Why Trump's Ballroom is Really Dystopian

Get AnyDesk for free today: https://anydesk.com/spectacles Trump's ballroom is the culmination of trends in presidential power. — Patreon: https://spectacles.link/patreon Nebula: https://spectacles.link/nebula Merch: https://spectacles.link/shop Discord: https://spectacles.link/discord Script: https://www.spectacles.news/how-the-white-house-became-a-palace/ For citations, turn on CC. Sources below ↓ — About us: Spectacles is a love letter to democracy, its values, its caretakers, and its ideas. Around the world, individual rights and representative government are facing unprecedented attacks from the forces of reaction and revisionism. But despite liberal democracy’s real shortcomings and today’s all-too-fashionable cynicism, we remain committed to its preservation and improvement. Join us as we explore just what liberal democracy is, how it comes about, and how it can best be maintained in a changing world. — SOURCES A. White House Architectural History B. William Seale. The White House: The History of an American Idea (White House Historical Association, 1992). C. William Howell. The American Presidency: An Institutional Approach to Executive Politics (Princeton University Press, 2023). D. Julian G. Ku, Unitary Executive Theory and Exclusive Presidential Powers, 12 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 615 (2010). E. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952) F. Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988) G. Mark Tushnet, A Political Perspective on the Theory of the Unitary Executive, 12 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 313 (2010). H. Joseph W. Dellapenna, "Presidential Authority And The War On Terror" (2008). Working Paper Series. 105. I. Allen C Guelzo. "Abraham Lincoln and the Development of the "War Powers" of the Presidency." The Federal Lawyer 54 (November 2007), 42-49. J. Sidney Milkis, “Theodore Roosevelt: Domestic Affairs,” Miller Center (University of Virginia, July 24, 2017). K. Wikipedia, “Alphabet Agencies.” L. Sidney Milkis, “Theodore Roosevelt: Domestic Affairs,” Miller Center (University of Virginia, July 24, 2017). M. Christopher Beam and Chris Reiter, “Disney, Jimmy Kimmel and CEOs Caught between Shareholders and Trump,” Bloomberg.com (Bloomberg, September 29, 2025). N. Jason Lalljee, “YouTube to Pay Trump $22 Million for Suspending His Account after Jan. 6 Riot,” Axios, September 29, 2025. O. PBS News, “The Fight to Redraw U.S. House Maps Is Spreading. Here’s Where Things Stand in Missouri and Other States,” PBS News, September 29, 2025. P. “Washington Monument: History and Culture,” National Park Service, last updated 22 December 2022. Q. Constitution of the United States. R. Louis Fisher, “The Korean War: On What Legal Basis Did Truman Act?” in American International Law Journal 89 No. 1 (1995). — 00:00 THE BALLROOM 01:53 THE MONUMENT 04:32 THE WEST WING 07:01 THE EAST WING 09:52 SECRET SKELETON 14:11 THE THIRD FLOOR 17:31 "SECURITY" 19:36 THE BALLROOM, REVISITED 22:42 WHERE'S CONGRESS? — Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Includes Music by Tom Fox