President Donald Trump’s estranged niece has savaged the president for his massively over budget White House ballroom project, describing it as an “obscene grotesquerie.”
In a video uploaded to her YouTube channel, Mary Trump, the daughter of the president’s late brother Fred Trump Jr., tore into her aging uncle for his decision to tear down the East Wing and build the 90,000-square-foot ballroom, the budget for which has soared to $400 million, double the original price tag.
The size of the ballroom will dwarf the main White House building.
“Who is going to be making use of that obscene grotesquerie? This ballroom is just another grift, another testament to his narcissism and neediness,” Mary Trump said of her 79-year-old uncle.
Mary Trump played a clip of Fox News host Jesse Watters claiming that Trump admitted his ballroom vanity project is a “monument” to himself, as he sees no other way such a tribute would come about.
“Why exactly do people think that’s funny?” she asked. “I mean, if you think that’s funny, it’s because you know it’s true and you think that Donald Trump is a ridiculous buffoon who understands in some very deep, lizard-brain way that nobody values him. Nobody will ever, ever, pay homage to him. Nobody will ever honor him when he’s gone.”
She added: “If he’s going to be remembered in a way that matters to him, he’s going to have to build his own monuments to himself. That is how pathetic that small, little man is.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
The Daily Beast revealed in December that the president’s ballroom project would be located on the second level of a newly constructed two-story building. It is expected to be connected to the president’s primary residence.
The ballroom is expected to be completed in late 2028, coinciding with the end of his term in office.
It’s just one part of Trump’s round of aggressive renovations, which he has ordered since his return to the White House for a second term last year.
He also gilded the Oval Office with rococo mirrors, gold medallions, and eagle figurines; paved over the Rose Garden to make it a patio and added a tacky sign; erected oversized flagpoles on the grounds; and announced plans to build a triumphal arch across from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C—a so-called “Arc de Trump.”
