Trump’s Late-Night Brag Trips Over His Own Deranged Trolling
The president stumbled over simple facts about the White House.
Eric Lee/Reuters
Donald Trump’s late-night Truth Social bragging quickly turned into an accidental self-own.
The 80-year-old president posted on his social media site just before 1 a.m. Eastern time Thursday, showing off his tacky White House renovations.
He patted himself on the back for work on the building’s facade, and for adding a gigantic eyesore helipad on the South Lawn. He argued that the front of the People’s House had “been fully restored to the Highest Level,” before crowing about “the Ballroom and Military Complex,” which, he bragged, “is on time, and on budget, and will make an unbelievably beautiful addition.”

Truth Social / Donald Trump
However, he added that the latter would be “the first [addition] since the West Wing in 1901, to the White House.”
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There are two factual problems with the president’s statement. The West Wing was built in 1902, not 1901.
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Also, the East Wing was substantially rebuilt and expanded in 1942, including a second-story addition, under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Trump ordered the demolition of the iconic structure last October to make way for his oversized ballroom.

The website, updated last year, contains references to controversies from previous administrations.
The White House
FDR, a polio survivor who was wheelchair-bound, also installed an indoor therapeutic swimming pool in the West Terrace in 1933. The next year, he reconstructed and expanded the West Wing, moving the Oval Office to the southeast corner of the building so it would directly overlook the Rose Garden. He also added a second-floor “penthouse” story and enlarged subterranean office spaces.
Even the White House’s own website gives the dates of the initial construction and FDR’s East Wing work.
In fact, last October, Trump’s comms goons made a whole song and dance about the dates, as part of a petty troll on the president’s renovation critics.

The page also mocks Hunter Biden and trans people.
The White House
An official government webpage on the history of the White House was updated to include references to controversies from previous administrations.
Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky and the discovery of drugs in the West Wing lobby during Joe Biden’s term were included, as were more relevant things, such as FDR’s changes to the White House and, of course, the actual date construction started.
Under 2012, the timeline featured a photo of former President Barack Obama wearing a traditional African garment, alongside the caption: “Obama hosts members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that promotes Islamist extremism and has ties to Hamas.”
The site also references the discovery of cocaine in the West Wing in 2023, during Biden’s presidency. The Trump administration paired the entry with a photo of Biden’s son Hunter, who is in recovery from drug addiction, writing that “speculation has pointed to Hunter Biden, an admitted drug user.”
The page also trolls the Biden administration for hosting transgender people at the White House in 2023, using the outdated term “transsexuals,” and for recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility in 2024.
The timeline then touts Trump’s renovations since returning to power in January, including new flagpoles and gaudy changes to the Oval Office.
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