Gavin Newsom continues his relentless social media attacks on Donald Trump and his administration. His latest post on X targets press secretary Karoline Leavitt. In a swift, three-word post, the California Governor mocked President Trump’s latest priority: building a new $300 million ballroom inside the White House.
Newsom shared a clip of Leavitt’s recent press briefing, during which she described the ballroom as “President Trump’s main priority right now.” The California governor captioned the video “good to know.”
Given the current political situation in the US, having the White House renovation as the President’s main priority is indeed a shocking statement.
Earlier this month, Newsom had ridiculed the president’s privately funded White House expansion, calling the ballroom “Ugly and tacky” in a viral X post. His comments, shared through his press office’s account, came in response to clips of the gold-saturated Oval Office renovation unveiled by the Trump administration.
President Trump, however, has defended the move, boasting that foreign leaders will “freak out” when they see the “highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room.” His words show how he genuinely thinks that the White House makeover would show America in a great light.
The ballroom project, which involves demolishing parts of the White House East Wing, has nonetheless triggered backlash from historic preservationists and political opponents alike. Trump insisted on Wednesday that keeping the East Wing intact would have “hurt a very, very expensive, beautiful building.” He added that “me and some friends of mine” are funding the ballroom privately so “taxpayers won’t have to pay a cent.”
Despite that claim, preservation experts have warned that the demolition commenced before proper review or approval by federal development authorities. The National Trust for Historic Preservation urged the administration to pause the work until a public evaluation could occur.
Good to know. https://t.co/QEhPylmqbo
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 23, 2025
The group emphasized that the review process “provides a crucial opportunity for transparency and broad engagement — values that have guided preservation of the White House under every administration going back to the public competition in 1792 that produced the building’s original design.”
Newsom amplified those concerns through a series of posts portraying Trump as detached from public reality. His team even shared an edited image of Trump dressed as French queen Marie Antoinette, a nod to her infamous phrase “let them eat cake.”
The caption read: “TRUMP MARIE ANTOINETTE SAYS, ‘NO HEALTH CARE FOR YOU PEASANTS, BUT A BALLROOM FOR THE QUEEN!’” The image, posted October 1, mocked the fact that despite the government going through a shutdown, Trump’s excessive spending was not stopping.
However, despite such continuous attacks and criticism from various political figures as well as the common people of America, neither Trump nor his administration is ready to pull the plug on the White House renovation project.
While Trump has mentioned that no taxpayers’ money would be spent on the remodeling of the historical building, there is skepticism regarding the whole funding process of the project, which has further added to the backlash that it has been receiving.
