Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has become the latest to succumb to what Trump supporters are now calling “BDS” – Ballroom Derangement Syndrome.
The southern California congressman wants a pledge from any 2028 Democrat presidential candidate that he or she will demolish President Donald Trump’s planned “big beautiful ballroom” — or not bother to seek the party’s nomination.
“Don’t even think of seeking the Democratic nomination for president unless you pledge to take a wrecking ball to the Trump Ballroom on DAY ONE,” Swalwell wrote on X on Saturday night.
The political pejorative “BDS” — the acronym emerging in social media and even making it to the screen at Fox News — is a new variation of TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, a slam that has been around since the first Trump term in office.
Swalwell is only one of many Democrat commentators who have gone ballistic over the estimated $250 million to $300 million dollar event space, reportedly to be paid for by private donors and Trump himself.
A variety of eyebrow-raising ballroom reactions have been reported by Breitbart News.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) told MSNBC’s The Weeknight that the demolition of a section of the East Wing was “taking a wrecking ball to our democracy.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters the project was so the 47th president could be “celebrated as if he was a king.”
Hillary Clinton said she was trying help Democrats fundraise off the project.
Chelsea Clinton lamented Trump was “demeaning” the White House’s stature with the renovation, seemingly oblivious to the irony represented by her father’s sexual escapades with intern Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt first announced the planned construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom in early July. The ballroom will accommodate approximately 650 seated guests and will stay true to the classical design of the White House, she said.
In the Obama administration, several state dinners were held in a large tent on the south lawn where guests were required to use portable bathrooms.
Leavitt has pushed back against the “fake outrage,” noting that “nearly every single president who has lived in this beautiful White House behind me has made modernizations and renovations of their own.”
In its Sunday edition, the New York Times profiled a variety of voters on the project. Reactions seem to follow the deep political divide that has characterized U.S. politics in recent years.
Quotes from voters ranged from “every president has wished to have more space for entertaining” to “it doesn’t make sense.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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