Trump is building his palace

October 22, 2025

In the mid-18th century, as the Russian people starved and suffered, a grand palace was going up in St. Petersburg. It didn’t matter that the country’s finances were strapped and that the unpopular Seven Years War was waging across Europe. Empress Elisabeth was determined to complete her Winter Palace. Worse, she was making her own people help foot the bill.

To the serfs and merchants, the Winter Palace represented everything that was wrong with the empire: overly extravagant, grotesquely opulent and a slap in the face to their daily hardships. But to the empress, the palace represented prestige and untouchable power — and just how far she would go to keep it.

I doubt Trump has read many books from that era or knows anything about Russian history. But if you want to predict Trump’s next move, studying Russian dictators has proven a smart place to start. Recently, he proved this fact once again.

As the American people poured into the streets for No Kings Day, Trump responded with an AI-generated video depicting him in a fighter jet dumping excrement on American citizens. Most importantly, he had a crown on his head. “King Trump” the side of the plane read.

Then, he got ready to break ground on his new project: a $250 million ballroom in the East Wing of the White House. Like everything Trump touches, the ballroom is smeared with gold, gaudy and paid for by billionaires. It’s exactly the type of project a wannabe-king would demand: a permanent fixture in his temporary home that destroys the past, celebrates his ego and reminds the American people exactly who holds the cards.

Forget governing: The government remains shut down, federal employees are losing their jobs, and funding for social programs is about to run out. But of course, King Trump is more concerned about building his ballroom. This is no mistake.

The pictures that came out of Monday’s demolition weren’t a mistake either. Because Trump didn’t just break ground on the ballroom. He broke into the White House — literally. Trucks tore into the facade of the East Wing for the sake of Trump’s vanity project, destroying the historic House that’s supposed to belong to the people. The president initially claimed the ballroom’s construction wouldn't touch the East Wing, but like most things that come out of Trump’s mouth, that was clearly a lie.

Let me be clear. This demolition is a message: The White House is no longer the People’s House. It is now Trump’s House.

While Trump certainly isn’t the first president to make changes to the White House — President Roosevelt built a pool, President Obama added a basketball court — Trump’s modifications are aimed at destroying history and celebrating himself.

As pictures began to leak of the East Wing’s demolition, many questions have emerged. Clearly, Trump didn’t go through the proper channels to get this done. While Trump claims that he will pay for a portion of the ballroom himself, that is almost certainly not true.

He has already admitted that anonymous donors will spend $20 million to complete the project. These names may not be public, but it’s safe to assume he knows who they are. The rest of us are left to assume it’s the usual crowd: tech oligarchs who are greedy for favors, corporate giants looking to expand their seedy empires, and long-time Republican donors seeking power and influence.

Trump doesn’t care that his administration’s policies are being dictated by billionaires and large corporations. But it should concern the rest of us.

Even more concerning is what this project means for free and fair elections. Trump’s ballroom isn’t the work of a man who plans to pack his bags and get on a plane to Florida in January 2029. He is not generous enough to build something that will benefit the country and presidents to come. He’s building the ballroom for himself, and he’s planning to stay put to enjoy it.

When monarchs built their palaces, they knew they were passing it down to their heirs. Even if they didn’t get to experience their creation to its fullest potential, the palace was an investment in their legacy. Louis XIV built Versailles as a symbol of his power, and Louis XV and Louis XVI continued that tradition.

Trump’s ballroom isn’t just a ballroom. It’s part of his plan to rule over the American people. If he gets his way, his pet project will host parties and coronations and state dinners for his loyal subjects, devoted admirers, and capitulating yes-men.

Trump isn’t hiding the ball. He told us he wants to be a king. He quite literally put a crown on his head and dumped sludge on the American people.

To that point, his demolition of the White House isn’t just symbolic. It’s literal. He’s not simply modernizing the kitchen or swapping out the bathroom tile. Trump is destroying our house and turning it into his own.

Trump wants to be a king. Now, he’s building his palace.