The president originally said the East Wing would remain intact, but it came down this week, which led to an outpouring of angst. First came the “optics” of this. CBS reporter Weijia Jiang relayed, “Some Democrats have criticized President Trump for focusing on a new ballroom while the government remains shut down.” That’s shameless, since it’s the Democrats who refuse to end the shutdown.

ABC’s Mary Bruce, who routinely cheer-led President Joe Biden’s time at the White House, also brought the “growing controversy” chatter and found Republicans for the optics argument: “Some Republicans tonight [are] now questioning the optics of this, especially during the shutdown.” She located just one: outgoing North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

Then Bruce added, “former First Lady Hillary Clinton saying to the American people, ‘it’s not his house, it’s your house and he’s destroying it.’” Her daughter Chelsea Clinton penned an op-ed for USA Today with the same “people’s house” theme.

FETTERMAN DEFENDS TRUMP’S ‘TASTEFUL’ $200M WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM MAKEOVER AMID DEM CRITICISM

This is rich, considering the Clintons sold overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom to top donors and President Bill Clinton turned the White House into an intern sex den. It’s also rich considering the Clintons were caught trying to steal $28,000 worth of donated furniture as they vacated the house in 2001. Guess what? The Washington Post broke the story, but the broadcast networks didn’t want to repeat it.

Imagine the Reagans trying to make off with donated furniture? Imperious Nancy never would have heard the end of it. But the Clintons were let off the hook. ABC reported nothing on air. On CBS, Dan Rather gave it 19 seconds. NBC offered a full story in the evening after the Post, but by the next morning, “Today” co-host Matt Lauer was calling the whole thing off: “Is this a big deal, or are we in the middle of Pick On The Clintons Month?” Newsweek’s Howard Fineman helpfully replied, “Well, it’s always Pick On The Clintons Month.”

Anyone who watches these Clinton-coddling networks and their incessantly hyper-negative coverage of the Trumps can only roll their eyes.

DAVID MARCUS: TRUMP’S BALLROOM IS NO VANITY PROJECT, IT’S ABOUT AMERICAN GRANDEUR

Even on the ballroom story, NBC trotted out Connecticut Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal to throw the tyranny card: “It’s his personal whim and it is sort of emblematic of the authoritarian, tyrannical approach that this president takes to power.”

The White House said President Donald Trump would directly reveal a name for the upcoming White House ballroom. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It’s privately funded, so it needs no congressional approval. The liberals can’t stop it from happening. So, somehow, it’s a power grab to build a grand new ballroom for future presidents to enjoy. At least NBC News shows had to disclose that their owner Comcast is a donor to the renovation, which will be for all future presidents.

Unsurprisingly, the unanimous Trump-haters at ABC’s “The View” offered nothing but cauldrons of spite. Sunny Hostin couldn’t stop calling the ballroom plans “tacky and gaudy,” and Whoopi Goldberg falsely said, “your taxes are probably going to be paying for that ballroom.” Joy Behar said this demolition proved Trump was a “one-man wrecking ball” and bungled into calling him an “annihilist.” He “annihilates.”

They really hated Trump asking for millions of dollars of reimbursement from the Justice Department over all the investigations of him, leading Hostin to uncork the conspiracy that he was never leaving the White House: “If he gets this $230 million, it’s going to be used to renovate a White House which he never intends to leave!”

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The late-night comedians performed their usual leftist rituals. Outgoing CBS host Stephen Colbert cracked: “As of this morning, the East Wing looks like a rotisserie chicken your dog got into.” He called it a “ball-doggle” funded by “groveling corporations like Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Meta Platforms and Hard Rock International.”

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Previous renovations under Democrats were not controversial. On September 10, 2010, CNN aired a cheery story from anchor Suzanne Malveaux about all “the banging, the jack-hammering, the dust” from a taxpayer-funded $375 million renovation. They said Congress approved funding in 2008, and no one went looking for politicians to cry “authoritarian.”

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Back in 1962, CBS and NBC aired a prime-time special promoting First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy offering a tour of the White House under renovation. ABC ran it four days later. They were all engaged in “Camelot” myth-making, creating “cultural icon” Jackie while JFK was besmirching the White House with extramarital affairs.

If the White House is “the people’s house,” then why would the people object to a glamorous ballroom that can accommodate large gatherings, especially important foreign dignitaries? It’s only an outrage because it’s Trump’s project.

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Tim Graham is the Executive Editor of NewsBusters.org and co-author with Brent Bozell of “Unmasked: Big Media’s War Against Trump.”

