Late-night hosts mocked Donald Trump’s demolition of the East Wing of the White House and the corporate sponsors of his $300m gilded ballroom.
Seth Meyers
On Thursday’s Late Night, Seth Meyers expressed disbelief over the president’s gilded ballroom project for the White House. “It would be bad enough if Trump’s biggest priority was just building a gilded vanity project for himself, but it’s so much worse,” he said. “Because to do it, he’s tearing down a somewhat well-known and beloved piece of property.”
That would be the entire East Wing of the presidential residence, which has stood for 120 years. “He’s tearing down the entire East Wing to build his stupid ballroom. I mean, look at this,” Meyers marveled. “This is like a sequel to Fixer Upper called Fucked Upper.
“And of course, Trump also lied about this project.” When he first announced it, he promised no demolition and said it “won’t interfere with the current building” because it would be “near it but not touching it”.
“So he basically promised to treat it like his marriage,” Meyers quipped.
Trump said plans had changed “after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world”.
“Oh yeah? Who was the architect you talked to, Godzilla?” Meyers joked.
Outrage has been swift, if ineffective. The National Trust for Historic Preservation sent a letter to Trump saying that the addition would overwhelm the structure and asked him to pause construction until the plans could be reviewed. “One, I couldn’t agree more with the National Trust for Historic Preservation,” said Meyers. “And two, good luck with your letter.
“This couldn’t be any more of a bait and switch,” he added. “Trump got elected by claiming he was going to make life more affordable for hardworking Americans, and now he’s demolishing the White House to build himself a gilded vanity project.”
Stephen Colbert
“As of this morning, the East Wing looked like a rotisserie chicken your dog got into,” said Stephen Colbert on the Late Show. “That is very upsetting to look at, I realize that, and you know the administration knows that,” because on Thursday, the Secret Service closed access to the Ellipse park, a public area where journalists had been capturing images of the demolition.
“Well that makes sense – if none of it is on camera, they can just claim the East Wing hanged itself in prison,” Colbert quipped.
The host pointed out that it was “a lot of history being smashed to rubble”, as the East Wing was built in 1902 and had been the headquarters for presidential spouses since the Carter administration. “In fact, Melania was in the East Wing, and I certainly hope they got her out of there because she’s often mistaken for a beautiful floor lamp,” Colbert joked over a photo in one of the first lady’s more non-traditional outfits.
Trump has funded the “ball-doggle” with money from “groveling corporations” including Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Meta Platforms and Hard Rock International. “And Trump needs all the cash he can get,” said Colbert, as the estimated cost has already risen from an initial $250m to over $300m, for a 90,000 sq-ft (8,400 sq-meter) construction, larger than the existing White House itself. “That’s about the same size as a professional soccer field,” Colbert noted. “So remember, corporations, as you bribe the president: no hands.”
The Daily Show
.@michaelkosta doesn’t know much about Trump’s ballroom architecture, but he does know about overcompensating for a small penis pic.twitter.com/bMlYZRnAVI
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 24, 2025
And on the Daily Show, Michael Kosta tracked the swift evolution of the project from proposal to execution. “When he started, he promised that it would be separate from the existing White House and he wouldn’t touch the East Wing. That this construction would strictly be over the pants,” he recapped.
“Then this week, there was a minor change to the plan when Trump ripped open the side of the East Wing like it had a Labubu inside.”
By Thursday, the entire East Wing was gone. “This is all happening so fast,” he said. “This guy’s been taking 15 years to give us a healthcare plan, but in 3.5 days he’s demolished half the White House. Donny T, tell me this is going to end up looking good …”
Not quite – according to Trump’s own scale model, which he presented in the Oval Office, the ballroom will dwarf the current White House. “It looks like one of those crabs with the big arms, doesn’t it?” Kosta laughed. “I mean, I don’t know a lot about architecture. But I do know a thing or two about overcompensating for a small penis.”
