Sen. John Fetterman has emerged as a cheerleader for President Trump’s push for a new White House ballroom, saying Democrats who oppose the project are showing signs of Trump derangement syndrome and should stop reflexively fighting the president on everything.
The Pennsylvania Democrat said the ballroom is a basic security upgrade — a fact that became obvious after seeing the cramped, chaotic hotel setup at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where a gunman opened fire.
“Let’s just build this thing, and we move on,” Mr. Fetterman said during an appearance on Wednesday on Fox News’ “America Reports.” “If you’re talking about $400 million, watch how much hundreds of millions will be spent in just one Senate race that’s coming up right now in this year. It’s not a money issue.”
A group of Senate Republicans is now promoting a bill to fund the construction of a secure ballroom at the White House, saying it’s crucial to national security.
Mr. Fetterman’s comments also echo an argument the government advanced in its latest legal brief in the lawsuit that threatens to derail the project.
Packed with exclamation points and quotation marks that reflect the president’s social media posts, the court filing accused the opposition of being driven by TDS.
“If any other President had the ability, foresight, or talents necessary, to build this ballroom, which will be one of the greatest, safest, and most secure structures of its kind anywhere in the World, there would never have been a lawsuit. But, because it is DONALD J. TRUMP, a highly successful real estate developer, who has abilities that others don’t, especially those who assume the Office of President, this frivolous and meritless lawsuit was filed,” the brief said.
Mr. Trump has been leaning into the ballroom fight with renewed urgency since the shooting at the Washington Hilton, raising it within minutes of stepping to the podium for a late-night briefing after the incident.
From his perspective, the would-be assassin’s actions validated his push for a $400 million White House ballroom funded with private donations. The 90,000-square-foot structure, rising on the East Wing grounds, has been tied up in court, though construction has been allowed to continue for now.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fetterman’s stance puts him at odds with most Democrats. It has become a pattern.
The senator, who was once celebrated by his party for flipping a Pennsylvania seat in 2022, now describes himself as something of a pariah for breaking with Democrats on Iran, border security, and now the ballroom.
“I’m not necessarily the popular guy, which is strange to me, because I was like, I’m a Democrat, and I’m the guy that flipped the seat,” he said.
He once again brushed off suggestions that he should switch parties, saying his views haven’t changed — his party has.
“I’m not sure why the problem is with me and my reasonable views, why that problem isn’t with the Democratic Party,” he said.
Mr. Fetterman also criticized Democrats who have labeled Mr. Trump a fascist or compared his administration to the rise of the Nazis, saying that kind of rhetoric risks fueling political violence.
“I’m never going to call people Nazis or fascists or authoritarianism and all those extreme terms,” he said. “I refuse to engage in that.”
He warned that the party’s instinct to oppose Mr. Trump at every turn had already cost Democrats in 2024 — and said it would again if they didn’t change course.
“My party,” he said, “can’t be defined by just being the exact opposite of whatever the president puts in front of us now.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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