Trump's ballroom could prove a bonanza for those shelling out to build it, report shows. Floridians, of course, have a piece of the action
News and views for thoughtful Floridians and other Americans
Donald Trump has bragged that his big, bloated ballroom won’t cost taxpayers anything and that private donors will be picking up the tab.
But it’s a big tab—currently pricing out at $300 million, and nobody would be surprised if there are cost overruns. It’s a government project, after all.
And how naive do you have to be to believe that the people and businesses shelling out this much cash are doing so without any expectation of getting something in return?
Pretty naive.
Which is why Public Citizen, the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has been examining who is emptying their wallets for Trump’s boondoggle of a ballroom being built on the ashes of what once was the East Wing of the White House.
The organization reports that the Trump administration has, so far, released a list of 36 donors, which includes 21 corporations and 15 individuals and family foundations.
“The White House has not revealed how much they have each contributed,” Public Citizen reports. “The White House list is also incomplete. CBS News has identified at least three additional corporate donors and there may be others.”
CBS News also asked if these private donations raised any conflict-of-interest concerns, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt replied in a statement:
“The same critics who are wrongly claiming there are conflicts of interest, would complain if taxpayers were footing the bill.”
Right on, Karoline. Especially since taxpayers were never consulted about doing any of this in the first place. You know who said: “Gosh, if only Trump would bulldoze the White House and build a tacky, Gilded Age juke joint in its place?” Nobody.
Some of the corporations buying into this sham, including those with Florida connections, include:
Altria (a.k.a. Philip Morris)
Amazon
Apple
Booz Allen Hamilton
Comcast
Google
Lockheed Martin
Meta (a.k.a. Facebook)
Microsoft
Palantir Technologies
“Beyond the 24 known Autocrat Cafeteria sponsors, there may well be others whose monetary surrender to Trump has not yet been disclosed or uncovered,” Public Citizen notes. Adding:
And while the companies and the administration are keeping the amounts of the funding secret, one thing we do know is that this ballroom bonanza amounts to an egregious conflict of interest for each and every one of these companies.
Among those conflicts:
Many of these companies have massive contracts with the federal government — a truly staggering $279 billion combined just since 2021.
Many of these companies either are or were (until the regime dropped their cases) facing federal enforcement actions for violating various regulations, including numerous antitrust and labor rights violations.
Collectively, these companies spent $960 million on lobbying and political contributions during just the most recent election cycle alone.
These companies have a stunningly wide array of interests before the federal government — from taxation to trade policy, battlefield domain awareness to telephone poles, consumer privacy to product liability rules, appropriations to cybersecurity, and much more.
As Public Citizen’s Robert Weissman says:
“These giant corporations aren’t funding the Trump ballroom debacle out of a sense of civic pride. They have massive interests before the federal government and they undoubtedly hope to curry favor with, and receive favorable treatment from, the Trump administration. Millions to fund Trump’s architectural whims are nothing compared to the billions at stake in procurement, regulatory, and enforcement decisions.”
See the full report here:
Floridians, of course, have a piece of the action, the Miami New Times reports. Major contributors include:
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has relocated his primary residence to Miami.
Hard Rock International is owned by the Seminole Tribe and based in Davie.
Kelly Loeffler until February served on the board of West Palm Beach-based PSQ Holdings, where Donald Trump Jr. is director.
And there’s more. You can read the newspaper’s full report here:
What do you think? Share your views by clicking on the COMMENTS link at the end of this newsletter. Thanks!
Chaos in the skies
The Federal Aviation Administration has announced that it will reduce air traffic by 10 percent across 40 “high-volume” markets beginning Friday morning to maintain safety during the ongoing government shutdown.
The reduction stands to impact thousands of flights nationwide including at Florida airports—just in time to disrupt Thanksgiving travel.
The FAA is confronting staffing shortages among air traffic controllers who have been working unpaid since the shutdown began Oct. 1, with some calling out of work, resulting in delays across the country.
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If/when someone compiles a list of all the corrupt actions perpetrated by Trump during his reign of self dealing, it'll make the encyclopedia look like a meager text message. The infuriating part of it is how he just gets away with it all. His endless greed is sickening and as ugly as he is.
JC - Thanks for the news letter. A few considerations:
1) Is it also possible that the companies that contributed have a poor options given that they have so much business dependent on this administration? What is the threat to the companies and their shareholders? Let's support our professional journalists as they attempt to gather and report the facts - they too are under threat.
2) The lack of oversight of the whole ballroom project by Republicans in Congress who are complicit to this and even worse abuses is tragic. The taxpayers will have to pay to secure and maintain the White House and anything that is happening underground such as security bunkers etc. I assume that the 300M covers only the build. Is any of the 300M going to individuals in the administration other than going to contractors? Were the lowest estimates required? Was the budget and plan reviewed by an Inspector General and historians/critical building elements conserved? I think not. Do these companies get a tax deduction for their donations? If so, then we the taxpayers, are paying for it as well.
3) Please do not add to the unfair narrative that everything that government does will result in poor performance. This speak contributes to the negative bias about government. This has resulted in undermining of our great institutions and led to the firing of thousands of the dedicated federal workers that once constituted them. I have watched great infrastructure projects right under my nose be conducted on time, on budget and with high quality. I have worked closely with the FDA and they have protected the American people and helped drug companies get much needed drugs to market rapidly and safely. Social Security/Medicare have been there for me in my retirement and have operated with professionalism and efficiently. I am grateful for our vibrant private sector. However, the private sector equally has performance issues as well - ala rockets exploding, airplane doors falling off, failed strategies, hedge fund takeover and poor management of businesses, its fair share of greed and corruption, etc. We need a functioning Congress that has fair and open debates on the balance of private versus public sector to meet the needs of the American people.
Thanks for considering the above.
The American people created this mess by voting this person of extremely poor character into the Presidency. We all had a hand in it and have to clean it up. Fortunately many who are clear eyed about the mounting abuses showed up on Tuesday and are organizing for the future. I believe that we citizens need to better understand and improve how our government works, such as independent districting in all states and get big money out of politics. I'd rather our elected officials spend their time on the work rather than fundraising. We need to be involved and own that the problem has been our complacency and/or lack of full understanding of our democratic institutions and their operation. We have the power.
Thank you.
RC