MaddowBlog-Trump's new architect sketches out an even more ambitious White House overhaul

[LetMyPeopleVote]

If the unnecessary ballroom weren't enough, there are now plans to add a second story to the West Wing’s colonnade.

MSNOW - Trump’s new architect sketches out an even more ambitious White House overhaul

If the unnecessary ballroom weren't enough, there are now plans to add a second story to the West Wing’s colonnade.

— Lola Gayle (@lolagaylec.bsky.social) 2026-01-10T15:57:54.938Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-new-architect-sketches-out-an-even-more-ambitious-white-house-overhaul

And so, last month, Trump hired a new architect to oversee the initiative — one who presumably would be comfortable with the president’s appetite for an ever-expanding project.

It’s against this backdrop that The Washington Post reported:

President Donald Trump plans to build his controversial ballroom as tall as the White House’s main mansion itself, the project’s chief architect told a federal review committee Thursday — a significant change of plans that breaks with long-standing architectural norms requiring additions to be shorter than the main building.

The same report noted that the new architect, Shalom Baranes, told the National Capital Planning Commission that as part of the White House overhaul, officials are also considering a one-story addition to the West Wing’s colonnade — a subject about which the president talked to The New York Times a day earlier.

The Republican told the newspaper that he was calling the project the “Upper West Wing.”.....

He said he wanted to paint the entirety of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is part of the White House complex, so that it would look like, in the words of Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, “a big white blob.” (Late last week, the president indicated that this is still a priority.)

Evidently, the to-do list is still growing.

If we were talking about a Trump-owned property, all of this would merely be a curiosity, but we’re not. This is the White House — which is supposed to be our house.

In 1998, the late David Broder criticized Bill Clinton in a memorable way. “He came in here and he trashed the place — and it’s not his place,” the longtime Washington Post columnist said of the Democratic president.

Broder, of course, was being metaphorical about Clinton and his impact at the White House. A generation later, the incumbent Republican president is actually trashing the place.

[NCDem47]

1. It won't be a a "house" for much longer

More like a palace complex.

Totally and utterly goes against what was envisioned.

[doc03]

2. It is just matter of time before he knocks down the

West Wing.

[Nictuku]

3. And here I thought the Right wanted SMALLER Government