Free Republic

https://x.com/amuse/status/2038599107544007023 @amuse @amuse·3h DRIVE-BY MEDIA: The New York Times hired a new infographic team to criticize everything. The latest example is the new White House ballroom. I like John’s satirical critique of a US carrier. h/t @johnkonrad ransomnote: click image to view full size March 30, 2026 ransomnote: The ballroom image is attributed to the New York Times so I won't post the full image here. But the aircraft carrier has no attribution.

Six Republicans joined with Democrats on Thursday to support a measure that would block the construction of President Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom. The measure needed 60 votes to pass and came as part of a string of amendment votes ahead of the main vote on a reconciliation bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. The final vote was 52-47 in favor, with GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John Husted of Ohio, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina voting to block construction,...

A remarkable two-month sprint higher for the major U.S. stock-market indexes encountered its first major hiccup on Friday, as the Nasdaq Composite plummeted more than 1,121 points — its biggest one-day point drop on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That translated to a 4.2% decline for the Nasdaq, the biggest in percentage-point terms since April 10, 2025, data showed. A 2.6% drop for the S&P 500 on Friday was its worst since Oct. 10.

The Senate on Thursday voted on a proposal to block the construction of President Trump’s 90,000 square foot ballroom.The proposal, which needed 60 votes, failed 52-47.However, SIX Republican Senators voted with the Democrats to block the construction of the ballroom: Collins, Husted, Moran, Murkowski, Sullivan and Tillis.The proposal was introduced by Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley during Thursday’s vote-a-rama.

President Trump posted several mock-up images of the “drone port” he hopes to build at the top of the proposed White House ballroom over the weekend — while taking a jab at the judge who is trying to delay construction. “The DronePort at the White House Ballroom will be, perhaps, the most sophisticated anywhere in the World!” Trump boasted on Truth Social. “It will safeguard our Nation’s Capital, Washington, D.C., long into the future. “Judge Richard Leon should stop playing games with America’s Security! If anything happens, he will be held responsible for the Death and Destruction caused to our...

LMFAO!! Trump just went off on a reporter! "You're a STUPID person, and you happen to be!" REPORTER: "You promised to bring inflation down. It's now at its highest level in three years. Are your policies not working? What's happening?" TRUMP: "If you go back to just before the war, for the last three months, inflation was at 1.7%. Now, we had a choice. Let these LUNATICS have a nuclear weapon. If you want to do that, then you're a STUPID person, and you happen to be!"

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is rallying fellow Democrats in a new “Dear Colleague” letter for a battle royale on the Senate floor over $1 billion in proposed funding for President Trump’s 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom that’s tucked into a $72 billion Republican-drafted budget reconciliation package. Schumer is planning to turn the Senate floor debate and marathon voting session on the reconciliation bill into a referendum on lowering costs and scrapping the earmark for the ballroom. “At a time when Americans can’t make ends meet, Republicans say ‘Let them eat cake’ — and then hand Trump a billion dollars...

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans are seeking to give $1 billion in taxpayer funding to the Secret Service this year for security upgrades, including the White House ballroom. President Donald Trump has said private donations would ​pay for the estimated $400 million ballroom project. The funding package text does not say how much of the new Secret Service funds will pay for the ballroom. The proposed infusion of Secret Service funds was released late Monday as part of a nearly $72 billion package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through 2029 on...

Senate Republicans are seeking $1 billion of taxpayer money to help fund “security adjustments and upgrades” linked to Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project. The proposal was outlined in a reconciliation package focusing on federal law enforcement and border security spending, which was released by Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Monday. The legislation also allows for part of the $1 billion package to be used for security upgrades for the East Wing Modernization Project—also known as Trump’s ballroom project—including “above-ground and below-ground security features.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is pushing back on a Republican proposal to spend up to $400 million in federal funds on President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom, citing the nation’s mounting debt and deficit spending. Scott’s comments came after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced legislation Monday that would help finance the ballroom project with federal dollars. Graham argued the facility would serve security and operational purposes beyond hosting events. “Underneath it will be a lot of military stuff. There will be a Secret Service annex, and we pay for it by offsetting it with customs fees,” Graham said at...

