California Governor Gavin Newsom mocked President Donald Trump for opting for a government shutdown over healthcare funding—all while building a new ballroom for the White House.
The federal government shut down earlier this week after the White House and Congress failed to reach an agreement on federal spending. While Senate Democrats are in the minority, they hold enough seats to filibuster and are insisting that Republicans agree to extend federal subsidies for people insured under the Affordable Care Act.
Even though Republicans currently control all three branches of government, the White House has blamed the shutdown on Democrats, even going so far as to flout ethics guidelines by sending out emails explicitly telling furloughed federal employees that Democrats are at fault.
For all the fuss the Trump administration has made about money over the last few weeks, those concerns don't seem to be present at all when the subject turns to the White House ballroom that is currently under construction.
Over the summer, The Trump administration announced plans to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom in the White House’s East Wing, with seating for 650 guests. The ballroom would dwarf the main White House building, which spans about 55,000 square feet across its ground floor, state floor, and residence, excluding the East and West Wings.
CBS News reported last month that corporate and individual donors have already pledged nearly $200 million toward construction, with fundraising still underway. Trump told reporters recently that the ballroom will be "a little bigger" than initially planned, saying "it will be top of the line, as good as it can get anywhere in the world.”
Newsom lampooned Trump and the circumstances around the shutdown by posting an image showing Trump as Marie-Antoinette, the last queen of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution, and adding:
"PEASANTS, SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR HEALTH CARE! OUR QUEEN’S BALLROOM WILL BE ALMOST AS BEAUTIFUL AS HER!"
You can see Newsom's post and the image below.
@GovPressOffice/X
The story goes that when Marie Antoinette was told the peasants were starving, she responded, “Let them eat cake.” She wasn’t offering them cake but rather dismissing their plight—suggesting that if they had no bread, they should simply eat cake instead. The remark came to symbolize just how out of touch the monarchy was with the struggles of ordinary people.
So yeah, it might be just a bit out of touch to proceed with building a grand ballroom while hundreds of thousands of people around the country lose their jobs and millions more lose their healthcare as they continue to bear the weight of the increasingly high cost of living.
The mockery was swift.
You've done it again, Governor.
@WhiteHouse/X
