Donald Trump was just asked about how he’s handling his grief after Charlie Kirk just died — and oddly enough, he didn’t just brush off the question with a casual “everything is good,” but he quickly moved on to talk about how he’s excited about the construction of the ballroom that he’s been working on in the White House.
Trump has been fixating on construction of a ballroom in the White House over other projects that the majority of Americans find more consequential. Trump has, however, been quelling off some of the criticism by assuring Americans that he will finance the project himself alongside donors. And considering how the tech titans have warmed up to the president and are now even joining him in his suspicious promises, it was obvious that the project was not short of ready and willing donors to rush it along.
Trump was very excited this morning about the project being well underway. However, the Kirk killing was just an unavoidable news item — and a Newsmax reporter eventually asked the president how he’s handling the grieving period of one of the most influential voices in conservative circles.
Earlier, Trump had announced he plans on honoring Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And he was also the one who made the first announcement of the capture of Charlie Kirk’s shooter on Fox & Friends just 5 minutes after he found out. But it now seems that Trump is fully over the story and wants to move on to matters that are more interesting to him — such as revamping the White House more to his liking.
When asked by the reporter how he was holding up, Trump very quickly responded, “Very good.” Without missing a beat he went on to say, “And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get for about 150 years.” Trump then promised that the new revamped White House ballroom will be magnificent in his usual exaggerating salesman parlance.
Q: My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. How are you holding up?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 12, 2025
TRUMP: I think very good. And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get… pic.twitter.com/Jrw4j2fnVZ
He didn’t mention anything else about Kirk and just went in the direction of the Marine One helicopter. In the meantime, MAGA’s social media presence, including Trump himself, has been riling up their supporters, making concerning statements that Kirk’s killing could mean war on all the Democrats in the US. But this shows that in the real world his concerns are more geared toward the same things he was concerned about before Kirk was tragically shot.
Trump’s lack of empathy is not a new thing. Normally, condolences would follow such a question, but this is the same person who told reporters, “I never was a fan of John McCain, and I never will be,” after he died, among more worse uncalled-for criticisms. So this is the norm for the president. However, it’s more concerning when it’s coupled with a performative concern that he only does to continue to flame the fans of division.
However, to Trump’s credit — talking about his beloved ballroom is better than using that opportunity to talk about targeting people in the name of Charlie Kirk.
