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William Seger

(11,834 posts)
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 09:28 PM Thursday

What should the next Democratic president do with the White House ballroom?

The White House ballroom construction is scheduled to be finished by the next administration. I saw recommendations that the next Democratic president should tear it down, which is a valid suggestion, but what else might be done with it? I'm not opposed to leaving it, if it's well done — I'm just opposed to leaving it as a place for presidents to host gigantic private parties.

My own suggestion would be to make it the National Presidential History Museum, part of the Smithsonian system, available to the White House tour groups.

60 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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What should the next Democratic president do with the White House ballroom? (Original Post) William Seger Thursday OP
Blow it up. Solly Mack Thursday #1
Open a soup kitchen to feed all us folks who had SNAP taken away by Republicans, Jack Valentino Thursday #2
I like this idea!! wordstroken Thursday #5
We have a winner! (n/t) OldBaldy1701E Friday #42
Fill it with jail cells JBTaurus83 Thursday #3
Demolish it and sell off the rest and give the proceeds to homeless and domestic abuse shelters Deuxcents Thursday #4
Great idea! RazorbackExpat Friday #41
Use it to troll Trump newdeal2 Thursday #6
If it's an accurate history, it will show him in a very bad light William Seger Thursday #12
Windmills. Maru Kitteh Thursday #17
Tear it down. BannonsLiver Thursday #7
I was going to suggest... Hugin Friday #22
Perminant HQ for Independant investigators quakerboy Thursday #8
Turn it into an immigrant museum. LuvLoogie Thursday #9
24/7 citizenship ceremonies, quinceaeras and gay weddings meadowlander Friday #25
Pickleball courts. bluedigger Thursday #10
Whatever it is, it should involve lots of C-4, crowbars and pneumatic construction equipment . . .. hatrack Thursday #11
Nothing done by that miscreant Mussolini choie Thursday #13
tear it down and the patio as well. Give the rose garden back to Jackie like Biden should have done. Takket Thursday #14
And, send the bills to the RNC, Eloon, Thiel, Bezos, Murdoch... GoCubsGo Friday #36
Start demolition on Day One Stinky The Clown Thursday #15
The entire WH and property should be restored to how Obama left it JoseBalow Thursday #16
Tear it down? The King's Throne and room...? NM Grins Thursday #18
Donate any gold trim in it to charity. Name it the Obama ballroom, or something similar. RoeVWade Thursday #19
National Presidential CORRUPTION History Museum would be more appropriate. nt eppur_se_muova Thursday #20
Soup kitchen lame54 Friday #21
Tear it down and make trump pay for the damages Blue Full Moon Friday #23
That one gets my vote DFW Friday #24
Tear it down and make him pay, but I'd like all the Cloudhopper Friday #32
Give out raffle tickets, prizes are pieces of the ballroom. BootinUp Friday #26
Turn it into a museum honoring all people of color synni Friday #27
Make it a homeless shelter for LGBTQ+ Latinx atheists... regnaD kciN Friday #28
If it truly ends up being larger than the White House, it should be cut down in size to be harmonious with the rest. flor-de-jasmim Friday #29
Like the statue of Saddam Hussein in Iraq it must be toppled. taxi Friday #30
Put me in the tear it down column. Just like Trump's casinos. Emile Friday #31
Return it to its former glory. dem4decades Friday #33
It should be demolished and the rest of the White House restored. RandiFan1290 Friday #34
trump atrocity library Randypiper Friday #35
Hold the Hague trials there. usedtobedemgurl Friday #37
Museum to display the Epstein files! Emile Friday #38
Let DC building inspectors in to condemn it and then tear it down. Restoring the Rose Garden at the ... marble falls Friday #39
Erase it. Swede Friday #40
I can definitely appreciate that sentiment William Seger Friday #43
white house museum bigtree Friday #44
Good idea; it might not be big enough for a good Presidential History museum William Seger Friday #45
This message was self-deleted by its author republianmushroom Friday #46
A space to honor and welcome *all* who've been disenfranchised and/or brutalized by The Cult: Heidi Friday #47
Turn it into a roller skating rink. Emile Friday #48
Turn it into a homeless shelter. Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Friday #49
Establish a commission to decide, with "demolish" prominent as "Option #1" JHB Friday #50
Temporarily house the homeless sunflowerseed Friday #51
Restore honor and dignity to the White House by tearing both it and the Predator Patio down BeyondGeography Friday #52
It will not come to fruition. Hope22 Friday #53
Site work has already started -- it doesn't need a permit William Seger Friday #58
Or a homeless shelter. 1WorldHope Friday #54
Doze the entire compound, White House & all. CrispyQ Friday #55
I like your idea snowybirdie Friday #56
Absolutely, cleaning up the Oval Throne Room should be on the Undo List William Seger Friday #57
Burn it to the ground. murielm99 Friday #59
Nuke it from orbit... MustBeTheBooz Friday #60