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The White House website as of Thursday includes a “major events timeline” of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., stretching back to 1791, when plans for the iconic building were first mapped out. The timeline includes a series of benchmarks such as the addition of the north portico from 1829 to 1830, and the addition of the Oval Office in 1909 under the Taft administration and the “total reconstruction” of the White House interior under the Truman administration.

The timeline also includes a handful of high-profile scandals that rocked previous Democratic administrations.

“2023: Cocaine Discovered,” one slide on the White House’s website reads. “During Biden’s administration, a U.S. Secret Service agent discovered a small, zippered plastic bag containing cocaine in the West Wing entrance lobby.”

HILLARY CLINTON MOCKED FOR 2001 FURNITURE SCANDAL AMID TRUMP BALLROOM MELTDOWN: ‘AT LEAST HE DIDN’T STEAL’

The Trump administration is trolling Democrats over their objection to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom construction.  (Getty Images)

“Speculation has pointed to Hunter Biden, an admitted drug user,” the slide continues. “Additional evidence includes a laptop, seized in 2019, which contains photos of frequent drug use alongside emails about foreign business dealings (Ukraine, China) involving his father, Joe, while he was Vice President.”

Former President Bill Clinton’s 1998 sex scandal with intern Monica Lewinsky and former President Barack Obama inviting a delegation of the Muslim Brotherhood to the White House in 2012 also were included on the official timeline.

“1998: Bill Clinton Scandal,” one slide reads. “President Bill Clinton’s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky was exposed, leading to White House perjury investigations. The Oval Office trysts fueled impeachment for obstruction.”

The Trump administration updated the White House’s website to include a historical timeline of the building, including past controversies.  (White House )

“2012: Muslim Brotherhood Visit,” another slide reads. Obama hosts “member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that promotes Islamist extremism and has ties to Hamas. The Muslim Brotherhood is a designated terrorist organization by nearly a dozen nations.”

Then-President Joe Biden speaks at the Pride Month celebration on the South Lawn of the White House, June 10, 2023, in Washington, D.C.  (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Another slide takes issue with former President Joe Biden’s administration recognizing International Transgender Day of Visibility on the same day as Easter in 2023. International Transgender Day of Visibility was created by activists more than 10 years ago and is celebrated each year on March 31, with the Biden administration acknowledging both holidays in 2024.

“2023-2024: The Biden/Harris administration hosts transexuals at the White House in 2023, and goes on to establish the ‘The Transgender Day of Visibility’ on the same day as Easter Sunday in 2024,” the slide reads.

The White House’s historical timeline was launched as Democrats, from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, criticized Trump for constructing a ballroom at the White House. The 90,000-square-foot project is privately funded and will accommodate an estimated 650 seated guests, according to the White House.

The White House has started tearing down part of the East Wing to build the ballroom President Donald Trump wants to be added to the building. (The Associated Press)

“It’s not his house,” Clinton wrote on X Tuesday morning. “It’s your house. And he’s destroying it.”

TRUMP CELEBRATES WHITE HOUSE DEMOLITION AS NEW BALLROOM RISES: ‘MUSIC TO MY EARS’

“Oh you’re trying to say the cost of living is skyrocketing? Donald Trump can’t hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom,” Warren added in her own criticism.

“I wanted to share this photo of my family standing by a historic part of the White House that was just torn down today by Trump,” New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim posted to X Monday. “We didn’t need a billionaire-funded ballroom to celebrate America. Disgusting what Trump is doing.”

TRUMP BREAKS GROUND ON MASSIVE WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM PROJECT WITH PRIVATE FUNDING FROM ‘PATRIOTS’

The Trump administration has, meanwhile, celebrated that the new addition of the White House does not cost taxpayers, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt adding that presidents have long complained that the historic residence lacks a space to entertain large groups.

A McCrery Architects rendering provided by the White House of the exterior of the new ballroom. (White House)

“Nearly every single president who’s lived in this beautiful White House behind me has made modernizations and renovations of their own,” Leavitt said on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” Tuesday. “In fact, presidents for decades — in modern times — have joked about how they wished they had a larger event space here at the White House, something that could hold hundreds more people than the current East Room and State Dining Room.”

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“President Obama even complained that, during his tenure, he had to hold a state dinner on the South Lawn and rent a very expensive tent.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the respective offices of Clinton, Obama and Biden Thursday morning regarding the past controversies.

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