Trump talks up his ballroom plan dozens of times but plays down Americans’ economic pain

By Steve Holland, Andy Sullivan, Richard Cowan and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) – Standing in front of the White House ballroom construction site, U.S. President Donald Trump appealed for patience from Americans grappling with rising gas prices while trying to justify the cost of what critics of the project described as a vanity effort.

“This is peanuts,” he said Tuesday, clearly referring to the economic damage the Iran war has inflicted on the United States. “I’m grateful everyone is putting up with this for a while. It won’t be long.”

The moment crystallized concerns among some in the Republican Party, who worry that the billionaire president’s focus on the ballroom appears insensitive as Americans try to fill up their gas tanks ahead of November’s midterm elections.

A Reuters review of Trump’s public statements shows that Trump has mentioned the ballroom—either through speeches, social media posts or comments to reporters—at least 40 times this year; That includes nine times this month alone. By comparison, he mentioned it 35 times in all of 2025.

Whether he’s talking to reporters on Air Force One, talking to guests in the Oval Office, or posting on his Truth Social platform, he tends to launch into ballroom sales pitches at any moment.

A White House official rejected Democrats’ claim that the ballroom was a vanity project.

“This is about legacy, not vanity,” the official said. “The president is extremely passionate about this and wants to make it happen.”

It’s hard to gauge how many times Trump has talked about the economy, but he has repeatedly downplayed the economic impact of the war as gas prices soared, advised patience and offered little information about Americans’ financial distress.

“I don’t think about the financial situation of Americans,” he said earlier this month in a viral comment about the war’s economic impact that was also embraced by Democrats. “When we talk about Iran, the only important thing is that they cannot have nuclear weapons.”

SOME REPUBLICAN MLAS SAY THE BALLROOM IS A DISTRACTION

The Reuters review shows that rebuilding the ballroom, the Washington Reflecting Pool and plans for a 250-foot Independence Arch in the capital are top of mind for a president whose second term has been dominated by heritage-building projects.

Even in the midst of crises and diplomatic summits, Trump kept the ballroom at the forefront. A few hours after an apparent assassination attempt at a hotel in Washington, he used the incident to argue for building a hotel. After his risky meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the trip strengthened his case.

“China has a ballroom, so does the USA!” Trump wrote alongside a photo of himself and Xi in front of the massive Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

But a senior Republican campaign official told Reuters that voters had raised concerns about the ballroom and arch in Republican-led focus groups and asked to remain anonymous to discuss the issue.

“The message from the White House to voters is that Trump is focused on vanity projects and foreign policy, and those are things voters don’t care about,” the operator said.

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said in an interview that attention to the White House ballroom “absolutely” took more time than it should have.

“It would certainly be nice if the public understood that the ballroom is private money,” Lummis said.

Trump said he raised $400 million for the ballroom from wealthy donors and his own money. But the Secret Service requested $1 billion from taxpayers to fund security upgrades to the ballroom and the White House complex; It’s a plan opposed by lawmakers, including Republicans.

Concerned Republican lawmakers and top White House aides have been urging Trump for months to focus more on the economy as voters look ahead to November, when Republicans are expected to face a tough fight to keep control of Congress.

“Trump keeps talking about things no one cares about,” said a Republican strategist involved in efforts to help Republicans maintain control of Congress. The strategist spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely.

Trump’s response to questions about economic concerns has been to repeatedly declare victory over inflation, despite official data showing otherwise. He deflected questions about economic uncertainty by boasting about a stock market rally and billions of dollars in foreign investment.

The White House’s prediction in January that Trump would make weekly trips to promote Republican candidates and address economic concerns did not materialize.

After a weekly travel flurry aimed at boosting his economic record at the start of the year, Trump has largely remained at the White House or on a weekend break in Florida since launching the Iran war on Feb. 28. He has made only a few domestic trips since then.

CHINA TRIP, ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

As Trump faces a range of political and political challenges, including war with Iran, rising fuel costs and declining popularity, he has increasingly turned to visiting construction sites tied to his own initiatives, using them to highlight progress and reassert control over his agenda.

He showed reporters around the ballroom construction site Tuesday and proudly described some of the planned safety features. A week earlier, he had set out in his armored limousine to inspect renovations at Washington’s Reflecting Pool; he has said this seven times this month alone.

Democrats, who are trying to break the Republican dominance in Congress in November, say that Trump’s focus on old projects gives hope.

“I can’t imagine Republicans focusing on the ballroom at a time when people are trying to figure out how to pay for their groceries, which are sky-high thanks to Trump’s tariffs,” Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia told Reuters.

“Tone deaf is an understatement.”

While polls show that the vast majority of Americans oppose ballrooming, the message appears to be getting through to Republicans, too. It was a major setback for Trump when the $1 billion proposal was dropped from the Senate spending bill last week — at least for now.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Andy Sullivan, Richard Cowan and Nandita Bose; Additional reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)