Leftists reflexively hate everything President Donald Trump says or does, so when he proposed a new White House ballroom, they went (even more) nuts.

It all began last July, when he announced his intention to demolish the East Wing in favor of a ballroom, “privately funded by many generous Patriots,” that could seat nearly 1,000. “The site of the new ballroom will be where the small, heavily changed, and reconstructed East Wing currently sits,” Trump announced. “The East Wing was constructed in 1902 and has been renovated and changed many times, with a second story added in 1942.” The president and his administration laid out legitimate reasons for a ballroom, including the complete lack of a large room for hosting state functions.

“In my work with heads of state and foreign ministers, I am frequently hosted in reception facilities that are visually impressive and reflective of the wealth and beauty of the nations I am visiting,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week. “Instead, we must currently host such visits in plastic or canvas tents on the South Lawn with unsafe and unsanitary portable bathrooms and accommodations unbecoming our national stature.”

Though there are good reasons for this construction project, it would certainly be preferable if President Trump did more with Congress and less unilaterally. Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 seems to include the White House within congressional purview.

But Democrats pointing to the Constitution are not doing so in good faith. They never go along with anything Trump takes to Congress, regardless of the justification. Democrats have led the charge in opposing the ballroom, even though it’s the party of JFK, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden. For them to suddenly express reverence for the White House is a bit too much.

It’s more akin to Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters obstructing her path to the ball out of jealousy and contempt.

The project recently experienced another setback that, I confess, made me laugh. Ten days ago, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that the administration must halt construction until Congress approves the project. “Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” the two Democrat appointees wrote. “This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom. What it does mean is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require.”

Dissenting Judge Neomi Rao noted, “The district court elevated the aesthetic displeasure of a single passerby over the government’s security interests in the ballroom and the security risks of leaving an open construction site at the president’s home and office.”

On Friday, President Trump asked the Supreme Court to expedite a ruling allowing construction to continue. “The updated East Wing complex is absolutely required and should not be enjoined,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote on the president’s behalf. “This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security.”

Initially, Trump pitched the ballroom as necessary for essentially entertainment functions. It had a price tag somewhere around $250 million, paid for by private donors. Now, the 90,000-square-foot facility is a $400 million project — some estimates now put it at $900 million, perhaps partially covered by taxpayers, though the White House denies this. Furthermore, Trump’s administration is calling it a “national security” necessity and a “military complex.” Trump didn’t even use the word “ballroom” in his Friday night Truth Social post about it.

What gives? Sauer cited “recent domestic and international assassination plots” against the president, which is legitimate. Many leftists want to kill this president, and Democrats don’t seem to mind that idea all that much. They and their Leftmedia allies would rather stir controversy over his Air Force One ruse.

To summarize the ballroom saga, however, the whole fiasco reflects poorly on everyone.

President Trump showed little inclination to inform Congress of his plans, preferring to raise money separately, knock down the East Wing, start construction, and deal with the fallout later by claiming he had already started and couldn’t stop now.

Yet who could blame him? He has justifiable reasons for wanting to renovate the White House, which other presidents have done with nary a peep from the critics piling on him now. And Democrats bear a closer resemblance to the British soldier who burned down the White House in 1814 than to the “preservationists” constantly cited by the president’s Leftmedia critics. The idea that “progressives” want to conserve anything is utterly laughable. For Trump, simply starting the ballroom was the only way it was ever going to happen.

Trump is a builder. His critics are destroyers. Yet the American people would be better served if all of our elected officials upheld their oaths to support and defend the Constitution.

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