White House begins demolishing East Wing facade to build Trump's ballroom

[James48]

Source: Washington Post

The president had claimed construction of the $250 million ballroom wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.


By Jonathan Edwards and Dan Diamond


Demolition crews on Monday began tearing down part of the White House to build President Donald Trump’s long-desired ballroom despite his pledge that construction of the $250 million addition wouldn’t “interfere” with the existing building.


Construction teams were demolishing a portion of the East Wing, with a backhoe ripping through the structure, according to a photo shared with The Washington Post and two people who witnessed the activity and spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe it.


A cluster of people, including members of the Secret Service, stood on the steps of the Treasury Department to watch the construction unfold, said one of the people. Sounds of construction were also audible on the White House campus.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/20/white-house-begins-demolishing-east-wing-facade-build-trumps-ballroom/

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Folks! HE’s TEARING DOWN PART OF THE WHITEHOUSE!! Look!

[IronLionZion]

1. Metaphor for what he's doing to our country

[CTyankee]

2. This is scary. It tells me he has no intention of ever leaving the WH.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. It's the East Wing, which is not part of the original construction.

Still, it should have a historic designation.

White House begins demolishing East Wing facade to build Trump’s ballroom

The president had claimed construction of the $250 million ballroom wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.

Updated
October 20, 2025 at 3:24


This photograph obtained by The Washington Post shows ongoing construction on the East Wing of the White House as President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom is built, on Monday. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

By Jonathan Edwards and Dan Diamond

Demolition crews on Monday began tearing down part of the White House to build President Donald Trump’s long-desired ballroom despite his pledge that construction of the $250 million addition wouldn’t “interfere” with the existing building.

{snip}

By Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards is a national reporter covering the White House. Before joining The Post, he covered public safety for The Virginian-Pilot and Lincoln Journal Star.follow on Xjonathanreports

By Dan Diamond
Dan Diamond is a White House reporter for The Washington Post, with a focus on policy and public health. His email is [e-mail] and you can reach him on Signal at @dan_diamond.01.follow on X@ddiamond

[electric_blue68]

9. It's been 83 yrs during FDR's term. It covered an underground bunker..

It's enrrenched enough.

[samplegirl]

41. This is Eleanor Roosevelt office

This is not his house!
This is our house!

[slightlv]

4. I agree one could call it a metaphor for what he's doing to government, the country, and

the people. But reading the headline, my heart sank into my stomach. It felt like it literally sank. Such a feeling as one gets when a beloved pet dies. This is SO bad... and he'll add that damn arch, you just wait. We're going to be billions putting OUR white house back to the way it should be!

[Botany]

5. This is insane. End of story. The man is trying to do as much damage as possible.

Tearing down some or part of the East Wing of the White House for an unneeded ballroom
in order to have the grand balls to inflate a crazy man’s ego is insane.

The White House was a master piece of architecture and part of America’s family fabric and it
has 2 purposes:

Offices for the executive branch of the federal government to run the country and as a living
quarters for the President and his or her family. BTW the White House already has a perfectly
good and elegant ballroom it doesn’t need a tasteless monstrosity that makes a man with no
taste happy.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/WHComplex.svg



America is over.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. The East Wing is the part all the way over to the left. The demolition has started on the east exterior wall. NT

[Hugin]

29. I know I am only screaming into the wind here...

How is tearing down one of the most historic buildings in the country even remotely legal during a government shutdown? When most Executive Branch employees can’t even log into their computers.

[kacekwl]

6. Doesn't he have to

get authorization from anyone ?

[AllyCat]

21. He fired everyone on the historic committee that oversaw this.

National Park Service is currently responsible for, but hey, government has been shut down for weeks.

[Easterncedar]

8. First I screamed

Then i recalled that he’s bombing fishing boats 1500 miles away and I decided the White House isn’t the worst thing. God damn it.

[electric_blue68]

10. True on one level but eff it it's The People's House...

NOT his!!!

[Easterncedar]

15. Yes. i am just trying to stop my screaming

[electric_blue68]

16. {hug} Almost "can't believe my eyes"!

"Unbelievable"!

[electric_blue68]

11. Photo is very upsetting. 😔 The East Wing has be there for about 83 years, and next will be all those lovely trees.

There are so many reasons to hate this "man".

[Bayard]

12. OMG! and WTF!

This makes me literally sick to my stomach. Who the hell told him he could do this? Isn't this something Congress would have to improve, or we'd get to vote on? Not that he would listen either way. I truly hate this fucking person. People are literally not able to buy groceries or pay their rent/mortgages, but he wants to be able to dance the night away.


Rachel should be good tonight.

[Bayard]

13. AND another thing!

Have you ever seen him trying to dance? He's about as graceful as a pig on rolllerskates.

[maxrandb]

14. Anyone who still thinks we can fix this shit with elections

is fucking delusional.

