The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng ripped Donald Trump for bragging about his planned White House ballroom—including a boast that it would have glass “you can see through.”
On Tuesday, the 79-year-old president led a media tour of the construction site on the ruins of the demolished East Wing and tried to explain why the ballroom would be so important for the White House and for national security.
“Since everyone is so skeptical about it, Donald Trump made sure to defend it loud and clear,” quipped Chieng as footage played of Trump’s inaudible press conference amid construction work.
“But once the noise calmed down a bit, Trump did have a chance to explain some of the unique architectural innovations that justify the cost of this ballroom,” Chieng continued. The president was then shown boasting to reporters, “I think you can see the complexity. All of these columns go directly up to the roof.”
Chieng retorted, “That’s right, up to the roof. We’re not doing any of those columns that stop halfway, OK?”
“Very innovative!” he joked.
Trump also told reporters that the glass for the ballroom is “amazing” because “you can see through it as though it didn’t exist.”
“Wow, glass you can see through. Very cool,” Chieng said. “It sounds like you’re just describing every building.”
Trump’s description of the ballroom comes amid heightened scrutiny of the project, which has occupied him for months. The president is pushing for the building to be completed before he leaves office, painting it as a national security issue after the apparent assassination attempt against him at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month.
Chieng, along with several other late-night hosts, criticized the scale of the project, and questioned whether it was needed. The Trump administration has asked American taxpayers for $1 billion to fund the building as part of security additions to the White House. The Senate parliamentarian has ruled against the proposal, and Republicans themselves have condemned the price.
Trump told reporters that the ballroom will not be paid for by taxpayers but will instead be funded by corporate donors, including Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Palantir, T-Mobile, and Google.
“This is a gift to the United States of America,” he said.
Chieng posited that there is a level of “corruption” in having a “giant ballroom built as a favor by your corporate friends.”
“I mean, I bet he’s building the ballroom just so he can do a slip and fall,” Chieng joked. “He’ll be dancing in there. He’ll hit his head. He’s going to leave the office with a fake neck brace and $3 trillion.”
