Trump’s Vulnerability and the Bunker-Ballroom
I have long suspected that one reason Stephen Miller has so much control over Donald Trump right now is he played a big part of getting Trump back on his feet after the Butler shooting, which really (and unsurprisingly) rattled him for weeks. Trump’s return coincided with a particular turn to the fascist.
That’s one reason I find this exchange from NYT’s “interview” with Donald Trump interesting.
He directly tied the security of the bunker-ballroom to some trauma (he had earlier raised it, and sent a valet to get all his ballroom models). Then they spoke off the record (one of perhaps four times they do so, aside from the call with Colombian President Gustavo Petro).
President Trump
This is a much more important thing to do. So, this is the ballroom right here. It’s beautiful. People love it. It’ll hold — it’s being designed with bulletproof glass, 4 to 5 inches thick. Can take just about any weapon that we know of. I wish I was in it about a little while ago. [Mr. Trump laughs.]
[Mr. Trump speaks briefly off the record.]
Tyler Pager
Mr. President, on the record, you haven’t even been here a year yet, and you’ve made many renovations. Are there other plans for you to make changes?
They came back on the record with a slightly different topic: renovations generally.
From there, Trump discussed a plan to add a second floor to the West Wing, because the roof that’s there now is not used given that long range rifles could hit them.
Tyler Pager
What about at the White House complex?
President Trump
I may do an upper West Wing. This area. Cover it with one floor because it needs more space. It would be —
David E. Sanger
Including the Oval? Or Oval would be separate?
President Trump
No, less. Short of the Oval. If you take the L [shape] —
David E. Sanger
So you’d put it up — there’s a second floor. It’s sort of in the attic.
President Trump
Well there’s a second floor now that was, that was meant to be a park. People don’t use it as a park. Now with long-range rifles, you tend not to use it.
[snip]
Katie Rogers
The L. Is that why you were on the roof that day?
President Trump
Exactly.
Katie Rogers
What were you doing?
President Trump
I was looking at doing office space.
Grandpa Sundown took a diversion to show a picture of Don Jr holding a rattlesnake while wearing flip-flops.
Then Trump brought out one after another model of the ballroom. When David Sanger asked him about its cost, he distinguished between the aboveground portion — the ballroom — from the stuff below ground (which has not been discussed on the record) — the bunker.
The current $400 million cost does not include the bunker.
President Trump
But I said, “Ultimately, they win.” You better be careful. So ready? Don’t take any pictures of this ’cause you’ll scare people. So I started off with a building half of the seats —
[Mr. Trump puts a model for a new White House ballroom on the table.]
— and then it just kept growing and growing, and the money kept pouring in and pouring in. No, no, please. So I started with that — started with this.
[Mr. Trump puts a model of what he said was the smaller, original planned ballroom on the table.]
And I said: “Wow, I’ve got all this beautiful land. I don’t want to waste it.” So I said: “All right. I’ll go a little bit larger.” This would have seat — seated 450 people. So I said, “Let’s go a little bit larger.” So then I said, “Let’s do this.”
[Mr. Trump removes the smaller model and puts another model for the new ballroom on the table.]
Zolan Kanno-Youngs
What’s the updated price tag on all this?
President Trump
Well, every time I make it larger it goes — but I’ll do it for — I’m under budget and ahead of schedule. You know, I’m — I’d build it larger.
David E. Sanger
Are you at about $400 million now?
President Trump
I’ll bring it in for less than — it’s, it’s ahead of schedule and under budget so far.
David E. Sanger
What’s the budget?
President Trump
Under $400 million.
David E. Sanger
And that’s just the aboveground, not —
President Trump
That’s the aboveground.
According to CNN a White House official acknowledged the security enhancements going on underground.
During a recent meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission where the ballroom was discussed, White House director of management and administration Joshua Fisher said broadly that the overall ballroom project will “(enhance) mission critical functionality,” “make necessary security enhancements” and “(deliver) resilient, adaptive infrastructure aligned with future mission needs.”
Fisher was pressed on why the project broke with precedent by starting the demolition process without the commission’s approval — and he indicated that the “top-secret” work taking place underground was the motivation.
“There are some things regarding this project that are, frankly, of top-secret nature that we are currently working on. That does not preclude us from changing the above-grade structure, but that work needed to be considered when doing this project, which was not part of the NCPC process,” he said.
And to the NYT, Donald Trump tied the bunker-ballroom to his own sense of vulnerability.
So he’s building it bigger because he got more money.
This is not how sane people do it.
Virtually everything about the White House is secret or top-secret, so Joshua Fisher’s excuse is not very persuasive. Neither is his, “We tore down the structure above ground so we could tear out the much larger structure below ground, but without telling you that’s what we were doing” shtick.
It’ll be a more luxurious bunker hideaway to have available if he successfully pulls off a coup to remain for a third (or indefinite) Presidential term.
Those bulletproof windows in the ballroom are also arched. And by its nature, I’m assuming the bunker won’t have windows. But as long as Trump is there, there will always be an Archie Bunker.
He won’t stave off death that way, but he will try. He’s afraid of dying and is reinforcing his bunker to keep Mr. Death away just as Sarah Winchester added rooms to her house to appease the spirits of those killed by rifles. Donny doesn’t realize the killer is not only inside the house, it’s inside his own body.
Goodbye Eric, me gotta go, me oh, my oh
Me gotta go destroy the world down the cellar
My Ivanka, the sweetest one, me oh, my oh
Son of a gun we’ll have big fun in the bunker
“Jambalaya” — Hank Williams
There is more talk of the bunker project as a mega data center, which would presumably operate without Congressional oversight.
Seth Abramson has mentioned it December 29: https://xcancel.com/i/status/2005874261735403641
The first person I have seen argue this point is The Drey Dossier from mid-December:
http://web.archive.org/web/20251215185806/https://thedreydossier.substack.com/p/trump-isnt-building-a-ballroom
Here’s Trump being impressed by Mark Zuckerberg showing him a “Manhattan sized AI data center.”
https://fortune.com/2026/01/21/trump-says-mark-zuckerberg-showed-him-a-manhattan-sized-ai-data-center/
And they’re going to cool it and power it, how? I think that’s mostly wishful thinking.
What kind of “top secret” building project can be revealed to contractors but not Congress? Is it because they can’t force Congresspeople to sign NDAs?
BTW: What’s the over-under on the proportion of gilding involved?
They don’t have any firm plans yet, because the companies know they’d have to reveal them in order to get the required permits, and The Felon Guy can’t remember anything for more than two minutes running.