Jack Valentino

(3,369 posts)
2. Open a soup kitchen to feed all us folks who had SNAP taken away by Republicans,
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 09:33 PM
Thursday

while they gave welfare to billionaires!


JBTaurus83

(685 posts)
3. Fill it with jail cells
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 09:36 PM
Thursday

Call it White House Alcatraz and throw shithole and his accomplices in for the rest of their lives.

Deuxcents

(24,164 posts)
4. Demolish it and sell off the rest and give the proceeds to homeless and domestic abuse shelters
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 09:38 PM
Thursday

RazorbackExpat

(621 posts)
41. Great idea!
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 08:56 AM
Friday

Go back to the ideals of the Great Society, and lend a helping hand to the less fortunate!

newdeal2

(4,206 posts)
6. Use it to troll Trump
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 09:43 PM
Thursday

Fill it with things he hates - the Epstein files, escalators and Tylenol.

quakerboy

(14,557 posts)
8. Perminant HQ for Independant investigators
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 09:45 PM
Thursday

With authority to investigate ALL past and future presidents and cabinet members, in depth, in perpetuity.

Then Build one for the legislature.

And then a third for the SCOTUS.

If fascism is defeated and democracy returns to the USA, we need strong measures to have accountability.

LuvLoogie

(8,280 posts)
9. Turn it into an immigrant museum.
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 09:48 PM
Thursday

Free to the public on trump's birthday and the anniversaries of his convictions and his inevitable death.

hatrack

(63,614 posts)
11. Whatever it is, it should involve lots of C-4, crowbars and pneumatic construction equipment . . ..
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 10:13 PM
Thursday

.

choie

(6,138 posts)
13. Nothing done by that miscreant Mussolini
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 10:29 PM
Thursday

should be left standing, incluing his butchering of the White House.

Takket

(23,250 posts)
14. tear it down and the patio as well. Give the rose garden back to Jackie like Biden should have done.
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 10:30 PM
Thursday

GoCubsGo

(34,373 posts)
36. And, send the bills to the RNC, Eloon, Thiel, Bezos, Murdoch...
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 07:51 AM
Friday

As well as all of the other corporate whores who have been funding this motherfucker for the past decade. This is their mess. They should pay for the demolition, disposal, and restoration of the entire property. And, put Trump and all of his sycophants on a chain gang, since they love those so much, and make them help clean it all up. They can replant the Rose Garden and all of the trees they killed, too.

JoseBalow

(8,483 posts)
16. The entire WH and property should be restored to how Obama left it
Thu Sep 25, 2025, 10:37 PM
Thursday

As if drumpf never set foot in it.

DFW

(58,999 posts)
24. That one gets my vote
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 05:18 AM
Friday

It’s a reasonable assumption that most people haven’t been in there. As a nation, we need places like that for official diplomatic events. That is not excessive. What is perverse is Trump spending a fortune of OUR money to transform traditional elegance into gaudy nouveau-riche excess of a kind that only would appeal to someone like Trump, and therefore necessarily not to much of anyone else.

flor-de-jasmim

(2,240 posts)
29. If it truly ends up being larger than the White House, it should be cut down in size to be harmonious with the rest.
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 06:00 AM
Friday

It will be such an eyesore if left as it.
AND Trump should be prosecuted for destroying the historical trees. This is OUR property, not his.

taxi

(2,525 posts)
30. Like the statue of Saddam Hussein in Iraq it must be toppled.
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 06:00 AM
Friday

No trace of the man-baby can remain standing.

