(The Center Square) \u2013 U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., supports the president\u2019s White House ballroom renovation, seemingly putting him further at odds with his fellow Democrats.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His comments were made on Sunday morning, less than 12 hours after a man stormed the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association Dinner<\/a> and fired shots at a Secret Service agent at the Washington Hilton in the room outside of the event.<\/p>\n On Monday, Cole Tomas Allen, the alleged attacker, was charged with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were there front and center. That venue wasn\u2019t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government. After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these,\u201d Fetterman said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fetterman\u2019s reference of \u201cTDS\u201d is the shortened phrase of \u201cTrump Derangement Syndrome,\u201d a common line mentioned in defense of Trump from critics.<\/p>\n According to Reuters<\/a>, Fetterman is the only Democrat serving in the U.S. Senate who has publicly voiced his support for building and funding the White House ballroom pushed by Trump.<\/p>\n A social media post<\/a> from Burgess Everett, Semafor\u2019s congressional bureau chief, indicates that the senator is also on board with a $400 million congressional appropriation to fund the project and build a Secret Service annex underground. The Center Square has not independently confirmed this.<\/p>\n Trump first formally announced<\/a> his plans on July 31 to build an \u201caddition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people \u2014 a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.\u201d In October, the east wing of the White House<\/a> was demolished to make way for the new ballroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n A federal judge last month issued an injunction halting construction after months of litigation, according to The Hill<\/a>, though a \u201cfederal appeals court issued an administrative stay allowing the project to proceed until early June.\u201d The ruling stated that construction had to stop unless Congress authorized funding for the project.<\/p>\n U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced on Monday that he would introduce legislation<\/a> to authorize funding to fully fund construction of a White House ballroom, \u201cwhich over time will provide adequate security for this president and future presidents for events like the White House Correspondents Dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the $400 million plan from Trump has received pushback, Axios<\/a> reports, from preservationists and some Democrats, who have called it a \u201cvanity project backed by secretive donors seeking favor with the president.\u201d<\/p>\n While Fetterman has now formally endorsed building the White House ballroom, it\u2019s not the first time he\u2019s publicly addressed Trump\u2019s plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an interview with Fox News<\/a> in August 2025, Fetterman said that he didn\u2019t have a \u201cstrong opinion\u201d on expanding the ballroom and how it should be paid for.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think everything that I’ve seen, the plans are going to be done in a tasteful and historical kind of a way,\u201d Fetterman said in August. \u201cI mean, they’re not putting in a Dave and Busters kind of a situation here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think upgrading some of these facilities seems pretty normal,\u201d he continued. \u201cOverall, I don’t have a strong opinion on it, but it’s not a point where I’m going to freak out or make some kind of weird demandings, or have a hearing on it.\u201d<\/p>\n At least one Pennsylvania Democrat is publicly expressing his disagreement with Fetterman\u2019s comments, specifically taking issue with his reference of those opposing it as having \u201cTDS.\u201d<\/p>\n State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who also serves as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, called Fetterman<\/a> \u201ca mess\u201d on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost every day now my US Senator comes on this site to attack his constituents and many people who worked hard to elect him.\u00a0 Suggesting that they have \u201cderangement syndrome\u201d for opposing this administration. You\u2019re a mess @JohnFetterman,\u201d Kenyatta wrote on social media.<\/p>\n