President Donald Trump's "dream home" was subjected Thursday to a scathing critique from an infuriated MS NOW analyst who decried the big cash involved in fixing "absurdly niche" problems.
"Trump is well on his way to converting the people’s house into his own billion-dollar dream home," MS NOW's Hayes Brown wrote.
"It’s a mismanagement of funds at best, outright corruption at worst and ought to prompt legislators to place stricter limits on how and when public funds are rerouted."
The price tag for Trump's overhaul of the White House grounds has climbed past $900 million — a figure well beyond what the administration previously disclosed and far above what Congress typically budgets for upkeep of the Executive Mansion.
The Washington Post traced $875 million funneled into a normally modest "White House Repair and Restoration" account – $500 million transferred from the Secret Service and the White House Military Office, $305 million from private donors and $70 million from an unidentified source.
Brown warned that figure was likely to balloon, "Through shady donations from wealthy funders and corporations, questionable accounting practices and an entirely misplaced sense of focus."
Separately, a contractor's estimate for the ballroom alone reportedly reached $600 million, triple the administration's original $200 million figure and above the $400 million it has said donors covered.
The largest and most visible project is a new ballroom being built where the East Wing once stood, though a federal appeals court recently blocked further above-ground construction.
Other work underway includes a helipad on the South Lawn, renovated fountains at Lafayette Park, a new visitor screening center and an underground bunker — the last of which the administration has cited in court filings as a national-security rationale for the ballroom project.
"One could at least argue that the helipad solves a problem, albeit an absurdly niche one," wrote Brown. "The newest helicopters slated to serve as Marine One have exhaust vents that aim heat downward. The helipad would prevent those vents from scorching the grass below — and boy, does Trump care a lot about grass."
The projects are largely cosmetic compared with past White House overhauls, Brown wrote. The Truman-era renovation, prompted by fears the building could collapse, cost roughly $80 million in today's dollars, while the Obama administration spent about $375 million over four years on structural and electrical repairs.
"What we see, then, is a White House that feels comfortable pirating funds that Congress has otherwise appropriated to pay for unnecessary vanity projects, Brown wrote.
"Without further pushback from lawmakers and the courts, there’s little limit to how much more could be siphoned off to satisfy Trump’s obsession. These rushed and unauthorized works have already vastly outstripped their initial estimates, and given this administration’s love of no-bid contracts, they are being done without a modicum of care for anything but speed."