{"id":251652,"date":"2025-10-26T00:20:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T00:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/251652\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T00:20:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T00:20:12","slug":"bill-mahers-reaction-to-trumps-ballroom-kind-of-jealous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/251652\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Maher’s reaction to Trump’s ballroom: ‘Kind of jealous’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comedian Bill Maher<\/a> joked on Friday night that he was \u201ckind of jealous\u201d of the speed with which President Donald Trump<\/a> got the East Wing of the White House<\/a> demolished, though he also warned: \u201cThe symbolism is he\u2019s not leaving; that\u2019s what bothered me about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsweek contacted the White House for comment on Saturday via email outside of regular office hours.<\/p>\n

Why It Matters<\/p>\n

This week saw the demolition of the East Wing of the White House, which used to house the first lady\u2019s offices, to make way for a new 90,000 square foot state ballroom<\/a> that is planned to hold up to 650 seated people.<\/p>\n

The move caused controversy with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, who accused the president of pursuing a \u201cvanity project,\u201d while Trump insisted the East Wing was \u201cready to be replaced.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n

Trump said a new hosting venue at the White House had been wanted \u201cfor at least 150 years,\u201d adding the East Wing had been \u201cvery, very much changed from what it was originally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, the new White House ball room was estimated to cost $200 million, though this has since been increased to $300 million.<\/a> According to Trump, the money is coming from private donors. <\/a><\/p>\n

What To Know<\/p>\n

Satellite photographs provided to Newsweek by Planet,<\/a> a company that specializes in satellite photography, showed the East Wing of the White House had been completely demolished as of October 23. <\/p>\n

According to the New York Times, which cited a White House official, the demolition work began on October 20.<\/p>\n

Maher addressed the East Wing\u2019s demolition during his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresidents have changed the White House in little ways before, but you know they always got approval from Congress\u2026Now as a constitutionalist, I must say I find this appalling. As the guy who took three years to get my f****** solar panels in I\u2019m kind of jealous. I\u2019m kind of in awe because I live in LA where you need 13 permits to put a bird feeder on your deck,\u201d Maher said.<\/p>\n

A clip of Maher\u2019s remarks was shared on X by Mario Nawfal, a business and politics commentator, where it has currently been viewed over 80,000 times.<\/p>\n

Maher later discussed the issue with Michael Steele<\/a>, formerly chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and a Trump critic, and Kate Bedingfield who served as White House Communications Director under former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident\u2019s do change the buildings, [Richard] Nixon put in a bowling alley, [Barack] Obama made the tennis court a basketball court, I can\u2019t get this mad about everything,\u201d the comedian said.<\/p>\n

Steele replied: \u201cI\u2019m not mad. It\u2019s not a question about being mad. It\u2019s a question of understanding what the symbolism is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher said that \u201cthe symbolism” about the construction of the new ballroom “is he\u2019s not leaving, that\u2019s what bothers me about it\u201d to which Steele responded, \u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bedingfield added: \u201cIf this was the only impulsive reckless driven by his own desire for self-aggrandizement\u2014if this was the only thing, he\u2019d done on that front then I\u2019d give you it\u2019s just a building. But it\u2019s not, it\u2019s part of a manner of governing that is tearing at some of the institutional foundations of this country and that\u2019s scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

This clip was shared on X by the “Blue Georgia” account where it has been viewed over 190,000 so far.<\/p>\n

\"\"What People Are Saying<\/p>\n

Addressing reporters about the demolition on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: \u201cThis phase one that we\u2019re now in was necessary. The president wants to do right by the People\u2019s House.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House spokesperson David Ingle\u00a0previously told Newsweek: \u201cPresident 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\u2019s House.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat,\u00a0wrote on X on Monday: \u201cOh you\u2019re trying to say the cost of living is skyrocketing? Donald Trump can\u2019t hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Happens Next?<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen how the public and politicians will view the new White House ballroom once construction<\/a> has been completed, a precise date for which has not been announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comedian Bill Maher joked on Friday night that he was \u201ckind of jealous\u201d of the speed with which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[10161,12514,12,88,137026,92,30094,2805,3123],"class_list":{"0":"post-251652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bill-maher","9":"tag-construction","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-michael-steele","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-us-politics","15":"tag-washington-d-c","16":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}