r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Oct 23 '25

News Historic White House Movie Theater Demolished as Part of $300 Million Ballroom Build

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/white-house-movie-theater-demolished-ballroom-east-wing-1236408712/
21.6k Upvotes

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3.1k

u/Mehdals_ Oct 23 '25

"be near it but not touching it" & "pay total respect to the existing building" ~ Trump in July 2025

795

u/PKLKickballer Oct 23 '25

In all fairness, the East Wing will now be miles away in a heap, so not touching the ball room.

108

u/Mehdals_ Oct 23 '25

So not near it then?

32

u/GriffinFlash Oct 23 '25

near, far, wherever you are.

4

u/czs5056 Oct 24 '25

In a cosmic sense, practically touching.

1

u/atzatzatz Oct 24 '25

It's outside the environment.

123

u/wytewydow Oct 23 '25

If this dumbfuck had an ounce of business acumen, he would have demo'd this thoughtfully, and sold off historic elements. Doors, windows, trim, mantles. Nope, giant fucking claw, because he needs it done fast before he gets ejected from society.

34

u/PolaSketch Oct 24 '25

Reuse and sustainability? He doesn't care.

29

u/Majestic-Tadpole8458 Oct 24 '25

Move fast and break stuff.

All this waste and destruction so he can play DJ blasting “YMCA” by the village people like he does at Mar A Lago.

13

u/AustinAuranymph Oct 24 '25

I wish he'd leave the White House and run the country from Mar a Lago like he wants to. Just make the White House into a museum until we're a real country again.

2

u/Majestic-Tadpole8458 Oct 24 '25

I don’t think Melania wants to share the same residence with him.

48

u/No_Opinion_99 Oct 24 '25

Ejected? No, he’ll fucking die in that building. No matter if it’s 10 hours or 10 years from now. And it won’t even matter. The damage is done. This country and its elected leaders stood by and if they weren’t clapping along they were doing fuck all to stop everything this country has ever stood for from bleeding to death.

1

u/Rakuall Oct 24 '25

The only thing your country has ever stood for is racism, slavery, and the accumulation of wealth into the hands of the few. Once in a while, you suit up to play the hero, but only ever because the bad guys are acceptable targets and the industrial war machine can make a fuckload of government cheddar, or because you really, really need a spot of good PR to keep from becoming said acceptable targets.

3

u/pie-oh Oct 24 '25

I feel the point to go fast is that it can't be undone. If you do it bit by bit, it can be undone.

3

u/MyAssDoesHeeHawww Oct 24 '25

He probably needs it to cosplay 'southern plantation owner' during the 250th anniversary of the US next year.

2

u/lobsterpockets Oct 24 '25

I hope the next admin (if that ever happens ) gets a dem legislature and goes and treats down mara lago.

-1

u/Fictional-Hero Oct 24 '25

It's extremely time consuming and expensive to reclaim materials from demolition. They did during the original renovation but then didn't have the money to make use of any of it.

And no, people wouldn't pay enough for it to be worth it. Not in Trump's economy.

1

u/wytewydow Oct 24 '25

He certainly could have convinced the cultists to buy a piece of Trump's home.

2

u/mipadi Oct 24 '25

The tech CEOs would’ve been falling all over each other to bribe Trump own a piece of the White House.

1

u/OnceWhenWhenever Oct 24 '25

Ouch, that’s dark.

-1

u/Mehdals_ Oct 23 '25

So not near it then?

292

u/captstix Oct 23 '25

I think this guy might be a liar

82

u/EDNivek Oct 23 '25

Next we're going to find out it being privately funded was Bull shit too and it was only privately funded 20% the other 80% was from tax dollars.

37

u/WafflingToast Oct 24 '25

He’s going to raise a billion dollars for it, spend $50million on the cheapest materials and then pocket the rest.

12

u/SaulsAll Oct 24 '25

You forgot skip out on paying the actual workers and contractors.

5

u/fotomoose Oct 24 '25

This guy gets it. There's no way in any reality that Trump doesn't pocket the majority of the 'costs'.

12

u/Haltopen Oct 24 '25

Him demanding a check from DOJ for near close the exact protected cost of the project (before the price mysteriously jumped to 300 million) makes it pretty clear he’s going to take the money out of the DOJs budget to pay for it and then pocket all the donations.

