Behind the scenes, Melania Trump has privately voiced frustration over her husband’s decision to bulldoze the historic East Wing to make room for a gaudy gold ballroom estimated to cost $300 million, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
But instead of trying to stop it, Melania has reportedly made it clear she’s not getting dragged into the fallout. According to the Journal, she told associates the demolition was “not her project,” signaling she wants no blame for whatever comes next.
Trump’s self-indulgent construction spree has already gutted one of the most symbolic parts of the White House—the East Wing, home to the Office of the First Lady, the East Colonnade, and the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. The destruction is so extensive it can be seen from space.
While Melania has stayed silent publicly, her former allies are speaking up.
Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s former chief of staff and one-time White House press secretary, blasted the teardown on CNN’s OutFront. Grisham, who has since become a fierce Trump critic, told Erin Burnett that watching the demolition “breaks her heart.”
“It’s something that could never be put back,” she said. “I wish they would have gone about it in a better way… I can’t help wonder what [Melania] thinks of how all of this is taking place.”
Grisham also called out how quickly and carelessly the project was carried out, bypassing the usual approval process for major White House renovations.
“I certainly didn’t expect it to be demolished like a condemned house over three days or so,” she said.
The East Wing wasn’t just another section of the White House—it was Melania’s domain. It’s where she planned her holiday decorations, including the infamous 2018 installation of 40 blood-red trees that set social media ablaze. The space also held the traditional Gold Star Family Tree, which honored fallen service members. Now, all of it is gone.
The Democratic Party’s official X account didn’t hold back, resharing a post that noted Melania’s silence and reminding followers that “Maintaining the East Wing, including its holiday decorations, has historically been the first lady’s responsibility.”
They twisted the knife by following up with an old photo of Melania and her viral 2018 quote: “Who gives a f— about Christmas?”
That line came from a secretly recorded conversation where she vented to an aide, saying, “I’m working my a– off at Christmas stuff… you know, who gives a f— about Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?”
Neither Melania nor the White House has responded to requests for comment.
Trump began the demolition on Monday, despite previously pledging that his massive ballroom project wouldn’t disrupt the White House itself. What started as a $200 million plan has ballooned to $300 million, and the ballroom’s capacity has jumped from 650 to 900 guests.
Though Trump once claimed he’d pay for it personally, new reports raise serious questions about where the money is really coming from.
The spectacle comes in the middle of a prolonged government shutdown that’s forcing hundreds of thousands of federal workers—including TSA agents and air traffic controllers—to work without pay.
While Trump builds his golden monument to himself, the East Wing lies in ruins. And Melania? She’s already made her stance clear: it’s “not my project.”
