Swalwell Urges Democrats to Pledge Demolition of Trump Ballroom

Rep. Eric Swalwell urged any Democrat seeking the 2028 nomination to pledge to demolish President Trump’s planned White House ballroom, posting on X that candidates should “take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE” and suggesting it be renamed the “Barack Obama Ballroom.” The project would remove part of the East Wing to construct a roughly 90,000-square-foot ballroom estimated to hold about 650–1,000 guests, with cost estimates between $250 million and $300 million that Trump says will be covered by him and private donors. The proposal drew strong conservative pushback, including critics calling Swalwell’s idea “reckless” and an “idiot,” while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the addition as a needed modernization to permit indoor state functions. Opponents on the left and right have labeled the plan a politicized “monument to corruption,” and the ballroom has become a wider political flashpoint fueling fundraising and rhetoric on both sides.