On Monday’s broadcast of MS NOW’s “The Weeknight,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) said that the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is “about how it comes from our leaders. When people talk about destroying civilizations or calling people name[s], normalizing all of these things, we should not be doing that.” Rosen said, “I can tell you that he always turns everything to himself. And this is not about a ballroom or an auditorium or any place at all. It is about how people in the public sphere treat each other, how they talk to each other.” She added that...

A chorus of bipartisan criticism is mounting over the security loopholes at the venue for the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner — while President Trump and his allies insisted Saturday’s shooting proves the need for his planned über-secure White House ballroom. Critics slammed the security loopholes that allowed guests to check into the historic Washington Hilton hotel without undergoing weapons screenings from the outside. Authorities say that’s how Cole Tomas Allen was able to sneak a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives into the building where President Trump, most of his cabinet, and many top members of Congress were mingling...

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) called for Democrats to “drop” their Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) after a shooting at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday, and called for Democrats to support building the White House ballroom.Fetterman shared a screenshot of a Mediaite article from reporter Joe DePaolo about how security at the hotel, where the Washington Correspondents’ Dinner took place, was “awful.” In a post on X. Fetterman expressed that the venue at the Washington Hilton Hotel “wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession” of the United States government in attendance.

The construction of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom can proceed, a federal appeals court ruled late Friday night. The judgement came just 24-hours after a lower court judge continued to block above-ground rebuild on the site of the former East Wing. AP reports a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put on temporary hold the order by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon halting part of the $400 million project. The ruling marks a substantial victory for the president in his effort to redesign the storied American structure. Construction is now expected...

President Trump has championed the U.S. steel industry, promising to strengthen it and to impose stiff tariffs on foreign metals to shield manufacturers from overseas competitors. Yet the White House has secured tens of millions of dollars worth of donated foreign steel for Mr. Trump’s $400 million ballroom project, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive and private conversations. ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based firm that is the world’s second-largest steel maker, is providing steel for the structure of the ballroom project, the people said. They said the steel was produced in...

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s presidential library will be the biggest building in Miami and feature a replica of the ballroom he’s adding to the White House, his son Eric said on Monday. “It’s gonna be the tallest building in Miami, by far the best location in Miami,” he told reporters at the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll. “The piece of land is incredible and we’re really excited.” The president unveiled dramatic renderings of his forthcoming library last week showing a skyscraper towering over the Miami skyline — with the “Trump” family name illuminated near the top of the building....

🚨 BREAKING: The National Capital Planning Commission just gave FINAL, FULL APPROVAL to President Trump's White House ballroom, after a judge halted construction Full-steam ahead! The judge will LOSE in court and Trump is going to complete this with $0 taxpayer funds Trump RIPPED the organization suing him earlier this week, saying the ballroom is ahead of schedule and under budget

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday blocked, for now, the construction of the new White House ballroom, which President Donald Trump has heavily touted. District Court Judge Richard Leon, in his order, enjoined Trump administration officials and the Executive Officer of the President, “from taking any action in furtherance of the physical development of the proposed ballroom at the former site of the East Wing of the White House.”

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to suspend its construction of a $400 million ballroom where it demolished the East Wing of the White House, barring construction work from proceeding without congressional approval. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington granted a preservationist group’s request for a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, concluded that the National Trust for Historic Preservation is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims because “no statute comes close to giving...

Trump says the roughly $400M project is already ahead of schedule and under budget, replacing the old East Wing demolished in October President Donald Trump said Sunday that the military is constructing a "massive complex" beneath a planned White House ballroom, which he said will feature bulletproof glass and drone-proof protections while being funded entirely by private donors... "The military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that’s under construction, and we’re doing very well," Trump said.