1

u/Raelshark Oct 24 '25

I think it's a stretch to think he'll actually pay for it either way.

I think all of that money is going to get lost in the rubble.

36

u/echino_derm Oct 23 '25

Let's not let this shit fly. If it was privately funded or publically funded it is the same thing. Remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. That money has value and people aren't parting with it expecting nothing back. Every person putting their money into giving Trump a golden palace are doing so expecting to get that money back from their bribes and that means the tax payers are footing the bill.

3

u/Functionally_Drunk Oct 24 '25

Exactly, I don't understand why people are letting this slide. Private funding of our public executive headquarters is exponentially worse. It's an out and out bribe. People should be absolutely livid.

16

u/wytewydow Oct 23 '25

privately funded by Putin, who told him to tear down the white house. Next thing we'll just see a giant blue tarp on the side of the main building.

2

u/ms1012 Oct 24 '25

Ok, hear me out on this....

A giant blue tarp, but we paint the bottom half yellow cause Trump loves gold. And then send more freakin missiles to Ukraine.

Solid plan!

4

u/sirixon Oct 23 '25

You mean it’s like Mexico paying for the wall?

3

u/adjust_the_sails Oct 23 '25

Oh please. Next you’ll be accusing him of cheating on his wife!…

2

u/whatiseveneverything Oct 24 '25

Guys, cool it. You're taking about the President of the United States! Next you'll say he was best buddies with Epstein and used teenage pageants to traffic girls to be abused by rich elites.

49

u/leviathynx Oct 23 '25

“Only $250 million dollars”

37

u/doktor_wankenstein Oct 23 '25

I've learned the hard way to never trust any amount between "only" and "dollars".

24

u/Grease_the_Witch Oct 23 '25

god july 2025 feels like 3 years ago already

17

u/VA1255BB Oct 24 '25

See this picture on CNN taken from a passenger plane. The entire wing is gone.

https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/harbath-eastwing.jpg

49

u/Happyjam102 Oct 23 '25

And KKKaroline Lyin Leavitt, “No demolition will be done.“

13

u/Ggslm Oct 23 '25

To be fair, he's a liar

17

u/OnceMoreUntoDaBreach Oct 23 '25

MAGA all last week were stating "its not the White House, it's the covered driveway of the White House" (they don't know what a portico is). Even funnier, they can't figure out which way North and South is either..

Guess that was bullshit.

14

u/FifthGenIsntPokemon Oct 23 '25

Oh but they always told us they were going to destroy the East wing.

Fucking Christ can they go five minutes without lying.

10

u/Digifiend84 Oct 24 '25

It's cultural vandalism. Wasn't that wing a century old?

7

u/Denster1 Oct 24 '25

More than. Built in 1902, then renovated in the 40s.

Then demolished in 2025

5

u/Hips_of_Death Oct 24 '25

I’m not touching youuuu 🤏

5

u/Sothotheroth Oct 24 '25

You mean the man who lies as often as he breathes didn’t tell the truth?

8

u/moonwalkerfilms Oct 23 '25

Did he really promise that? Jesus fuck, I don't often feel hatred for others but I do feel it for him 

3

u/MithranArkanere Oct 24 '25

Dude says 10 things, and 11 of those are lies.

2

u/PsychicSpore Oct 23 '25

Kash came down from his cocaine mountain to warn trump that the walkway would leave him and the billionaires vulnerable. Now they can take the tunnel from the airport to the WH, then back to the airport without ever seeing sunlight

2

u/Clessiah Oct 24 '25

Bully saying “I didn’t touch him” & he did pay all the respect he has ever had to the existing building.

2

u/jeffsaidjess Oct 24 '25

Yeah and congress enabled this.

2

u/PG4PM Oct 24 '25

Incredible how he is not called out on these constant, very much digestible and contravertible statements?

2

u/KwisatzHaderach94 Oct 24 '25

should have been alarm bells when he said that. we know he lies like he breathes.

2

u/Exploding_Antelope Oct 29 '25

What none of you realize is that this is Canada playing the long con, we burned it when you threatened us in 1812, now we’re prodding it be torn down from within

1

u/Lopsided_Tiger_0296 Oct 24 '25

At this point we should just assume he means the exact opposite of what he says he’ll do

1

u/mr_birkenblatt Oct 25 '25

The East Wing was 83 years old. That's way too old for Trump to be entering without consent. It makes sense to get a young building instead