to other buildings. They
- 21:25
- exist in relationship to their
- 21:26
- surroundings. They communicate values
- 21:28
- through their form and proportions. The
- 21:31
- White House is not just a building. It
- 21:33
- is the people's house. It represents
- 21:35
- American democracy. It has a meaning
- 21:37
- beyond its physical structure. Adding
- 21:40
- something that dwarfs and overwhelms the
- 21:42
- original building changes that meaning.
- 21:45
- It says the addition is more important
- 21:46
- than what came before. It says bigger is
- 21:49
- better than appropriate. It says the
- 21:51
- vision of one man matters more than
- 21:53
- centuries of architectural tradition.
- 21:55
- McCra tried to make Trump understand
- 21:57
- this through the language of classical
- 21:59
- architecture.
- 22:01
- Proportions matter. Scale matters.
- 22:03
- Context matters. Trump heard none of it.
- 22:07
- Trump wanted 999 seats and gold columns
- 22:10
- and a space big enough for an
- 22:11
- inauguration. Trump wanted Mara Lago in
- 22:14
- Washington. McCra could not deliver that
- 22:17
- without violating everything he believed
- 22:19
- about how architecture should work. So
- 22:22
- McCra is gone and Baronis is in and we
- 22:25
- will see whether Baris can give Trump
- 22:27
- what he wants or whether he will end up
- 22:29
- fired too. Construction continues every
- 22:32
- single day. The sound of bulldozers and
- 22:34
- cranes and workers fills the White House
- 22:36
- grounds. Reporters who cover the White
- 22:39
- House can hear it constantly. The
- 22:41
- demolition site sits exposed, visible
- 22:43
- from the Washington Monument, where
- 22:45
- photographers have taken aerial pictures
- 22:47
- showing the scale of destruction. By the
- 22:50
- time this ballroom opens in 2029, if it
- 22:52
- opens on schedule, Trump will be leaving
- 22:55
- office. The next president will inherit
- 22:57
- a 90,000 ft ballroom they had no say in
- 23:01
- designing. Future presidents and their
- 23:03
- spouses will host events in Trump's
- 23:05
- ballroom, whether they like it or not.
- 23:08
- This building will be Trump's permanent
- 23:09
- mark on the White House, a mark far
- 23:11
- bigger and more lasting than any policy
- 23:13
- or executive order. Trump claims he is
- 23:15
- creating the finest ballroom anywhere in
- 23:17
- the world. He says it will be more
- 23:19
- beautiful than originally planned. He
- says it is under budget and ahead of
- schedule. He says private donors are
- thrilled to pay for it. He says this is
- what America needs and wants. Time will
- tell whether history agrees. Right now,
- all we know for certain is that James
- McCreary warned Trump about the size and
- Trump fired him for it. All we know is
- that the project costs $100 million more
- than promised and is being built without
- approved plans. All we know is that the
- entire east wing is gone and a new
- architect has to somehow make sense of
- this disaster. The construction
- continues. The bulldozers keep running
- and the White House keeps getting
- smaller compared to the ballroom growing
- beside it. Marjgerie Taylor Green sat in
- 24:00
- front of cameras on December 8th. The 60
- Minutes interview was her first time
- talking to reporters since quitting
- Congress. She looked straight at the
- host and said words that made everyone
- freeze. Trump warned her. He told her to
- stay quiet about the Jeffrey Epstein
- files. He said releasing them would hurt