David Brooks: W.H. Construction ‘Just Feels Wrong,’ But It’s ‘the Right Thing To Do’

Bennett: “So, the remarkable scenes at the White House this week as President Trump green-lit the total demolition of the East Wing — you can see it there — to make room for a ballroom. The price for this, the price tag for this has now grown to some $300 million. On the screen right there, this is the list that the ‘NewsHour’ has obtained of the private and corporate sponsors that have contributed to this project. So, David, the last time we talked about this, you said the idea wasn’t necessarily a bad one. Do you still feel that way now that the East Wing has been reduced to rubble and dust?”
BROOKS: “Well, I must say the photos are shocking, because there is something sacred about that building. And it feels like somebody taking a claw into a wedding cake. It just feels wrong. But I have long believed that the White House is just too small.You know, it was built for John Adams and Abigail Adams. And people have added wings on since, of course. But it’s just the rooms — and the West Wing is so sacred, you can’t touch that. But the Obamas used to have their state dinners out in tents. And John Kennedy, they had their state dinners, they had to spread everybody in different rooms. So the idea of having a room where we could have a state dinner or a big event, that still strikes me as the right thing to do. And I’m hoping future presidents will scrape the gild off and make it nice.”
Bennett: “And, Kimberly, you could argue that this ballroom project is in many ways the kind of perfect distillation of how President Trump sees the presidency, something that needs to be remade in his image. Do you see it that way?”
ATKINS STOHR: “Well, I don’t. And, listen, we can have a debate, a discussion about how big the White House is and how old it is. I have been in that press room. I know that a renovation is called for. But it’s the people’s house. And the idea that it has been a corporate — the corporatization is what is in charge of this rebuild in a way that is in no way transactional. I had a lot of people in my mentions today saying, ‘Hey, it’s saving the taxpayers money.’ No, but what are taxpayers paying for? The reason that things that happen in the White House ought to be paid by taxpayers is that keeps the White House accountable to them. Now who is the president accountable to? Google, corporate interests, Meta, unknown individual donors? That is exactly what the Emoluments Clause and other constitutional measures are supposed to protect against. Who will the president be beholden to now, the American people or all the folks who ponied up to help pay for this ballroom?”