The storied East Wing may be gone, but a part of it lives on in President Donald Trump’s MAGAfied White House.
Trump, 79, showed off a bust of former President Abraham Lincoln that he kept from the 123-year-old East Wing before it was demolished to make way for his tacky ballroom.
The president showed off the massive bust situated in the West Wing colonnade as he escorted his YouTube vlogger granddaughter, Kai, 18, into the Oval Office for holiday festivities.
“I got this from the East Wing,” he told Kai in a vlog titled “Christmas at the White House” released Saturday. “This came out of the East Wing, the famous East Wing. This looks good, doesn’t it here? The same man that did the Mount Rushmore.”
“The gold looks nice,” Kai told her grandpa, referring to his many ornate additions to the White House—including a gaudy cursive sign that reads, “The Oval Office.”
“Very nice,” Trump responded.
The East Wing was reduced to rubble as Trump put on his builder hat and began construction on his long-desired ballroom, which is expected to dwarf the White House at a staggering 90,000 square feet.
The ballroom is now expected to cost a whopping $400 million, though Trump has repeatedly assured the public that it would be funded by donations.
A White House official told the Daily Beast that other items from the East Wing—from art and lighting fixtures to topiaries—were properly preserved and either stored away or relocated throughout the presidential complex.
Anything that isn’t being preserved, the official added, will be taken to a local recycling plant.
On Saturday, Fox News host Jesse Watters revealed that Trump sees the ballroom as a “monument” to himself.
Watters recounted an exchange he had with the president during the Turning Point USA AmericaFest.
“So he brings us over to the executive room and he sits down and we’re having, like, Mexican food. And he goes, ‘Jesse, do you want to see the rendition of the big beautiful ballroom?’ I said, ‘Sure, let me see it,’” he began.
“He rolls the whole thing out, and guys, I don’t know if you know this, the ballroom is huge. I said, ‘Mr. President, the ballroom is four times the size of the White House,’” he went on. “He said, ‘Jesse, it’s a monument. I’m building a monument to myself because no one else will.’”
When reached for comment about Watters’ remarks, the White House told the Daily Beast that Trump is “working 24/7 to Make America Great Again, including his historic beautification of the White House, at no taxpayer expense.”
“These long-needed upgrades will benefit generations of future presidents and American visitors to the People’s House,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said.
