They were huge, heavy, and unwieldy. We didn’t need a bigger ballroom, we needed smaller chairs! So I had them replaced with high-end, smaller chairs....In the end, the ballroom went from seating 200 people to seating 320 people.”
I just ran this by a family member with some experience and heard it doesn’t add up. First of all, capacity is limited by table size, not chair size. The tables seat a certain number comfortably, and smaller chairs won’t change that. Second, the number of tables is limited by the size of the room. Then there’s the approval of the fire marshall to get a ballroom rated for 200 to be approved for half again as many. That has to do not with the size of the room alone but with the number of exits. If the tables and the room could fit 320 in the first place, the 200 chairs were not the problem; all he needed was more chairs, not smaller ones.
As an aside, the person I spoke to, had over 200 ballroom chairs. Perhaps Trump has such magic that he can sell old ballroom chairs for enough money to pay for new, but it would definitely call for magic.
I see no reason to doubt Trump's story here. I don't get the impression that he is a liar -- unlike so many politicians. Maybe the smaller chairs enabled more people to be seated at the same number of tables.
Trump has accomplished great things in his life. What he described seems well within the realm of possibility. Why not trust this guy until he gives us reasons not to?
I don’t think he’s lying, but it doesn’t seem at all logical. I’d say he has oversimplified. You can’t make a table for eight into a table for twelve. You’re better off adding a few tables and chairs.