Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) criticized Democrats for opposing President Donald Trump’s proposed White House ballroom, prompting some of those same Democrats to point out the obvious: Because the White House Correspondents Dinner is a private event, it would never have been held at the White House, and therefore a ballroom would have made no difference.
“We were there front and center,” Fetterman posted on X on Sunday. “That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government. After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these.”
The acronym “TDS” stands for “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which refers to people who supposedly hate Trump so much that they become irrational. Yet as many Democrats and other Trump opponents pointed out, Fetterman — whose advocacy of a ballroom echoes the arguments made by Trump and his supporters after the supposed shooting attempt at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday — is the one being irrational. After all, the dinner in question is a private event, and has never been held in the White House.
“Sorry, @JohnFetterman, but the WHCA dinner is NOT sponsored by the White House,” posted Democratic strategist Jon Cooper on X. “Nobody is forcing the VP and other Cabinet members to attend this fancy black tie event.”
He added, “Sit down and worry about your primary.”
Liberal pundit Dean Obediallah also called out Fetterman’s comment, posting on X that he “can't wait for Fetterman to become a Republican so we can DESTROY him in the election!” Comibing both Cooper’s and Obediallah’s points, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold wrote “Do you directly get the talking points from the GOP or just read about them? No venue should hold the entire line of succession. Period.”
He added, “Also this was a WHCA event, not a White House event. It wouldn't be held there.”
Meanwhile former tennis star Martina Navratilova, an outspoken critic of Trump, posted on X that Fetterman needs to “eff off already!!!”
The ballroom, which would be 90,000 square feet and eclipse the White House itself, is being challenged by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and last week a federal appeals court found that Trump lacked the legal authority to make those renovations without Congressional approval.
Notably, however, the U.S. District Judge Richard Leon allowed underground work to continue for security reasons — that is, because experts were concerned that beginning the construction created security risks that could not be ameliorated unless at least some of the construction is allowed to continue.
“The hurried reviews, with construction cranes already swiveling above the White House grounds, are an abrupt departure from how new monuments, museums and even modest renovations have been designed and refined in the capital for decades,” Emily Badger, Junho Lee and Larry Buchanan of The New York Times reported regarding the process behind the renovations.
