Rally-style series of boasts does not include much in the way of plans to address affordability crisis
Donald Trump on Wednesday used a nationally-televised address to deliver a campaign-style rant in which he blamed his predecessor for the economic woes Americans are feeling a year into his presidency while offering little in the way of proposals to address the higher prices caused in large part by the massive tariffs he has placed on almost all American imports.
Speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Trump opened by claiming to have “inherited a mess” that he was now “fixing.”
What followed was a partisan rant indistinguishable from the signature rallies that have been the centerpiece of his political movement, in which he rattled off a list of grievances while blaming his predecessor for the state of the country nearly a full year after he took the oath of office.
can I get a TLDW?
She says that the original architect and contractors who do ballroom-type projects were quietly replaced after the initial announcement by ones who have a long history of designing military datacenters, far underground, for governments such as the US and Israel. Also no contractors for things like chandeliers, gold-trim etc. are on the project, which seems strange if the main point is the ballroom. The budget quoted is almost, dollar-for-dollar, the same amount as for a recent underground datacenter project recently completed elsewehere in the US.
As well, the East Wing was blocking access to add onto a pre-existing underground bunker complex beneath the West Wing, so demolishing it would allow for additions to that…
Oh, and some emergency orders for huge modifications to the DC water supply in order to increase availability to the WH property. Data centers need lots and lots of water.
He’s literally installing his own AI data center. Maybe he’ll use if the same way Hitler used his bunker.
Better theory! HE actually thinks it’s going to be a ballroom and this is a pet project from one of his Goebbels worshipers essentially embezzling funds… honestly probably directly for whatever peter thiel wants built there.
You should absolutely watch it was really well done investigative journalism.
What would we do without AI! /s No actually, the YouTube ai is actually decent at summarizing videos, although I couldn’t get it to make a less lengthy version.
The video presents a theory that Trump is not building a ballroom at the White House, but rather an underground data center (0:45-0:51). The speaker supports this theory with several points:
Inspiration from Oracle’s Underground Data Centers: The idea originated from research into Larry Ellison’s Oracle building nine-story deep, missile-proof underground data centers in Jerusalem for Israel’s data sovereignty (1:30-2:10). The speaker notes the striking similarities in scale and cost between Trump’s “ballroom” and Oracle’s data centers (2:33-2:47). Project Stargate Context: The video connects the “ballroom” to Project Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative for government operations, defense intelligence, and federal data consolidation, announced by Larry Ellison and Sam Altman with Trump (3:15-3:23). This initiative requires significant infrastructure like servers, power, cooling, and security (3:24-3:29). Contractor’s Expertise: The lead contractor, Clark Construction, specializes in building critical government facilities and has six redacted contracts for confidential client data centers (3:52-5:09). They also hold a NAVFAC contract that allows them to hide the true scope and cost of projects (5:29-5:59). Architectural Changes: Trump replaced the classical architect with Shalom Bares, who designed the post-9/11 hardening project for the Pentagon, including secure wedges, skiffs (sensitive compartmentalized information facilities), and bomb-resistant architecture (6:20-7:00). Physical Evidence at the Site: Satellite imagery showed massive steel caissons for deep underground construction and a heavy-lift crane permanently anchored for long-duration, deep excavation (7:21-7:55). Infrastructure Upgrades: Pepco filed emergency requests for massive power infrastructure work near the East Wing, including substation modernization, despite declining commercial real estate demand in downtown DC (8:00-8:54). DC Water increased capital spending and the Washington Aqueduct warned about data centers using Potomac River water for cooling (8:54-9:10). Donor Analysis (Supply Chain for a Data Center): Carrier Corporation is donating an HVAC system, and their website lists “Carrier Quantum Leap” for data center thermal management, suggesting they might be donating this more expensive system rather than a standard ballroom AC (9:41-10:32). Boxable (Paulo Timani), known for prefab buildings, has contracts for Class 5 military installations and their units come with Faraday caging (electromagnetic shielding) for skiffs, similar to the modular construction used in Oracle’s data centers (10:50-11:56). Caterpillar (heavy machinery, excavators, industrial generators) and Union Pacific (classified fiber optic cables used by the DoD) are also listed as donors (11:57-12:29). Major cloud computing and AI infrastructure companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Palantir, along with Booz Allen Hamilton (classified networks for CIA/NSA) and Blackstone (backup power infrastructure), are also on the donor list, while luxury brands typically associated with ballrooms are absent (12:30-13:03). The speaker concludes this donor list is a supply chain for a data center (13:06-13:11). Military Involvement: Trump himself stated that “the military is very much involved in this” ballroom project (13:16-13:26). Location Significance: The East Wing sits directly above the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) bunker, which is five stories deep and staffed 24/7 by military officers. Demolishing the East Wing provides access for expansion and integration of new infrastructure (15:28-15:45). Being at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue allows executive privilege to cover the project, exempting it from oversight (15:47-16:04).
The video concludes that while a ballroom might be built on top, it serves as a “lid” for the true project: a classified, protected, and unauditable underground data center for AI warfare infrastructure and continuity of government (16:06-16:18).*