The dumbest news cycle in recent memory continues apace, as the legacy nightly news continue to cover the Trump administration’s construction of an ornate ballroom in the East Wing as though it were Watergate. But there may be signs that this story may yet fade.
ABC’s was, far and away, the worst of all. Here is anchor David Muir’s overwrought introduction to Mary Bruce’s report:
DAVID MUIR: Now to the growing outrage over the demolition at The White House. Tonight, the before and after images right here. Satellite images showing the East Wing of The White House just weeks ago, and look at this. This is what it looks like now. The East Wing completely gone tonight. The president had said his $300 million ballroom would not affect the integrity of The White House. So Mary Bruce asking The White House tonight why the American people weren't told the entire East Wing would be gone, and all of this amid the government shutdown now day 23.
Muir’s melodramatic intro gave way to Mary Bruce in peak Mary Brucey form, who proceeded to describe the ruins of the hallowed East Wing with a care and reverence normally reserved for terror attack sites. Bruce then played herself haranguing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt over the construction, before whining about the fact that the administration did not go through the normal bureaucratic channels before proceeding with demolition.
After trying to gotcha President Donald Trump on the exact to-the-penny amount of his personal donation to the ballroom fund, Bruce shifted to the shutdown- taking great care to keep her coverage Democrat-coded. Bruce blames Trump for refusing to negotiate with the Democrats, who just want to save you from healthcare Armageddon. Needless to say, this report includes no explainer as to how healthcare coverage got there in the first place.
Then there’s CBS. Weijia Jiang’s coverage echoed some of the themes Bruce raised, albeit less stridently…but only a little less. These newscasts keep making reference to “mounting criticism”, but what criticism is there, really, beyond legacy newsrooms? In this case, there is Jiang’s- endumbening our discourse by rhetorically equating The Whote House to the Jefferson Memorial:
THE DUMBEST CYCLE CONTINUES: CBS's Weijia Jiang compares The White House to the Jefferson Memorial when asking whether the President can "tear down anything he wants without oversight" pic.twitter.com/saO7vJl1LD
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 24, 2025
CBS did not make a shutdown optics argument the ballroom build, as has ABC. But they did mention the shutdown in a separate aside on air traffic controllers.
NBC may be shaking the story, now that the donor list has been made pubic:
RIPPING THE BAND-AID: NBC Nightly News discloses Comcast donation to the new White House ballroom. 7 out of 44 seconds total. pic.twitter.com/V5qXtqgO5H
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 24, 2025
The ballroom build got 44 seconds within a broader D.C. roundup, which suggests some fade. Good on NBC to break the toxic cycle, for whatever reason.
That this terminally dumb story still occupies space atop the A-block is proof evident of the extent to which the story is driven by reflexive Trump derangement, as opposed to a pursuit of the facts.
Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective networks on Thursday, October 23rd, 2025:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
10/23/25
6:35 PM
DAVID MUIR: Now to the growing outrage over the demolition at The White House. Tonight, the before and after images right here. Satellite images showing the East Wing of The White House just weeks ago, and look at this. This is what it looks like now. The East Wing completely gone tonight. The president had said his $300 million ballroom would not affect the integrity of The White House. So Mary Bruce asking The White House tonight why the American people weren't told the entire East Wing would be gone, and all of this amid the government shutdown now day 23. Here's Mary Bruce.
MARY BRUCE: Tonight, the stark images where the East Wing of The White House once stood, now just a pile of rubble, demolished to make way for President Trump's ballroom, which Trump once said would cost $250 million. And now says will run some $300 million. Satellite images show the dramatic transformation. This was The White House complex less than a month ago. And here it is today. President Trump once claimed the ballroom wouldn't interfere with The White House itself.
DONALD TRUMP: Didn't want it to interfere with the current building. It won't be. It’ll be near it, but not touching it. And pays total respect to the building, which I'm the biggest fan of.
BRUCE: Today I asked The White House why once they realized the entire East Wing would have to go, they didn't tell the American people.
This is the people's house. Why not inform the public of that change and when it was decided that the East Wing would have to be demolished?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Look, again, with any construction project, changes come. (VIDEO SWIPE) If you look at the renderings, it’s very clear that the East Wing was going to be modernized.
BRUCE: Modernized and tearing down are two different things.
LEAVITT: Well, again- the president, the plans changed when the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies.
BRUCE: The White House still has not submitted plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the National Trust for Historic Preservation says they're deeply concerned that the planned 90,000 square foot ballroom will overwhelm The White House itself. This was how it looked earlier this week. And here's a rendering of what it will be, the ballroom dwarfing the other buildings. The president says it will be wholly paid for with private donations and his own money.
And how much, specifically, are you personally donating to it?
TRUMP: How much am I donating? I won't be able to tell you until I finish, but I'll donate whatever is needed, I'll tell you that.
