The Democrats, or Socialists, or whatever they are these days, are hopping mad over President Donald Trump’s construction of a ballroom in the East Wing of the White House, and while it may be their silliest freakout of the entire Trump era, it is also quite telling.

The ladies on ABC’s ‘The View’ were apoplectic when they saw images of demolition, a fairly ordinary way to begin renovations, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They echoed one-time resident Hillary Clinton’s complaint that Trump doesn’t own the White House, even taking to song about it.

What makes this argument so absurd, is that Trump is not building this ballroom for his personal use or glory. It’s not a vanity project. It is a long-considered addition to an executive home that lacked the capacity to hold large indoor events.

Trump, as has always been his wont, is looking to create grandeur, and that seems to be something to which leftists reflexively object.

Trump is obviously not the first president to renovate the White House. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt put in a swimming pool. His successor, President Harry Truman, practically gutted the place to add a balcony. President Nixon covered the swimming pool but added a bowling alley. Finally, President Obama transformed the tennis court into a basketball court.

Note that these are all changes that were made to serve the respective president’s personal taste or enjoyment, like a Roman emperor adding a water feature to his personal dining area.

What Trump is doing is completely different. The ballroom he is constructing will likely survive as a symbol of American power long after we are all gone. It will be, in a sense, our generation’s contribution to the people’s home.

Trump wants this venue, this symbol of America, to be grand and classically inspired, a timeless marble monument to a United States that emerged from the 20th century as the world’s only super power.

And in a way, this is part of what the left objects to, not just in regard to the White House project, but to Trump’s proposed new arch in Washington, D.C., and great statuaries of American heroes, not to mention the recent massive military parade.

In the post-Cold War era, part of America’s international style and sensibility was to be understated. Like the star quarterback who is also a model and a chess prodigy, we learned not to rub it in.

In that time, very little public art or architecture was done on a grand and classic scale, and in more recent times, our society has been so hellbent on taking statues and monuments down, that we gave little thought to putting them up.

Trump instinctively understands that in 2025, America may still be the world’s only superpower, but not by so hegemonic a distance as in the recent past. China, among others have been catching up, and the ‘aw, shucks’ attitude of the past needs some adjusting.

World leaders as well those on public White House tours should have their breath taken away when they walk into the presidential ballroom. Such displays are as old as nations themselves, from the pyramids to the Coliseum, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Though this expansion of the White House would be well worth taxpayer money, Trump has found a way to build it with private donations, as well as his own funds. Still the left is throwing a fit. Why?

Recent polling showed that only 36% of Democrats are very, or even just somewhat, proud of America. This being the case, it’s easy to understand why they object to building testaments to its power and glory.

What Democrats and socialists are really objecting to here is not that Trump’s ballroom celebrates himself, it’s that his ballroom unabashedly celebrates America.

Fifty years from now, when King George VII of Great Britain dines at the White House, people will little remember that it was built by Trump, even if all the gold leaf remains. By then, it will simply be a great piece of American architecture we can all be proud of.

Americans want and deserve a big, beautiful ballroom for their nation’s executive mansion, and there has never been a president more capable of delivering it than our real estate mogul-in-chief.

Liberals can stamp their feet in anger all they want. But the ballroom is going to be built, and eventually, most of them will come to appreciate it.

President Donald Trump issued Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a stern warning Oct. 4, according to a new report. 

At that point, representatives from the Trump administration had hashed out an agreement with other mediators from countries including Qatar, Egypt and Turkey — just days before the two-year anniversary of the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Trump didn’t mince his words during a call with Netanyahu: the deal would be announced and Netanyahu had no other choice but to get on board, Time magazine reported Thursday. 

‘Bibi, you can’t fight the world,’ Trump said he told Netanyahu, as he detailed their conversation in an interview with Time. ‘You can fight individual battles, but the world’s against you.’

Although Netanyahu resisted, Trump’s patience had expired. Trump ‘launched into a profanity-laced monologue cataloging all he’d done for Israel as President: moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing its sovereignty over the Golan Heights, brokering the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states, even joining Israel’s strikes on Iran in June,’ according to Time. 

As a result, Trump indicated that he would no longer back Netanyahu if the prime minister didn’t agree to the peace deal, Time reported. 

