Donald Trump Promises to Build New White House Ballroom

[mystery-ak]

http://time.com/4201841/donald-trump-iowa-white-house-ballroom/

Donald Trump Promises to Build New White House Ballroom

    Tessa Berenson / Sioux City, Iowa @tcberenson

Jan. 31, 2016

An unusual closing argument for the Iowa caucuses

In his final speech before Iowa caucus day, Donald Trump renewed his old promise to build a lavish White House ballroom and pay for it himself.

“Every time the top people come over from China … they put up a tent at the White House,” he said, during his final event Sunday in Sioux City, Iowa. “We’ll have a ballroom at the White House.”

He said he had long ago come up with a plan for the new facility. “We’ll get the top people, the top everything, we’ll have the best ballroom. Because I notice they always put tents up on the lawn. Number one, it’s not a good security thing. Number two, the guy that owns the tents is making a fortune,” he said.

Trump said he once called David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama, offering to build a ballroom worth “at least $100 million” for free. “We’ll put it someplace so it works contextually, magnificently,” Trump said of his construction offer. “I never heard back.”

Contacted by TIME Sunday night, Axelrod confirmed that Trump had contacted the White House about a ballroom. “He did offer to build one,” Axelrod confirmed to TIME in an email. “I don’t recall him saying he would pay for it. I passed his offer along to the social secretary.”

Read More: Why Trump Is Winning Over Christian Conservatives

This was not the first time Trump had made a new addition to the White House an issue in connection with his own presidential run. As far back as 2011, when Trump was flirting with a presidential campaign against Barack Obama, Trump had floated the idea of a White House ballroom on the Rush Limbaugh radio program. “We’ll go through committees. We’ll pick the one they like. We’ll pick the architect everybody likes. We’ll pick something that works. We’ll do 10 designs,” he said of his offer to the White House. “You’ll pick the one that’s the greatest with the greatest architecture. I will build it free. So that’s anywhere from 50 to 100 million-dollar gift. I will give that, and I mean, I’m talking, Rush — it’s the first time I’ve said this. I’m talking to the biggest person, one of the biggest people at the White House. I’m not talking to a low-level person.”

At his final event, Trump also attacked his main rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz during the Sioux City appearance, knocking him for a controversial mailer his team sent out designed to look like an official government document. “It’s so terrible, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said. “It’s a fraud as far as I’m concerned.”

The latest Des Moines Register poll, released Saturday, found that Trump was leading the delegate race in Iowa, with 28% of likely caucus goers, compared with 23% for Cruz.

[Wingnut]

He'll probably have to use Eminent domain to appropriate the land.

[massadvj]

He'll probably have to use Eminent domain to appropriate the land.

Or he could gut the building that houses the Department of Education and put it there.

[ABX]

I'm sure this is something he doesn't know and he is throwing this out for an applause line, but this is something he doesn't make the decision on.  I believe the latest expansion of the briefing room and press rooms were something like 20 years in the making because of the Office of the Curator, the Washington DC Preservation Society, and several other organizations have authoritative control over this (not to mention Congress). Each President is afforded minor changes but long gone are the days of JFK putting in a bowling alley or Truman putting in stables. This is our most historical property and the President is given the honor of being a temporary resident- not its developer. 

[NavyCanDo]

Trump does nothing for "Free". Everything he does is transactional. If he really cared about the impression we give to the rest of the world, and it wasn't about him, he would either announce that he would do this whether he wins the election or not, or he would wait to announce this until after he was elected.

[flowers]

some of the things he says.......

[mountaineer]

Or he could gut the building that houses the Department of Education and put it there.

In that case, I'm all for the Trump ballroom plan.

[truth_seeker]

Or he could gut the building that houses the Department of Education and put it there.

That is a positive contribution to these discussions.

Substantive discussions of what to do and how to do it are so rare. I heard Carly Fiorina mention "Zero Based Budgeting" which was commonly discussed during Reagan's era. She also mentioned thousands of FedGov employees coming upon retirement and she said simply do not replace them.

Refreshingly different.

[flowers]

In that case, I'm all for the Trump ballroom plan.

[musiclady]

some of the things he says.......

I'll repeat my comparison to a bad child in school....

He needs attention, and he'll say anything to get it.  He doesn't care if it's good or bad attention, as long as people look at him.....

[ArneFufkin]

That is a positive contribution to these discussions.

Substantive discussions of what to do and how to do it are so rare. I heard Carly Fiorina mention "Zero Based Budgeting" which was commonly discussed during Reagan's era. She also mentioned thousands of FedGov employees coming upon retirement and she said simply do not replace them.

Refreshingly different.

I like Carly as a potential VP candidate.  I think she'd have the gloves off regarding the HildeBeast.

[mountaineer]

That is a positive contribution to these discussions.

Substantive discussions of what to do and how to do it are so rare. I heard Carly Fiorina mention "Zero Based Budgeting" which was commonly discussed during Reagan's era. She also mentioned thousands of FedGov employees coming upon retirement and she said simply do not replace them.

Refreshingly different.

Agreed.

[Longiron]

I'll repeat my comparison to a bad child in school....

He needs attention, and he'll say anything to get it.  He doesn't care if it's good or bad attention, as long as people look at him.....

You are  part of the  TRUMP haters and COWARDS. tell us what your candidate will do differently?

[mountaineer]

You are  part of the  TRUMP haters and COWARDS. tell us what your candidate will do differently?

I'm pretty sure the other candidates have something a little less frivolous than a new WH ballroom atop their "to-do-if-elected" list.

[Mod1]

Longiron, cool it with the "COWARDS" and "haters" flaming, OK?

[musiclady]

I like Carly as a potential VP candidate.  I think she'd have the gloves off regarding the HildeBeast.

I'd love to see Carly as the VP pick.  The only thing is that she won't get to debate Hillary, and I'd pay lots of good money to see that!

[NavyCanDo]

I'd love to see Carly as the VP pick.  The only thing is that she won't get to debate Hillary, and I'd pay lots of good money to see that!

I was so hoping for a Hillary Fiorina debate the first time we saw her dominate the GOP debates. She would kill Hillary. Sad it won't happen. But maybe there is a cabinet position for her.