{"id":48339,"date":"2026-05-20T13:49:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48339"},"modified":"2026-05-20T13:49:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T20:49:28","slug":"trump-brags-1-billion-ballroom-will-be-home-to-greatest-drone-empire-ever-seen-to-protect-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/trump-brags-1-billion-ballroom-will-be-home-to-greatest-drone-empire-ever-seen-to-protect-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Brags $1 Billion Ballroom Will Be Home to \u2018Greatest Drone Empire\u2019 Ever Seen to \u2018Protect Washington\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/president-donald-trump-speaks-to-the-media-alongside-posters-of-his-proposed-white-house-ballroom-amid-construction-at-the-white.jpg?id=66763537&amp;width=1200&amp;height=400&amp;quality=70&amp;coordinates=0%2C148%2C0%2C194\" alt=\"Trump Brags $1 Billion Ballroom Will Be Home to 'Greatest Drone Empire' Ever Seen to 'Protect Washington'\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>President Donald Trump speaks to the media alongside posters of his proposed White House ballroom amid construction at the White House on May 19, 2026 in Washington, DC.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The president also dismissed the high price of gas caused by his illegal war with Iran, describing it as \u201cpeanuts.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/brad-reed\">Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May 19, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With his approval ratings hitting a second-term low in recent polling, President&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>&nbsp;decided on Tuesday to show off the progress being made on the luxury ballroom he\u2019s building at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/white-house\">White House<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While speaking with reporters outside the White House, Trump boasted that the planned ballroom will \u201cbe something incredible\u201d and then explained that it would apparently come with military defense capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RECOMMENDED&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/white-house-ballroom-funding\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/republican-senators-introduce-legislation-to-fund-white-house-ballroom-construction.jpg?id=66609440&amp;width=1200&amp;height=1200&amp;quality=70&amp;coordinates=833%2C0%2C834%2C0\" alt=\"Republican Senators Introduce Legislation To Fund White House Ballroom Construction\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/white-house-ballroom-funding\">GOP Senators Unveil Plan to Pay for $400 Million White House Ballroom With Taxpayer Funds<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-ballroom\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/white-house-east-wing-demolition-continues-for-trump-ballroom-construction.jpg?id=65162794&amp;width=1200&amp;height=1200&amp;quality=70&amp;coordinates=833%2C0%2C833%2C0\" alt=\"White House East Wing Demolition Continues For Trump Ballroom Construction\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-ballroom\">50 State Lawmakers Condemn $1 Billion From Taxpayers for Trump Ballroom as Families \u2018Squeezed\u2019 Nationwide<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn top of the roof, we\u2019re gonna have the greatest drone empire that you\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d the president said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s gonna protect\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/washington\">Washington<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump: &quot;This is the ballroom and it&#39;s gonna be something incredible. On top of the roof we&#39;re gonna have the great drone empire that you&#39;ve ever seen. And it&#39;s gonna protect Washington.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rLEPGC2x7W\">pic.twitter.com\/rLEPGC2x7W<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atrupar\/status\/2056749293004833120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 19, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A reporter then asked Trump to elaborate on some of the security features in the ballroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe underneath part [of the ballroom]&#8230; it\u2019s far more complex than the upper,\u201d the president responded. \u201cBecause what you don\u2019t see are the floors that are beneath here. And they have very, very important rooms down there, very, the most important. This was the one opportunity for the military to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After rambling about the ballroom being \u201cahead of schedule,\u201d Trump said it would have \u201ca drone-proof roof, again, it\u2019s all sealed, and all of this that you see is totally sealed, and we use it as a drone port, you can have unlimited drones up there, and drones are what\u2019s happening right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump on the ballroom: &quot;They have very very important rooms down there. The most important. This was the one opportunity for the military to do something. We use it as a drone port. You can have unlimited drones up there and drones are what&#39;s happening right now.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XWzFBNOlmO\">pic.twitter.com\/XWzFBNOlmO<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atrupar\/status\/2056754352878993801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 19, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump also reiterated his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-americans-financial-situations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disinterest<\/a>&nbsp;in Americans\u2019 concerns about his illegal war with Iran raising the price of gas and leading to the highest level of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/inflation\">inflation<\/a>&nbsp;since 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is peanuts,\u201d Trump said of the price of gas, which as of Tuesday\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">stood<\/a>\u00a0at an average of $4.53 per gallon in the US. \u201cAnd I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while, it won\u2019t be much longer&#8230; But I don\u2019t even think about that. What I think about is you can\u2019t let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and they won\u2019t have a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump on high gas prices: &quot;This is peanuts. I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while. But I don&#39;t even think about. What I think about is you can&#39;t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XUVyNUpspm\">pic.twitter.com\/XUVyNUpspm<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/atrupar\/status\/2056752936584114197?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 19, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no indication that Iran was anywhere close to having a nuclear weapon at the time Trump launched his war in late February without any authorization from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/us-congress\">US Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US Director of National Intelligence&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/tulsi-gabbard\">Tulsi Gabbard<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/jon-ossoff-tulsi-gabbard\">testified<\/a>&nbsp;under oath before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee last month that Iran\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/nuclear-weapons\">nuclear weapons<\/a>&nbsp;program had been \u201cobliterated\u201d by US-led airstrikes that were launched last year, and that there \u201chas been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump\u2019s boasting of the planned defense stockpile also came days after an anonymous White House official\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-declares-cuba-a-national-threat\" target=\"_blank\">claimed<\/a>\u00a0to the press that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/cuba\">Cuba<\/a>\u00a0is preparing to attack the US with drones\u2014an allegation the Cuban government and commentators dismissed as laughable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/brad-reed\">Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/author\/brad-reed\">Full Bio &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump speaks to the media alongside posters of his proposed White House ballroom amid construction at the White House on May 19, 2026 in Washington, DC.&nbsp; (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images) The president also dismissed the high price of gas caused by his illegal war with Iran, describing&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/trump-brags-1-billion-ballroom-will-be-home-to-greatest-drone-empire-ever-seen-to-protect-washington\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1910],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48339"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48340,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48339\/revisions\/48340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}