‘It was a very blunt and straightforward statement to Bibi…that he has no tolerance for anything other than this,’ Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told the outlet. 

Netanyahu ultimately agreed to the deal, which includes a provision requiring Israeli forces to pull its troops, and a complete disarmament of Hamas. 

The deal also required Hamas to return the hostages that were still in captivity within 72 hours of signing the agreement. Hamas has yet to turn over some of the remains of deceased Israeli hostages.

Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Israel began to face increased pressure and frustration from the Trump administration after it conducted strikes against Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, in September. Qatar is a U.S. ally, and the attack violated the country’s sovereignty — prompting Trump to say at the time that he was ‘very unhappy about every aspect’ of the situation. 

But Trump used the attack as leverage to convince regional leaders to band together and negotiate an end to the conflict. 

‘This was one of the things that brought us all together,’ Trump told Time. ‘It was so out of joint that it sort of got everybody to do what they have to do. If you took that away, we might not be talking about this subject right now.’

Trump has hailed the peace agreement as a victory, and visited with Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset and other officials in Egypt to recognize the finalization of the first phase of the deal. 

‘At long last, we have peace in the Middle East, and it’s a very simple expression, peace in the Middle East,’ Trump told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. 

‘We’ve heard it for many years, but nobody thought it could ever get there,’ Trump said. ‘And now we’re there.’

Now, Trump has indicated that he is setting his sights on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, and signaled his administration will build off the momentum from the Middle East peace agreement to end the conflict in Europe. 

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Wednesday, to discuss the conflict.

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that a vote by Israeli lawmakers to annex the West Bank was a ‘very stupid political stunt.’

A bill applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, which effectively would annex the territory for Israel, passed a vote Wednesday in Israel’s parliament as Vance was visiting the country, according to Reuters. It was the first of four votes needed for the proposal to become law. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party did not back the legislation, which was pushed by lawmakers outside his ruling coalition, the news agency added.

‘That was weird. I was sort of confused by that,’ Vance told reporters on Thursday when asked about the vote. ‘Now I actually asked somebody about it, and they told me that it was a symbolic vote, some symbolic vote to recognize or a symbolic vote to annex the West Bank. I mean, what I would say to that is when I asked about it, somebody told me it was a political stunt, that it had no practical significance, it was purely symbolic.’

‘I mean look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,’ Vance added. ‘The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy about it.’

Following Vance’s comments, a top member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party announced Thursday that the Israeli prime minister told him not to advance proposals regarding the annexation of the West Bank, according to Israeli media.

‘The Knesset vote on annexation was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Israel. The two bills were sponsored by opposition members of the Knesset,’ Netanyahu’s office wrote on X.

‘The Likud party and the religious parties (the principal coalition members) did not vote for these bills, except for one disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from the chairmanship of a Knesset committee. Without Likud support, these bills are unlikely to go anywhere,’ it added.

Possible annexation of the West Bank has been floated in Israel in response to a string of countries moving to recognize a Palestinian state, according to The Associated Press.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state. They, and much of the international community, say annexation would all but end any remaining possibility of a two-state solution, the AP reported.

More than half a million Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank in some 130 settlements.

‘I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,’ President Donald Trump said in late September in the Oval Office. ‘I will not allow it. It’s not going to happen.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A top House Republican is criticizing one of Democrats’ senior leaders for saying the government shutdown and its effects are a ‘leverage point’ to accomplish their goals on healthcare.

‘It’s appalling to see the number two House Democrat openly admit that the left is weaponizing hardworking Americans as ‘leverage’ for political gain, even acknowledging families will suffer in the process,’ Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

‘This isn’t governance — it’s calculated hostage-taking, with struggling families caught in the balance as Democrats attempt to force through their radical agenda. Families are seen only as leverage by Democrats. We always knew it, now they’re saying it out loud. Absolutely shameful.’

House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Chad Pergram last week. At one point, Clark was asked about who Americans would find responsible for the ongoing shutdown.

‘I mean, shutdowns are terrible and, of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have,’ Clark responded.

‘It is an inflection point in this budget process where we have tried to get the Republicans to meet with us and prioritize the American people, and it’s been an absolute refusal, and they were willing to let government shut down when they control the House, the Senate and the White House rather than come and talk about an issue as important to the American people is if they can afford healthcare.’

