Episode 819: Ballroom Meltdown

The Editors

National Review

Politics, Charles C. W. Cooke, Conservatism, Conservative, Policy, Government, News, Jim Geraghty, Rich Lowry, Michael Brendan Dougherty, Current Events, Noah Rothman, Madeleine Kearns, Society & Culture, Public Policy, National Review

4.4 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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0:00.0	What do we make of the Trump White House ballroom and is sports betting inherently corrupt? We'll discuss all this more on this edition of the editors. I'm Rich Lowry, and I'm joined, as always, by Audrey, the reporter Falberg, the grill master, Phil Klein, and the notorious MBD. Michael Brandon Doherty, you are, of course, listening to a National View podcast. Our sponsors this episode are Donors Trust and Do No Harm, more about both of them in due course. For some reason, you're not already following us on a streaming service, by the way. You can find us everywhere from Spotify to Apple Podcast. And if you like what you hear here, please consider giving us a glowing five-star review wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you don't like what you hear here, please forget. I said anything. So MBD, we have a big
0:56.5	White House renovation underway. At first, we thought Trump was just tearing down part of a wall
1:04.8	on the East Wing. Now it turns out they're wiping out the whole East Wing to build this
1:10.0	big ballroom that he's been obsessed
1:12.1	with for a while doesn't like entertaining intense on the White House lawn when they're big
1:17.8	fancy state dinners. There is a complete freak out about this that's been building all week.
1:24.9	People think it's illegal. People think it really finally proves entirely that Donald Trump is an authoritarian.
1:32.0	People think it's corrupt because it's being funded by private donors.
1:36.0	What do you make of it?
1:37.8	I'm all for it.
1:39.0	I mean, I'm not for authoritarianism or the idea that you only add a ballroom to your house when you intend to stay in it forever or all these weird theories.
1:52.0	But the east wing of the White House was not fit for purpose if you've ever been in it.
2:00.4	Most of the White House is not fit for purpose, really.
2:03.0	It's cramped.
2:04.2	It's difficult.
2:05.0	The West Wing itself needs to be completely renovated and expanded.
2:11.2	You think the whole White House in general is a gut job.
2:14.4	More difficult?
2:15.1	Yeah, I basically do.
2:16.7	I basically agree with Trump that we need a more fitting place for these state dinners.
2:22.6	The tent is ridiculous.
2:25.3	And he picked a great architect in McCreary and associates.
	...

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