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MSNBC's Daniels: 'Nightmarish' Founders Right In Building Relatively Small White House
File this one under The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions.
On MSNBC's The Weekend, in a segment on President Trump's ballroom project co-host Eugene Daniels called the Founding Fathers "nightmarish" on some policies, citing slavery. Daniels acknowledged that the Founders got it right in creating a White House that was relatively small, the goal being to distinguish it from the palaces of royalty.
The original Constitution did not forbid slavery because the Southern states, whose economies were heavily dependent on slave labor, had made it clear that they would not join the United States if the Constitution had abolished slavery.
Daniels would apparently have preferred a United States composed only of the northern states, with the Southern states forming a separate nation. The ironic, likely result would have been for slavery to have persisted beyond Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1862.
In other matters:
The panelists had to sheepishly admit that among the donors to the ballroom project is Comcast, MSNBC's current owners. It's been reported that Comcast's contribution will be in the $5-10 million range.
Predictably, the hosts found a way to kvetch about the fact that the ballroom is being privately funded, saying there'd be no accountability, and that the donors would expect something in return. Of course, if Trump had found a way to include the the ballroom's cost in the federal budget, the hosts would also have been outraged: "hard-working Americans forced to foot the bill for this extravagant monstrosity!" No good deed goes unpunished
The panel condemned the fact that the budget for the project has increased to $350 million from the original $200 million estimate. Could have been worse. At least it's not like the High Speed Rail project in Democrat-run California, whose projected costs have tripled over the years, and whose completion date has been pushed back from 2020 to 2040! Many predict that the originally-planned San Francisco to LA route will never be completed!
Citing an archival expert, co-host Jackie Alemany admitted that "most reasonable people might agree, okay, maybe the construction of a ballroom isn't the craziest idea." She noted the need for guests not to have to use porta-potties.Jonathan Capehart piped up to say that he has been to three state dinners [earning him a sarcastic "not to brag" from Alemany], and that the porta-potties are not of the construction-site variety, but are nicely "decked out." Capehart had earlier emoted, "I can't tell you how upset [the East Wing demolition] makes me." Well, he could. He claimed "everyone's been talking about how the destruction of the East Wing is a perfect metaphor for this administration, and it absolutely is."
Finally, you'll note that video clip begins with a few seconds of the promo for Nicolle Wallace's new-since-June podcast. Flaunting her elitism, Wallace has named it "The Best People." It's described as offering "varied" views, but turns out the views of "the best people" are the same old Trump-bashing to be found across MSNBC.
Examples from the podcasts:
Jason Bateman calls Trump an "arsonist."
Martin Sheen: Trump's cabinet "smells of ego and fear and false worship."
Anthony Scaramucci: Trump has "lost a step."
"Badass Stacey Abrams demolishes these 'cowards.'"
You get the picture. A new episode of "The Best People" airs on Mondays. Don't fail to miss it!
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
The Weekend
10/25/25
9:45 am EDT
PROMO FOR NICOLLE WALLACE PODCAST, THE BEST PEOPLE: New episodes drop Mondays.
JACKIE ALEMANY: President Trump's massive demolition of the East Wing is now complete. Satellite pictures show what the White House complex looked like just a month ago. And here's the scope of the destruction on Thursday, with the East Wing of the building entirely gone.
It'll be replaced with part of President Trump's 90,000-square-foot ballroom, the cost of which has now ballooned to $350 million. The money is expected to come from private donors, including Comcast, the current parent company of MSNBC.
As the demolition of the East Wing got underway this week, President Trump reversed course on what he said earlier this summer about the project.
PRESIDENT TRUMP [July 2025]: It won't interfere with the current building. It'll be near it, but not touching it. And pays total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of. It's my favorite place. I love it.
[October 22] We determined that after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world, we determined that really knocking it down, trying to use a little section. You know, the east wing was not much. In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure.
EUGENE DANIELS: Well.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Come on. This is the people's house! There are rules. There are procedures. And once again, everyone's been talking about how the destruction of the East Wing is a perfect metaphor for this administration, and it absolutely is.
He could not care less about what the East Wing means to the American people. He couldn't care less about the role of Congress. He couldn't care less about the role of accountability He is running roughshod over the country, and that right there, what we're watching right there, is just the perfect, perfect metaphor.
I can't tell you how upset this makes me.
DANIELS: There's a couple of things for me. Is, one, the reason that when people go to the White House, they go, wait, it's so much smaller than I expected. That was the point.
Because our Founders, as nightmarish as they were on some policies, like slavery, they knew that the kind of place that they wanted the head of state to live in, they wanted it to be more humble. They didn't want it to be huge. They didn't want it to look like a palace. That's why it's not gold-encrusted until recently, right? That was very important to them, too.
He lied about not destroying it. A couple months ago, when this first came out, they said they weren't going to touch it the East Wing.
CAPEHART: You just heard him say it.
DANIELS: And then, they just they completely destroyed it without telling anybody. Reporters just saw it happening. Also, they added how much money it was going to be. Another 50 percent of how much is going to be. And that money is being raised by all of these billionaires and corporations --
CAPEHART: Privately.
DANIELS: Privately. And apparently the president, he said he's going to throw some money in. But the problem with that, and Kimberly Atkins Stohr said better than I can. But when that is happening, and it's not tax dollars, there's no accountability. And those folks are going to want something for giving money to that house.
JACKIE ALEMANY: And most reasonable people might agree, okay, maybe the construction of a ballroom isn't the craziest idea. When people go to the state dinner, they have to go to the bathroom in porta-potties. Maybe they want something nicer.
DANIELS: Not the gowns in the porta-potties.
ALEMANY: But her issue is the way it has been done.
CAPEHART: As someone who has been to three state dinners --
ALEMANY: Not to brag.
CAPEHART: -- let me just tell you that it's not, it's not, you know, the port-a-potty that you see at the construction site. These are decked out, tricked out.
ALEMANY: Jonathan is pro-port-a-potty.
CAPEHART: I am.
DANIELS: And even if they weren't, your little gown will be fine. Your gown will be okay.
CAPEHART: We gotta go.
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