What Shutdown?

Andrew Leyden/AP

Mass federal layoffs that could soon become permanent. Food aid programs facing imminent disaster. Mounting recession indicators in an already stalling economy. The effects of the government shutdown, now in its fourth week, are becoming more pronounced with each day.

But while previous shutdowns saw late-night efforts at the White House to try and break the impasse, several high-profile Trump administration officials, including the president himself, are spending lavishly on self-serving priorities.

Consider the shocking images that emerged on Monday of demolition crews tearing down parts of the East Wing despite President Trump’s repeated assurances^[2] that he would not interfere with the White House’s existing facade as he pursues construction for his long-desired $250 million state ballroom. It was a broken promise, perhaps the most visceral, literal kind, that evinced a president ever preoccupied with gilded priorities, even as economic pain swells around him.

The same wildly out-of-touch priorities were again on display last week at a related White House dinner where Trump hosted dozens^[3] of wealthy donors to recognize their support for the 9,000 square-foot ballroom. (Trump has said that he and other “patriot donors” are footing the bill for the project, prompting warnings from ethics experts that the arrangement runs a high risk of potential corruption^[4].) At the same dinner, the president unveiled models for a decadent triumphal arch^[5] he ostensibily wants built to commemorate the country’s 250th birthday next year. It’s unclear how the proposed arch will be paid for. Meanwhile, Trump has yet to meet with top Democrats in Congress again after their first meeting in September failed to avert the shutdown, yielding only in the president posting a racist, vulgar video mocking Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.

“Construction has always been a part of the evolution of the White House,” White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X. “Losers who are quick to criticize need to stop their pearl-clutching and understand the building needs to be modernized. Otherwise you’re just living in the past.”

But the president isn’t alone in the curious opulence coursing throughout the administration these days. The New York Times^[6] reported this weekend that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has purchased not one, but two new Gulfstream private jets, billed at $172 million in taxpayer dollars. The contract, which was signed on Friday^[7], comes against wider concerns over Noem’s penchant for maximizing the perks of her powerful position as head of DHS. Those include living rent-free in a residence^[8] normally reserved for the US Coast Guard’s top admiral and using taxpayer money for trips to Las Vegas^[9]—Noem claimed “death threats” prompted her to retreat to the waterfront home—while instituting an onerous rule at the Department of Homeland Security that all spending over $100,000 requires her approval.

“In addition to raising serious questions about your ability to effectively lead an agency whose procurement strategies appear to vary on a whim, the procurement of new luxury jets for your use suggests that the [Coast Guard] has been directed to prioritize your own comfort above the [Coast Guard’s] operational needs, even during a government shutdown,” Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee wrote in a letter^[10].

“We are deeply concerned about your judgment, leadership priorities, and responsibility as a steward of taxpayer dollars.”