[BurnDoubt]

17. I guess somebody talked him down from having artillery do the demo...

"When it absolutely, positively needs to be blown up right NOW!"

[bluestarone]

18. SICK BASTARDS!!! We need huge poster with pictures of this, saying

We had ONE country and ONE white house. NOW we have Fractured country, with Fractured white house! WE ALL have to REBUILD!!

[WestMichRad]

19. I'm somewhat surprised that he hasn't yet...

… had the entire place painted gold on the outside.

[Hope22]

20. Looking at those windows ripped out with no care is disgusting.

It seems like there is value to someone be it restoration to existing structures or passing them along to an historical society. In the book The Residence the author talks about the White House having a life of its own. How electric and plumbing in the structure isn’t always as straight forward as one might think. The way they tore into this structure is heartbreaking. Is the hose to keep the dust down or has there already been a fire.

[Mawspam2]

22. Load up all the debris on a barge and send it to Putin.

Send a note, 'You bought it, here it is, paid in full'.

[C Moon]

23. It's a mere coincidence that this happened the day after No Kings Day.

[Hope22]

25. Well it doesn't look too well planned out on their part

So it could be retaliation. The brutal destruction and lack of reclaiming any of the pieces is a total disaster

[C Moon]

26. I was being sarcastic, of course. But it is so trump to do something like that.

"You had your (huge) protest day, so now I take back my promise not to ruin YOUR Whitehouse for MY ballroom."

[Hope22]

27. I expect retaliation from him from here on out.

He’s not a you hit me I’ll hit you back kind of guy. He’s a I’ll hit you and if you hit me back I will use every power in me to break your existence. Hunger, healthcare deserts, thievery of the treasury are already used against us. From his last video, dropping feces on us is his next dream but he isn’t kidding us. It’s the live ammo pointed at us that will be his biggest thrill.

[LudwigPastorius]

24. Fucker!!

Of course he lied about the ballroom "not interfering" with the existing structure.

I really hate that piece of shit.

[QueerDuck]

28. Heartbreaking. Can it be repaired and restored later?

[Bengus81]

30. I'd be more shocked if he told the TRUTH about it not interfering with the WH

That Fascist lies about the day of the week.

[timms139]

31. Our historic

White House being destroyed by the hands of a mad man . His party sit's on it's hands and let's him destroy everything about our country . How much longer will the people let them do as they please?

[Hartpi978]

32. White House demolition

I wonder how many days (or hours) before everyone forgets this happened before our attention is diverted to another outrage. Let's try to remember this guy lied about damaging the existing structure. He is literally destroying our democracy.

[travelingthrulife]

33. Madness. No one but this madman made this decision.

[nuxvomica]

34. Photos or videos of this should be in every Democratic campaign ad

It's a powerful image and highly useful metaphor.

[samnsara]

35. that wing has been temodeled over and over again

...but digging up the grounds????. Isnt that a historic site? Id like to follow the permits for this.

[CaptainTruth]

36. He's punishing America, I'm convinced of it.

This is him getting revenge for all the times "America" stood in the way of his scams & schemes (like his fake charity, fake university, etc) & didn't reward him the way he wanted (all his failed businesses, Americans didn't flock to his casinos, buy his steaks, drink his vodka, etc). He has a grudge against the whole country because in his juvenile mind America hasn't loved him the way he wanted, & he wants to punish the whole country for it.

[kimbutgar]

37. I did not see this last night on any evening news

[ffr]

38. ACECO Demolition LLC's phone numbers, address, and Web site are getting DU'ed. 😎

Website http://www.acecoworld.com
Revenue $35.6 million
Funding $2 million
Employees 79 (35 on RocketReach)
Founded 1936
Address 901 Stoddard Place, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910, US
Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]

Just check out their Web site or give them a call. The site is "under construction" and their phone system will send your calls to VM. But you could try faxing them.

[GiqueCee]

39. Ahem...

... excuse me, but that is not a backhoe in the photo, it's an excavator, which travels on tracks, like a bulldozer, not wheels. A backhoe is mounted on the back a tractor, hence the term, backhoe. It is usually accompanied by a front loader mounted on the front of the tractor. An actual backhoe is too small for a job of this size. An excavator's long boom and arm are necessary to reach the upper floors of a protected historical building that evil fucking child molester currently defiling the Oval Office has NO business destroying.
He'll probably die before it's completed, so he won't be able to do his asinine dance in his useless ballroom. Didn't anybody tell him that no one visits the White House to dance? I look forward to the day when the world is rid of that psychopath.

[Denvermosaic]

40. Quick look at here. All a diversion from this bastard so the Epstein files stay out of the headlines.

[QueerDuck]

42. One word: HORRIFYING!

[BidenRocks]

43. Chump's ballroom

Not America's!

Nip it in the bud!

A Terrorist is destroying our heritage!

STOP HIM!!