Democrats are claiming that President Trump is “destroying” the White House. That he had promised that the ballroom construction wouldn’t interfere with the existing White House structure. Here’s cankles leading the pack:

And “Morning Joe”:

Now, here’s the truth. I know that you know the outrage is fake and ridiculous, but let’s lay it all out.

Here is the text of this last tweet:

A lot of FAKE OUTRAGE over construction of the big, beautiful (and privately funded) White House Ballroom.

FACT: Presidents have been renovating and expanding the White House for more than 100 years.

In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt built the West Wing .

In 1909, President William Howard Taft added the first Oval Office during a West Wing expansion.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt added a second floor to the West Wing; in 1934, he relocated the Oval Office to its current spot, completed the East Wing, and built an indoor swimming pool.

In 1948, President Harry Truman began completely gutting and rebuilding the White House interior, preserving only the exterior walls.

In 1970, President Nixon converted FDR’s pool into the press briefing room; in 1973, he added a bowling alley in the basement.

In 2009, President Obama upgraded the tennis court into a full basketball court.

Now, in 2025, President Trump has broken ground on a grand ballroom — modernizing the wing while privately funding the project.

Here is a photo of the White House reconstruction (complete building) during the Truman administration. To sum it up, the “historic White House” was constructed in the 1950’s.

The gutted interior of the White House, May 1950

During the administration of President Harry S. Truman, the White House underwent a renovation and expansion so extensive, it changed the Executive Mansion more than the fire of 1814. The White House we know today is largely due to the renovation led by Truman. The construction took place between 1948 and 1952 and was a remarkable feat of engineering. National Park Service photographer Abbie Rowe captured the entire process on film and the below galleries document the transformation.

For more photos:

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/collections/president-trumans-renovation

According to Wikipedia

When the Trumans moved into the executive mansion in 1945, they found it badly in need of repair after twelve years of neglect during the Great Depression and World War II. In 1946, Congress authorized $780,000 ($11 million in 2020 dollars) for repairs. The mansion’s heaving floors and mysterious sounds had been known by staff and first families for many years.

[…]

By late 1948, three main options were considered for replacement of the White House:

• Demolish and rebuild the interior, keeping the exterior walls intact.
• Demolish the building entirely and construct a new executive mansion.
• Demolish the building entirely, salvage the exterior walls and rebuild them and a new interior.

During 1949, the investigations were completed, the architectural and engineering design was finalized, and cost estimates concluded that the early estimate of $1 million was inadequate. In addition to simply replacing the interior, the mansion was to be modernized, the third floor expanded, two basement levels added, and there would be a major expansion of underground spaces for air conditioning and other services. The total number of rooms was nearly doubled to 132.

[…] The desire to seek the most economic solution was weighed against the costs of maintaining the White House’s historic presence. In the autumn of 1949, Congress authorized funding of $5.4 million ($61.4 million in 2021 dollars) for the entire project to reconstruct the White House while keeping the exterior walls in place.