He’s Building a Massive Secret Bunker Beneath the Ballroom!! Amanda w Jon Golinger

We Can Do Hard Things

Treat Media and Glennon Doyle

Relationships, Education, Self-improvement, Society & Culture

4.8 • 42.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2026

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why is he building a massive secret bunker?!?! In today’s jaw-dropping deep dive, Amanda follows the money—and the secrets—behind a $400 million White House ballroom, and what is hiding beneath it. What starts as a flashy construction project unravels into a story about power, secrecy, and the dangerous things that happen when no one is watching. With democracy advocate Jon Golinger, Amanda goes past the headlines to ask the real question: What is this really about—and who is paying for it? - Why the “ballroom” might not be about a ballroom at all - The shocking discovery of a massive underground bunker—and why it matters - How anonymous corporate ballroom “donors” may be shaping government decisions - What happens when oversight disappears—and who pays the price - The bigger question: What are we being told and what’s being hidden This one isn’t just about politics. It’s about truth, power, and what we’re willing to question. Also: In this episode, Jon talks about a hotline run by House Democrats for National Parks Employees who may wish to share information about the White House Ballroom Project that concerns them. Here it is: https://democrats-naturalresources.house.gov/contact/tipline About Jon: Jon Golinger serves as the Democracy Advocate for Public Citizen, one of the country’s leading government accountability watchdog organizations. Jon and Public Citizen sued to expose the secret agreement funding the President's ballroom project through anonymous private funders. Jon has devoted his career to exposing how corporate dollars shape public policy, pushing for campaign finance reform, and holding elected officials and institutions accountable. Prior to joining Public Citizen, Jon was an Assistant District Attorney and Investigator in the Special Prosecutions Unit of the White Collar Crime Division in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office where he led criminal investigations into public corruption. Follow We Can Do Hard Things on: Instagram — ⁠https://www.instagram.com/wecandohardthings⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you. Welcome back to We Can Do Hard Things. This is Amanda. I am very happy to be with you today to talk about something
0:11.0	deep below the buzz of the news to what I think is a very important and very alarming story you need to know about. Much of what we see buzzing in the news,
0:25.1	on its surface, it seems like one thing. Maybe your garden fair, foolish, nonsensical, self-dealing
0:33.5	nonsense, which is aggravating and demoralizing, but to which we have tragically become so
0:42.9	accustomed. But when you dig below the buzz of the news and dig down, down, down,
0:51.3	you realize there is so very, very much more hiding below the surface. That which we
0:59.3	cannot easily see, that which is not being talked about, but which we simply must show in the light
1:08.4	of day. That's what we're doing today, literally and figuratively.
1:12.9	Today we are digging under Trump's highly controversial $400 million ballroom and digging down,
1:22.4	down, down to unearth the massive secret military bunker.
1:30.3	He is right now as we speak, building secretly under the White House without congressional
1:38.7	oversight or approval.
1:41.1	Stay with me as we dig in together.
1:48.1	But before we do, I need to acknowledge last week's national tragedy. We have just witnessed six members of the Supreme Court
1:55.3	eviscerate the Voting Rights Act, a law ensuring that states follow the Constitution. Specifically,
2:04.8	the 15th Amendment's guarantee that the right to vote not be denied because of race. This is
2:13.0	absolutely devastating and cruel, specifically to black and brown Americans who they themselves
2:24.2	or their parents and grandparents endured inhumanity and then gave everything to ensure that America lived up to its own Constitution.
2:37.8	And make no mistake, it is also all of our problem.
2:42.1	Because when we let the Constitution fall for any of us, it's just a matter of time until it falls for all of us.
2:51.1	In future conversations, we'll talk about what this means and our action plan,
2:56.9	but for now, please know that I honor and share your grief and rage,
	...

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