By John Fredericks | DC Dispatch
Candidate WARD 2 Chairman DCGOP
Saturday night changed everything.
When a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton — targeting the President of the United States and his Cabinet — it wasn’t just an assassination attempt. It was a crystal-clear indictment of every elitist bureaucrat, every TDS-infected “preservationist,” and every left-wing lawsuit that has stood in the way of President Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom.
Blood is on their hands — metaphorically — and they still won’t back down. Let that sink in for a second.
The Department of Justice, in the wake of Saturday’s near-catastrophe, formally asked the National Trust for Historic Preservation to voluntarily drop its lawsuit against the White House ballroom renovation.
The DOJ made the case plainly: large presidential events held off the White House campus create security nightmares that simply cannot be fully mitigated. Top Justice officials said if the National Trust refused, they would seek court dismissal themselves — citing, in their words, “last night’s extraordinary events.”
You don’t say?
The National Trust’s response? Take a hike.
These are not preservationists. These are political operatives hiding behind marble columns and taxpayer-funded credibility, waging law fare against a president they hate — and now they’re doing it after a gunman just tried to kill him at the exact kind of off-location venue the ballroom would replace. The audacity is breathtaking. The danger is real.
I cover the White House. I’ve been credentialed through the White House for years. I know this beat. And I can tell you with absolute certainty — the current setup is a disaster waiting to happen. Again.
Right now, large White House events are held under temporary tents erected on the South Lawn or, worse, farmed out entirely to venues like the Washington Hilton. Tents. In 2025. For events involving the President of the United States, his Cabinet, members of Congress, foreign dignitaries, and the entire press corps. The logistics are cumbersome. The perimeter is porous. The security gaps are real — and Saturday night proved it in the most horrifying way possible.
A permanent, purpose-built ballroom on the White House campus changes the calculus entirely. The Secret Service controls the perimeter. The screening is integrated. The sightlines are managed. The entire security architecture is built around protecting the President — not retrofitted into a hotel banquet hall with public entrances and a parking garage attached.
And here’s the part the media won’t tell you: this ballroom is being funded with private money. President Trump and other conservative allies are footing the bill. Not taxpayers. The objection isn’t fiscal — it’s ideological. The left doesn’t want Trump to have this. Period.
The National Trust’s lawsuit is TDS dressed up in bow ties and architectural journals. They will let the President of the United States get shot at in a hotel ballroom before they’ll allow a single brick to be moved on the White House grounds. That tells you everything you need to know about where their priorities actually lie.
Build the ballroom. Build it now.
The American people deserve a Commander-in-Chief who can host world leaders, address the press corps, and hold state events in a controlled, secure environment — not a rented hotel venue where a shooter can set up shop and open fire on the most powerful man in the free world.
The National Trust had their chance to do the right thing. They refused. The DOJ should go to court immediately, get this lawsuit dismissed, and be done with it.
Presidential security is not a historic preservation debate. It’s a matter of life and death — and Saturday night proved it.