April 28, 2026 10:56 AM UTC

UPDATE: Look Who's Getting Their Ballroom (Maybe)

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• by: Colorado Pols

TUESDAY UPDATE: As The New York Times reports, the Department of Justice is basically just doing a copy/paste from President Trump’s Truth Social account:

The Justice Department filed a remarkable motion late Monday, written in President Trump’s recognizable online voice, explicitly linking the security breach at the White House correspondents’ dinner to the lawsuit over the president’s ballroom project…

…“Because it is DONALD J. TRUMP, a highly successful real estate developer, who has abilities that others don’t, especially those who assume the Office of President, this frivolous and meritless lawsuit was filed,” the filing states. “Again, it’s called TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

The style of the motion leaves no doubt about the president’s significant influence over the decisions of the Justice Department. While parts of the motion are written in a traditional legal style, many sections are indistinguishable from the president’s combative posts on Truth Social.

“‘The National Trust for Historic Preservation’ is a beautiful name, but even their name is FAKE because when they add the words ‘in the United States’ to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it makes it sound like a Governmental Agency, which it is not,” the motion begins.

In the motion, the Trump administration asked that Judge Leon issue an indicative ruling — a nonbinding opinion signaling how he would approach the question if the case were returned to him. Such a ruling could inform the appeals court ahead of its decision but would not immediately dissolve the earlier injunction or otherwise end the case.

There truly is no floor when it comes to the Trump administration. Hopefully, Trump continues to be so distracted by the ballroom that he can’t focus on other terrible shit:

[Senator Lindsey Graham] said Mr. Trump constantly brings up the ballroom to him “all the time,” even in unrelated conversations about golf or how he’s feeling.

“Like, ‘How you doing?’ ‘Where’s the ballroom?’ ‘How you playing?’ ‘I don’t know. I’d play better if you built the ballroom,’” Mr. Graham said of his conversations with the president. “It’s all the time.”

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After a frightening incident this weekend in which an armed man with murderous intentions allegedly got way too close to President Donald Trump and the Washington, D.C. A-List at the White House Correspondent’s Association dinner on Saturday night, the one thing the MAGAverse is in universal agreement on, as the Washington Post reports…is that Trump should immediately get to build his controversial ballroom over the pit where the East Wing of the White House stood until recently:

Numerous lawmakers said they would support legislation to authorize and fund a new White House ballroom after the shooting on Saturday. Trump previously said the ballroom, estimated to cost $400 million, would be financed through private donations.

“It is an embarrassment to the strongest nation on earth that we cannot host gatherings in our nation’s capital, including ones attended by our President, without the threat of violence and attempted assassinations,” Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Montana) posted on X, announcing he’d introduce legislation permitting the construction of the ballroom. “A President of any party should be able to host events in a secure area without attendees worrying about their safety. This is common sense. Let’s get it done.”

The newfound clamor to approve a $400 million ballroom on White House grounds to protect Trump and all future Presidents from the heretofore unthinkable threat of a lone nut gunman–sorry, John Hinckley Jr.—includes Rep. Lauren Boebert:

But it’s not just Boebert: after Saturday night’s incident, MAGA influencers coast to coast were on this single message faster than you can say “that seems weird.”

CNN’s Aaron Blake couldn’t help but notice the missed opportunity:

After Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year, the Trump administration immediately set about citing the tragedy to justify a major crackdown of left-leaning groups. (This despite no evidence that such groups played any role.)

After a suspected gunman targeted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this weekend, President Donald Trump and some of his allies have focused on a much more quotidian political aim.

It’s all about the ballroom…

We certainly don’t want to encourage Trump to turn his focus away from his beloved ballroom toward an authoritarian crackdown on Americans, and either way there’s no reason to assume the administration couldn’t manage both. But it is notable that Trump chose to squander the political capital that for good or ill accompanies these kinds of events by immediately pivoting to one of his most unpopular pet projects, turning what could have been a moment of sympathy into another self-serving gimmick.

This is how Trump’s worst instincts are limited by his own petty distractions.