BRUCE: All of this playing out in the middle of the government shutdown, now day 23. Tomorrow, more than 500,000 federal workers are set to miss their first full paycheck. Food banks across the country from New Orleans to Salt Lake City already seeing longer lines. As over 40 million Americans rely on the federal food assistance program, SNAP, many of them in red states, could lose their benefits in just days. The president still refusing to negotiate with Democrats, who want to repeal Medicaid cuts and extend Obamacare subsidies to prevent some 20 million Americans from soon seeing their health insurance premiums skyrocket.
The president is now plowing ahead with his $300 million ballroom. It comes after he already made changes to the Rose Garden, paving over the grass there to create a patio, and The White House tonight isn't ruling out that there could be even more changes to come here.
MUIR: Mary Bruce, thanks to you again tonight.
CBS EVENING NEWS
10/23/25
6:41 PM
DuBOIS: The White House opened 225 years ago next week. The East Wing was added a century later.
JOHN DICKERSON: Now that East Wing, with all the history it contained, is gone. Torn down to make way for a grand ballroom. Weijia Jiang reports the president's spokesperson was on the defensive today against the building criticism.
WEIJIA JIANG: Over the span of three days, construction crews demolished the East Wing of The White House. Tonight, side-by-side satellite images show all of it has been reduced to rubble, making room for President Trump's 90,000 square-foot ballroom.
Can the president tear down anything he wants without oversight? Can he demolish this building or, say, the Jefferson Memorial?
KAROLINE LEAVITT: When it comes to Phase One of this project, the tearing down of the current East Wing structure, a submission is not required legally for that. Only for vertical construction will a submission be required.
JARED HUFFMAN: There has been total secrecy. This is an iconic structure...
JIANG: Democratic Missouri congressman Jared Huffman co-wrote a letter to The White House demanding details about the project, including architectural plans and a full list of donors. They include software company Palantir, which has several active government contracts, and the owners of Gemini, a crypto company that have donated more than $3 million to pro-Trump organizations, and successfully lobbied to remove a nominee for the government agency that regulates crypto.
HUFFMAN: The folks who are being asked to pay for this have raging conflicts of interest.
JIANG: The price tag has ballooned to $300 million, up by $100 million from the original estimate. Trump responded to critics who want more information.
DONALD TRUMP: I haven't been transparent? Really? I have shown this to everybody that would listen.
JIANG: President Trump says the administration has raised $350 million to build the ballroom, which is more than the current price tag. As for a response to that letter from the Democrats, The White House says Democrats are more concerned with President Trump's quote: "Historic beautification of The White House" than the government shutdown.
DuBOIS: And separately here, Weijia, we are getting some late breaking news about how the shutdown is impacting air travel. What can you tell us about that?
JIANG: That's right. Tonight the FAA announced that air traffic control staffing issues are delaying travel at airports right here in Washington, New York, Newark, and in Houston. The government shutdown is now in its 23rd day.
DuBOIS: Okay. Weijia Jiang. Thanks so much.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
10/23/25
6:36 PM
TOM LLAMAS: Now to new clashes over President Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigration. As he announced today, he’s spoken to the mayor of San Francisco and will not send federal law enforcement there for now. Here's Garrett Haake.
GARRETT HAAKE: Tonight, new clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers. Chicago police coming to the aid of federal agents. Gas deployed. Making one arrest for battering a police officer. While in California, a man hit with a projectile during a protest against ICE. President Trump touting his crime crackdown.
DONALD TRUMP: They are arresting bad criminals. And they're really good at it, too.
HAAKE: And saying after a phone call with San Francisco's mayor, he's holding off on deploying federal agents there.
TRUMP: Well, they're doing a good job so we're holding off that surge, everybody. And we're going to let them see if they can do it.
HAAKE: While in Washington, satellite photos show The White House's East Wing, both before and after the demolition to build a massive new ballroom in its place. Which The White House says is needed to host diplomatic events.
TRUMP: It’ll be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world, I think.
HAAKE: Tonight, some GOP criticism.
LISA MURKOWSKI: I certainly have been hearing about it from Alaskans who are saying: what? When did we decide that we needed a bigger ballroom?
HAAKE: The president says the project is paid for by himself and private donors, including NBC News’ parent company Comcast. Tonight, speaking about his own donation which he says will be in the unspecified millions of dollars.
TRUMP: How much am I donating? I won't be able to tell you until I finish but I’ll donate whatever is needed. I’ll tell you that.
LLAMAS: Garrett joins us now live from The White House. And Garrett, another headline tonight, the president pardoning the founder of a high profile crypto exchange?
HAAKE: That's right, Tom. Billionaire Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, had already served his four-month sentence after pleading guilty to charges of enabling money laundering through the crypto exchange. Today, tThe White House said Zhao had been overcharged by the Biden administration, but the president is now facing criticism because Binance had supported the Trump family’s own crypto company. Tom.
LLAMAS: Garrett Haake for us, Garrett, thank you.
