Dem
53
Ties
2
GOP
45
Donald Trump was in a big hurry to get his ballroom finished quickly so he can hold his balls there. To speed things up, he did the initial design himself. After all, he thinks he knows buildings like nobody knows buildings. Then he hired a professional architect, James McCrery II, to finish up the details. McCrery immediately saw that Trump's design violated the D.C. fire code and the building safety code, which only wimps care about, after all. McCrery duly informed Trump that his design was illegal, but Trump knew that he knew better than the professional architect and insisted on doing it his way. McCrery didn't want his name associated with a building that violated fire and building safety codes, so he quit. He probably also knew that Trump often stiffs the people he hires, lets them sue him, then ties the case up in court for 10 years until the other side gives up.
Among other things, this incident shows what Trump's priorities are. Iran war? Nah? Ballroom? Very much so. Trump is very much into the details rather than hiring a professional and saying: "I want a beautiful ballroom that can hold [X] people. Please design one for me."
White House renovations are normally handled by agencies that are required by law to meet all national and local codes, but Trump has bypassed all of them and given project management to a tiny office that is not even a federal agency and is thus exempt from federal rules.
It is not clear if Trump has budged on his design since then. If he hasn't—and budging is not one of Trump's strengths—this could become important on Jan. 20, 2029. If the ballroom is not compliant then, a Democratic president could say: "I can't risk harm happening to foreign diplomats and government employees. Retrofitting the ballroom is impossible now, so I just ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to tear down the ballroom. I had no choice. I will ask Congress for permission to rebuild the East Wing as it was before 2020." In other words, code violations could be an excellent cover story for a Democratic president to tear down the ballroom and claim it was for safety reasons, not because he wanted to stick it to Trump. The public might well accept that decision based on fire and safety grounds. So Trump may be handing a future Democratic president a plausible reason (on a golden platter) for tearing down the ballroom and getting then public to see the decision as legitimate. (V)