President Donald Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing has annoyed Pete Buttigieg, but not for the same reasons as Hillary Clinton and other left-wing politicians.
The Biden transportation secretary and former Indiana mayor said he is galled by the timing of the East Wing’s destruction—to make way for a “literally gilded” ballroom—more than anything, as millions of everyday Americans are just learning their healthcare costs are spiking.
“My focus right now isn’t about historic preservation,” he told CNN. “It’s about what’s going on in people’s lives.”
He continued, “What’s most wrong about what President Trump is doing to the White House grounds is—it shows that his focus is on building a bigger venue for fancy dinners, when, because of his actual policies, Americans are opening those letters and finding out this week that they’re not going to be able to afford their healthcare next year.”
The majority of the criticism of Trump’s flattening of the East Wing—and the historic greenery surrounding it—has centered on his willy-nilly erasure of American history.
Clinton said, “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.” Former First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s grandson slammed Trump for pouring concrete on the Rose Garden his grandmother built, transforming it into a Mar-a-Lago-esque patio. And Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has raged that the demolition—carried out without congressional approval—was outright illegal.
Buttigieg, 43, is ticked for another reason. He said that the construction of the ballroom, which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted was Trump’s “main priority” among renovations, is proof that the billionaire president values having space for swanky dinners more than helping everyday Joe.
The East Wing’s teardown also comes amid a lengthy government shutdown, which is requiring hundreds of thousands of federal workers, including air traffic controllers and TSA agents, to work without pay.
“How in the world could you be focused on building a new ballroom—literally gilded ballroom—for fancy parties for your rich friends, at the exact moment when working Americans, actually disproportionately working Americans, who voted for you, are getting screwed by your healthcare policy, and you don’t seem to be interested in helping them,” Buttigieg said.
Trump, 79, justified the construction of the ballroom, now expected to be named after him, by saying it is necessary to host large events at the White House and that it will be used more by his successors than by him. That explanation ignores that past presidents got along fine without a 90,000-square-foot ballroom towering over the Executive Residence, which is just 55,000 square feet.
CNN pundit Elex Michaelson suggested to Buttigieg that Trump might convince the “American people” that the ballroom is for them, as it will be part of the “People’s House.”
Michaelson also noted that some Americans may think it is actually good for the White House to have that “sort of space” for events—even if it comes at the expense of the East Wing.
Buttigieg answered, “Most of the people who are getting these letters about their healthcare premiums are never going to be invited to dinner at the White House. He’s not there for them.”
