Americans are struggling but Trump’s too busy with his ballroom to care

President Donald Trump is reportedly obsessing over making his planned White House ballroom far larger than the project’s architect recommends, even as Americans struggle to afford food and electricity as the economy slows.

According to The Washington Post, Trump has been clashing behind the scenes with architect James McCrery about the size of the ballroom, with Trump pushing for the addition to be 90,000 square feet—nearly double the 55,000-square-foot White House.

Multiple administration officials have privately admitted that Trump is micromanaging the project, to the extent that a model of the ballroom is now prominently featured in the Oval Office, the Post reports.

Trump has circumvented the traditional approval process for a major construction project of this nature, which has involved the destruction of one of America’s most iconic structures. He failed to submit construction plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, which is tasked by Congress with oversight of federal projects.

Despite his disregard for this requirement, it’s important to remember that Trump does not own the White House; the American people do.

Trump previously discussed his desire for the ballroom to resemble his tacky, gold-covered Mar-a-Lago property—similar to his treatment of the rest of the White House. Not only does the Oval Office now resemble a Las Vegas casino, but there is even gold-painted signage on the exterior of the White House—and it looks awful.

The tacky transformation of the White House—which is being done on the taxpayer’s dime—was hailed by press secretary Karoline Leavitt as “the Golden Office for the Golden Age.”

But things are less than golden for the average taxpayer.

Americans are faced with rising food prices, in part thanks to Trump’s idiotic tariffs. Datasembly analyzed food costs at 150,000 stores and discovered that the costs for a collection of 11 staples used for Thanksgiving meals is up 4.1% over 2024. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that overall costs for food eaten at home are up 2.7% from last year.

Trump campaigned in 2024 on lowering food prices on “Day 1” of his presidency. Instead, things cost more now than they did under former President Joe Biden.

Simultaneously, electricity prices are going up, fueled by growth in AI data centers. Instead of conducting oversight of AI corporations, the Trump administration has been trying to circumvent regulation of the industry.

Trump has shown a tin ear for the problems Americans are facing. He recently bragged about the increased costs his tariffs are adding to consumer goods, touting “record-setting” tariff revenue. Those costs are being passed on to consumers, who aren’t obsessing over oversized golden ballrooms.

The net result of Trump’s economy is a downward trend in consumer confidence. But that won’t matter when Trump is sitting comfortably in his new, enormous ballroom.