Mark Leibovich: Trump’s Ballroom Has ‘Become a Personal Obsession’

EXCERPT:

LEIBOVICH: “Sure. Yeah, it sounds good to me. I mean, retroactively, I mean, it’s worth pointing out that this is irrelevant because he already razed, you know, the East Wing of the White House. I mean, this process is well underway. People have tried to stop him in various ways. But this is a runaway train. But it’s also, it’s a strange political strategy, insomuch as it’s one at all, because the leap from, you know, fortifying security around the White House, which again, could be like a legitimate issue. You know, it’s — obviously, as Joyce said, the weekend shooting, or the attack on the White House this weekend, I don’t know what you’D call it, but obviously the fortification held. But the jump from there to an actual ballroom, which is something the president is now talking about constantly, which obviously conjures extravagance, things that, like, no one is thinking about right now, as you mentioned, is just kind of a weird jump, and it’s become a personal obsession. And I just don’t see how you get there. But obviously, look, I mean, this is something that’s happened already and it’s something that’s clearly preoccupying the president and something that most Americans don’t really want.”