OH, I forgot, he can do whatever he wants. And no one ever says "No"!

I mean, people say 'No!' to him, but he does things anyway. His regime does things anyway.

Saying 'no' to this crowd does little to nothing.

not to listen to anyone and to just do whatever he wants. He had four years to change his leadership style and to flat out refuse to bow to precedent and legalities.

Of course, he's not always successful, but much of the time he gets what he wants through bullying and refusal to comply with the law. Typical mob boss, but often more outrageous.

I'd say he has been wildly successful.

but Trump pardoned them. He has certainly learned to use the Dictator's Handbook effectively. Just ignore them and then defy them to do anything about it.

Nothing TFG does is “legal”

federal contracts for competitive bid and contracting rules.

In 2025, Clark Construction was awarded a $200M contract by the Trump administration, in conjunction with AECOM and McCrery Architects, to build a 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2) state ballroom, which would include demolition/modification of part of the East Wing of the White House.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Construction

Kinda like the deals Tony Soprano made to divvy up the trash hauling routes in Newark and Elizabeth, and to build housing projects he could get federal kickbacks on.

I don't know if Trump thinks we are all stupid, I don't think he much cares what normal folks think. But I do know that much of the media thinks we are very stupid, as they keep serving up this bullshit about no bid $500 million contracts being "unusual" after having gone after Hunter Biden and his entire family for their supposed corrupt practices. Shame...!!!

immunity be damned.

Would a class action lawsuits be applicable to this situation? We've been defrauded.

It has no exterior spaces in the colonnade - they're all fake. All the glass will be bullet-proof. It has a massive Fuhrerbunker going in below.

It should be torn down out of national shame, but it won't be.

Back in my federal government days, there were limits to these kind of contracts including a monetary limit. Something that cost that much would normally have to come from Congress.

But Trump is now king, sooooo……

The Secret Service and medical stuff underground and security features. There is still a policy that has to cover a $200M procurement.

It will probably need to be torn down and replaced by a decent White House wing.

Will his cult ever get tired of being lied to? He is making Teapot Dome and Watergate look minor by comparison.

given a 500-million-dollar GOVERNMENT contract to his buddies.

include a $100 million price tag?

It quickly went to $400 million, but I thought it started that 'low'

Our tax dollars at work. And you can bet Trump will be profiting from this too.

I’m certainly not.

Nt

I'll give it 50/50.

I won't be surprised if he just leaves a mess for the next president to clean up.

Do you mean odds it will be finished?

I'd say odds are pretty good that it will be done early 2028.

A hole in the ground what will be next?

what offshore money laundry is getting his bribes.

Things are going downhill in this country. If the Democratic Party wins both houses in November he will be stopped and also his health is spiraling downward and might meet his buddy Satan soon.

The WP article says "half expected to come from taxpayers" - is that "expected" as in "Congressional Republicans are expected to cave to him and tack it onto something else and no-one else can stop them", or "Trump has asserted this, without evidence, as per usual"?

designated in the Barbaric Butcher Bill - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143681008

The financial scams just pile up so quickly it's easy to forget some.

Kind of strange choice even though it is well respected firm that has a history of historical preservations including the DC post office building. The strange part is that Shalom Baranes is a Jewish immigrant who has spoken out in defense of Islamic immigrants, As far as I know they are not a design build firm, but of course are responsible for construction oversight for the project.
I have never seen a government construction job done like this. The norm is to have a a design competition and selection, and then the plans are made public for competitive biddings. Alternatively the competition could be for design and build which iss often used for things like bridges and some privately held properties.