{"id":151,"date":"2026-05-21T09:06:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=151"},"modified":"2026-05-21T09:06:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:06:34","slug":"wsj-to-trump-youre-making-us-all-ballroom-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=151","title":{"rendered":"WSJ to Trump: You’re making us all ‘ballroom Republicans’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed $1 billion ballroom and $1.8 billion slush fund for his political allies, and possibly himself, is destroying the Republican Party \u2014 at least, if The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Kimberley A. Stassle is to be believed.<\/p>\n

Read more Betrayal: This surprising group is gearing up to crush Trump and his broken promises<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a time and place for every fight, and choosing the best battleground isn\u2019t one of the impatient Donald Trump\u2019s strong suits,\u201d wrote The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Kimberley A. Strassel on Wednesday. \u201cSee his demand that a Republican Congress dedicate its recent weeks to a damaging side debate over \u2018security funding\u2019 for his proposed East Wing rebuild. The party urgently needs to move beyond what is now a three-month circus over lapsed funding for the Department of Homeland Security and pivot to more-positive midterm messages. It is instead bottled up in a debate over a 90,000-square-foot sliver of White House real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strassel added, \u201cThe joke is that this isn\u2019t really even about the money. It\u2019s about helping the White House overcome a lawsuit. But the means to that end are proving controversial within the GOP, even as they have provided Democrats an opening to brand their opponents \u2018ballroom Republicans.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Strassel also pointed out that a number of Senate Republicans are already either opposed to the ballroom spending or have expressed serious doubts about it including Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins. Many House Republicans are also opposed to the ballroom.<\/p>\n

Indeed, on Wednesday Democrats successfully blocked Republicans from passing a security spending package because they refused to detach it from Trump\u2019s request for a $1 billion White House ballroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to get the funding through the reconciliation process, the Republicans had to give reconciliation instructions to all the relevant committees,\u201d explained Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on Wednesday. \u201cWell, I\u2019m the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee. Martin Heinrich is the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. And guess what? The White House is a public building under the jurisdiction of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and it\u2019s in a national park under the jurisdiction of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. And the Republicans managed not to give reconciliation instructions to either committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Ex-Bush official sounds alarm on Trump\u2019s \u2018open fire hydrant\u2019 of grift<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2017, Heinrich (D-NM) explained that he focuses on stopping government corruption because it literally gets paid for by ordinary Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress must be vigilant against the potential for President Trump to enrich himself and his family at the expense of the average American,\u201d Heinrich said, referring to a report he had published on the subject at the time. \u201cThe president and his family\u2019s conflicts of interests are inexcusable and unacceptable, and could depress economic output by over $1,000 per person just in one year. Not only are these practices dangerous, but harmful to the economic security of American families across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added at the time that there are \u201creal economic impacts of President Trump\u2019s conflicts of interest, and the harm some of his business interests and financial conflicts could cause. The stakes are high and the risks are real. It\u2019s not just about how the president, his family, and his administration benefit from these conflicts of interest\u2014but how they could hinder economic growth in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Trump\u2019s controversial ballroom, his recent $1.776 billion slush fund to his political supporters, and perhaps himself, is also a political liability, Strassel argued. <\/p>\n

\u201cCritics are describing the Trump Justice Department\u2019s new $1.776 billion \u2018Anti-Weaponization Fund\u2019 as a terrible new precedent, a corrupt \u2018slush fund\u2019 that greenlights the administration to funnel government checks to political allies,\u201d Strassel said. \u201cOnly, there\u2019s nothing groundbreaking about this move. Both the pretext for the fund and its structure are based on models forged by the left. The right has long criticized those actions, which is exactly why it should hate the Trump fund, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Hopeless: Conservative urges idealists to \u2018give up\u2019 trying to save the GOP<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed $1 billion ballroom and $1.8 billion slush fund for his political allies, and possibly himself, is destroying the Republican Party \u2014 at least, if The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Kimberley A. 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