RandiFan1290

(6,616 posts)
34. It should be demolished and the rest of the White House restored.
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 06:58 AM
Friday

I am willing to bet that it will be allowed to stand.

The Rose Garden was never restored.

usedtobedemgurl

(1,846 posts)
37. Hold the Hague trials there.
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 08:01 AM
Friday

There will not be enough room for everyone who wants to attend, but maybe a raffle to attend? The proceeds could go to cover the building cost and any leftover could be donated to schools, Planned Parenthood, and maybe some LGBTQ+ groups.afterwards, have it as a memorial of the place the admin was tried and found guilty. Have it as a warning to others who mess with our democracy.

marble falls

(68,722 posts)
39. Let DC building inspectors in to condemn it and then tear it down. Restoring the Rose Garden at the ...
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 08:32 AM
Friday

... same time.

William Seger

(11,834 posts)
43. I can definitely appreciate that sentiment
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 11:36 AM
Friday

... but I think a more positive (and less divisive) use would be dedicating it to something the faux-king revisionist absolutely abhors: accurate history. That should include the fact that the building itself was originally intended as a faux-king royal ballroom for massive celebrations of elitism, until President [fill in the blank] made it a public museum dedicated to remembering our best and our worst.

William Seger

(11,834 posts)
45. Good idea; it might not be big enough for a good Presidential History museum
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 12:03 PM
Friday

A White House History Museum should definitely include a plaque stating the history of the building itself: A royal ballroom conceived by an authoritarian president, converted to public museum by a Democratic president.

Response to William Seger (Original post)

Heidi

(58,834 posts)
47. A space to honor and welcome *all* who've been disenfranchised and/or brutalized by The Cult:
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 12:14 PM
Friday

the slave laborers who built the White House, all POC, immigrants, the unhoused, the mentally ill, LGBTQ+, women, those othered by poverty, dissidents, whistleblowers…

JHB

(37,836 posts)
50. Establish a commission to decide, with "demolish" prominent as "Option #1"
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 02:04 PM
Friday

After all, how much of it would have to be disassembled anyway to sweep for bugs embedded in its structure?

Hell, the whole White House may have to be gutted and rebuilt like it was in 1948.

sunflowerseed

(455 posts)
51. Temporarily house the homeless
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 02:10 PM
Friday

When we have no homeless lottery for attendance with the president if she chooses to.

BeyondGeography

(40,670 posts)
52. Restore honor and dignity to the White House by tearing both it and the Predator Patio down
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 02:11 PM
Friday

and bringing back the Rose Garden to replace the latter.

Hope22

(4,179 posts)
53. It will not come to fruition.
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 02:12 PM
Friday

He will collect money and pocket it. Unless the real purpose of the building is to house their new form or government and scrape the Capitol Building off the planet. Keep everything real tidy at the White House. I feel like it could go either way.

William Seger

(11,834 posts)
58. Site work has already started -- it doesn't need a permit
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 02:46 PM
Friday

... but the building itself technically does need a D.C. permit — we'll have to see how that plays out, but I don't expect anything will stop it.

CrispyQ

(40,261 posts)
55. Doze the entire compound, White House & all.
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 02:15 PM
Friday

Invite architects to submit new designs & have a national contest/election to select which design, & then build the People's House with union labor.

snowybirdie

(6,359 posts)
56. I like your idea
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 02:19 PM
Friday

Will hopefully restore some dignity to the beautiful historic building. Get rid of all that crappy faux gold though!

William Seger

(11,834 posts)
57. Absolutely, cleaning up the Oval Throne Room should be on the Undo List
Fri Sep 26, 2025, 02:41 PM
Friday

It's nothing but a crass display and celebration of wealth and elitism, just like the Royal Ballroom.

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