Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Friday, April 17, 2026

President Trump had something urgent to address while flying back to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago estate on a recent Sunday. It wasn't the Iran war, nor the partial government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding. He was focused on a monumental issue of a different kind, hoisting artist renderings of the $400 million White House ballroom he's building, complete with hand-carved "top-of-the-line" Corinthian columns.

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... His divided attention has become a Democratic point of attack and a concern for some Republicans who worry he's not spending enough time on issues that voters care most about ahead of November's midterm races.

The contrast was on full display Thursday, when, as Trump flew to Las Vegas to discuss tax cuts for Americans earning tips, his administration was pushing ahead with another of his splashy projects: Plans to build a 250-foot Triumphal Arch near the Lincoln Memorial replete with a Lady Liberty-like statue and a pair of golden eagles. ...

Still, Trump's preoccupation with some of the gilded trappings of the presidency, as more Americans worry about bills, has drawn accusations that he's a modern-day Marie Antoinette.

"Fighting wars' and surging gas prices, yet Trump has time to brag about his billionaire backed ballroom," Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, responded on X to Trump's Air Force One presentation.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, has been more direct in comparing Trump to the last queen before the French Revolution, who has come to embody extravagant opulence -- even posting an AI-generated image of Trump's face on her body on social media.

"TRUMP MARIE ANTOINETTE' SAYS, NO HEALTH CARE FOR YOU PEASANTS, BUT A BALLROOM FOR THE QUEEN!'" Newsom wrote in October 2025, at the start of last fall's 43-day government shutdown. ...



#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-04-17 03:13 PM | Reply

Marie Antoinette was much easier on the eyes and, considering she was a Parisian who rarely, if ever, bathed, smelled considerably better than Donald Trump.

#2 | Posted by ClownShack at 2026-04-17 03:22 PM | Reply

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