Trump's latest reason for his new ballroom: A rooftop 'DronePort'

[riversedge]

Source: USA today


The president said that if a judge doesn't approve the new White House ballroom, he'll be "held responsible for the Death and Destruction."

Josh Meyer Updated May 31, 2026, 4:45 p.m. ET



WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump unveiled yet another purported justification for his controversial plan to build a massive new ballroom and bunker under the East Wing of the White House he demolished: a rooftop "DronePort" that he says is needed to defend the nation's capital from modern threats.

In a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday, May 31, Trump claimed the proposed drone facility would be "perhaps, the most sophisticated anywhere in the World" that’s needed to safeguard Washington, DC, "long into the future.”



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U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a President George W. Bush appointee, ruled in late March that Trump lacked legal authority to ​build the 90,000-square-foot ballroom "absent express authorization from Congress."

Leon issued an injunction that halted "above-ground construction ‌of ⁠the planned ballroom," but his order was quickly put on hold by an appeals court. Construction has continued, and so has legal wrangling over the project.

In the Truth Social post, Trump also accused Leon of having created "enough problems by allowing 'Top Secret' information to be released and exposed" in an amended lawsuit brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation last month.
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But Trump included in his post two detailed renderings of various drones on a massive rooftop like that envisioned for his new East Wing, despite criticizing Leon for sharing what he said was sensitive information.........................

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/05/31/trumps-white-house-ballroom-rooftop-droneport/90344026007/?taid=6a1ca16816ca9c0001d5b70f&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

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Trump:

The DronePort at the White House Ballroom will be, perhaps, the most sophisticated anywhere in the World! It will safeguard our Nation’s Capital, Washington, D.C., long into the future.

With the advent of highly sophisticated, and powerful, modern day weaponry, we can no longer defend Washington, D.C., with rifles and pistols, alone.
11:32 AM · May 31, 2026
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[Srkdqltr]

1. How incredibly stupid.

[drray23]

2. Another dumb idea. However, a good excuse to funnel even more taxpayer money to big tech

I can see it from here. Send a few hundred billion to the likes of Thiel, Musk, etc.. to build that drone port with the drones, etc..
Musk can't even build a self-driving car (see reports about Tesla self-driving mode being an abject failure) but he can sure pocket the money and promise vaporware. Of course, Trump gets a cut. Maybe Eric or Don Jr will setup a LLC to make drones and get the contracts.

[Karasu]

6. That's all this shit is about. Funneling money to big tech.

[jmowreader]

3. You're saying all those F-16s at Andrews no longer work?

Apparently that dipshit doesn’t realize the Capitol hasn’t been defended by rifles and pistols alone since the day someone figured out how to install guns on airplanes.

[Intractable]

4. Why are there trucks on the roof of the ballroom?

[slightlv]

5. Doesn't he sound like every teenager (especially the boys)

when they don't get their way immediately?!

The president said that if a judge doesn't approve the new White House ballroom, he'll be "held responsible for the Death and Destruction."

[FakeNoose]

7. We have 8 military bases in the Washington DC area, including Andrews Air Force Base

There's absolutely NO NEED to launch drones from anywhere in the vicinity of the White House.

[reACTIONary]

8. No need, and...

... it would make the white house a first strike target.

[Grokenstein]

9. If he can't hole up in the bunker, he wants to be able to make a quick exit.

[Initech]

10. I thought this stupid thing was supposed to be for state dinners.

Now there's an underground fortress and drone warfare on top. And yet we're supposed to believe that his cognitive abilities are in top shape. WTF.

[AZLD4Candidate]

11. To borrow from The Arrogant Worms from their song "Wouldn't It Be Great If Everybody Had a Gun:"

If one of my "friends" gets a super-duper ballroom with a super-duper automatic weapon with a CD-Rom drive, Then I'm going to get a Super-duper ballroom with a CD-ROM drive, and a big old hard drive, and a big guitar amp so I can play BTO ... I'll go so fast I'll be able to chase you from here to Saigon, and then I'll shoot like little Nerf rockets at you and poke you in the Eye 'cause it'll have automatic like finger-poking in the eye things, and I'll get myself another guitar amp... (continue ranting as the song fades)

[LudwigPastorius]

12. Sooo, drones, fuel trucks, and armaments are now going to be on top of a building directly adjacent to the White House?

That sounds like a stable genius idea.

[SoFlaBro]

13. Stupid fuicking Orange Bastard fucking ruined the motherfucking White House. Fuck that ballroom shit.

[truthisfreedom]

14. So build the drone port first.

Finish the ballroom after he’s out of office.

[twodogsbarking]

15. Is it safe from say The Boogieman? Monsters in the closet? RFKJr? Mike Johnson? Melaaaaaaniaaaaah?

[GiqueCee]

16. Sooo...

... Republicans, having hitched their wagon to the coattails of a narcissistic fucking maniac, might be having second thoughts about the wisdom of that choice. But, as with all things Republican, Der Partei über alles. Or, in terms the simple-minded adherents to such a diseased political "philosophy" can understand, the Republican Party's black-hearted interests supersede any interests of the country as a whole.
Normal, decent people might equate such a viewpoint with treason, and with good reason. Putting aside, for the moment, the very narrow Constitutional definition of treason, in practical terms, anything that does immediate and lasting harm to the nation, regardless of what malign motivations prompted it, could reasonably be considered treason, doncha think?