President Donald Trump is replacing the demolished East Wing with a 90,000-square-foot “New East Wing” centered around the White House State Ballroom.
Construction costs have escalated from an initial $200 million estimate to between $400 million and $600 million, funded by a mix of private donations and taxpayer money for security upgrades. While underground work continues, a federal appeals court ruled in August 2026 that above-ground construction must halt until Congress approves the project, leaving the future of the visible ballroom structure uncertain.
But here’s the hurdle if there even is one.
A federal appeals court ruled 2-1 that the president lacks the constitutional authority to unilaterally renovate the White House complex.
Even so, Trump has already demolished the East Wing and started the construction of his new complex. Can the Federal Court stop him? I don’t believe that they will. Trump doesn’t abide by the courts. Why? Because the Supreme Court gave him immunity, and as acting President, he can do what he sees fit, regardless of rulings. In the mean time, Trump will take his case up to the Supreme Court.
You would think that the Supreme Court has the final say. If the Supreme Court came up with their decision that he could not build the complex, would he stop?
The Answer – he would not and then you may ask why? It’s because the same Supreme Court gave him “IMMUNITY”. As long as he does ANYTHING within the “official capacity” of his office, he can do what he wants, anything, as long as it’s done in his official capacity.
He doesn’t have to listen to ANY court, including the Supreme Court, just because he now has the power of “IMMUNITY”. Let that sink in.
No one has the power to rein in the president. Sadly, I must say that the U.S. Congress realizes that they can’t rein him in too. That’s the reason they side with him on everything. Since there is no pushback from Congress, Trump continues to do what he wants to do.
In November, when the Congress is now a Democratically led body, there will be pushbacks, there will be oversite hearings, and there will be convictions. People will get prosecuted and maybe even convicted, but as long as Trump is in office, he can pardon anyone of any Federal crime, anyone.
But that in itself is still not enough to create any accountability if the President of the United States can act as a king and do what he wants.
As an example, Trump has absolute pardon power, granted to every U.S. president by the Constitution. This power has been enjoyed by every U.S. president, but never has this power ever been abused so much as the pardons that Trump has given.
Let’s start with the pardoning of approximately 1,500 people charged or even convicted of insurrection for the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capital.
On day one, Trump pardoned everyone convicted or about to be convicted of January 6 offenders. He pardoned all rioters who attacked the Capital Police. He pardoned anyone who defaced any property or defecated inside the building. He pardoned all who were convicted of carrying weapons of any kind. He pardoned the rioters who installed the noose that was hanging outside the capital, to be used to kill vice President Mike Pence. He served as Donald Trump’s first vice president, holding office from January 20, 2017, to January 20, 2021. He pardoned an additional 77 people consisting of lawyers and political operatives involved in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election (e.g., Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Sidney Powell), which stand up in my mind.
To go a step further, there is a policy called “No MAGA Left Behind”. The new Pardon Attorney, Ed Martin, has explicitly adopted a philosophy of protecting Trump’s political allies. This is corruption at the core.
The pardons include language that potentially covers hundreds of unnamed individuals involved in the 2020 election interference, including the Pardon Attorney himself.
While these pardons signal total political protection, they only apply to federal crimes. They do not shield recipients from state-level prosecutions, such as the Georgia RICO case.
The traditional, merit-based vetting process – typically managed by the DOJ to ensure recipients have rehabilitated and do not pose a public safety risk – has been ABANDONED.
How serious is this ‘pardon thing’. How about this? Pardons were granted to individuals with dangerous criminal profiles, including a January 6th defendant (Daniel Edwin Wilson) convicted of separate firearm offenses as a felon.
How about corruption and embezzlement? Examples include Michelle Fiore (embezzling police memorial funds for plastic surgery) and Scott Jenkins (selling sheriff’s badges for cash). That’s right. People carried badges that can now break the law as acting police officers.
Another level that has to be recognized are that pardons are now being used as currency for political loyalty or to secure the silence of potential witnesses (e.g., Paul Manafort).
Just two years to go and that will seem like an eternity considering all that’s happened for the first two years of Trump’s second presidency, but maybe the rule of law will finally be realized once again.
Hopefully there will be potential avenues to be explored to restore the rule of law and prevent future abuse of the pardon power.