Fox News Digital reached out to Clark’s office for a response to Pfluger’s comments.

The government shutdown is now in its 23rd day after Senate Democrats rejected the GOP’s federal funding bill for a 12th time on Wednesday evening.

Republicans proposed a measure that would keep federal funding roughly flat until Nov. 21, a spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR), so that negotiators would have more time to strike a longer-term deal on fiscal year (FY) 2026.

The bill passed the House largely along partisan lines on Sept. 19.

But Democrats have been pushing for any funding deal to include an extension of Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those enhancements are set to expire at the end of 2025.

Republican leaders have signaled a willingness to negotiate on those subsidies, but have ruled out doing so in the current package.

‘Mike Johnson said, we have an eternity to talk about this, an eternity. This impact of the ACA is in the next few weeks,’ Clark said. ‘Yes, there are repercussions to a shutdown that are terrible for people.’

She continued, ‘I feel for military families that even if they get paid, you know, there are lots of spouses that also work that are feeling these cuts because we’ve encouraged military spouses to become federal workers to accommodate all the travel and moving that military families so frequently experience. And now we’re saying to them, you’re not going to be paid for your work. I mean, let’s get it together here. The Republicans need to come to town. They need to sit down with us.’

Republicans have seized on Clark’s comments in recent days, however.

House GOP Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., said in a statement on Wednesday, ‘Democrats are holding American families hostage to advance their political agenda, and they’re admitting it.’

Vice President JD Vance slammed former White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s ‘disgraceful’ remarks implying that second lady Usha Vance is afraid of her husband.

‘I think it’s disgraceful, but of course the second lady can speak for herself,’ Vance told reporters in Israel on Thursday. 

He remarked that he is ‘very lucky to have a wonderful wife’ and that he was honored to have her by his side during his recent trip to Israel.

Psaki made remarks about the second lady during an appearance on the ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast and suggested that the vice president is ‘scarier’ than President Donald Trump.

‘I think the little Manchurian candidate, JD Vance, wants to be president more than anything else,’ Psaki said. ‘I always wonder what’s going on in the mind of his wife. Like, are you OK? Please blink four times. We’ll come over here. We’ll save you.’

‘And that he’s willing to do anything to get there. And your whole iteration you just outlined, I mean, he’s scarier in certain ways in some ways. And he’s young and ambitious and agile in the sense that he’s a chameleon who makes himself whatever he thinks the audience wants to hear from him,’ she added.

Social media exploded with criticism of Psaki’s remarks as the clip of her podcast appearance went viral.

Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, accused Psaki of ‘transferring her own personal issues onto others’ and said she ‘has to overcompensate for her lack of talent by saying untrue things.’

Fox News contributor Joe Concha also chimed in, saying that Psaki is, ‘Not a good person. At all.’

Usha Vance met her husband while attending Yale Law School. The White House notes in its biography of the second lady that she ‘is an experienced litigator whose work involved complex civil litigation and appeals in a wide variety of industries.’ Additionally, she clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and for then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In his memoir, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ which was originally published in June 2016, the now-vice president called Usha his ‘Yale spirit guide’ and said that, ‘In a place that always seemed a little foreign, Usha’s presence made me feel at home,’ according to PBS.

The Vances welcomed their first son, Ewan, in June 2017, according to People magazine. Their second son, Vivek, was born in February 2020, and their daughter, Mirabel, was born in December 2021.

Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump maintains he’s steering clear of Virginia politics, but his in-flight remarks about Winsome Earle-Sears are prompting questions about whether he’s backing her after all.

The president has issued a full-throated endorsement for Attorney General Jason Miyares’ re-election bid but has stopped short of doing so for Earle-Sears or lieutenant governor nominee John Reid.

He has notably endorsed New Jersey Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli as a ‘winner’ with a ‘complete and total endorsement’ – and that ‘after getting to know and understand MAGA, [Ciattarelli] has gone all-in.’

At a White House event in which he hosted outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Trump wished him ‘good luck with the upcoming election’ and said the fellow former business executive has been ‘working very hard’ for the candidates.

‘He wants to see that young woman win,’ Trump said of Youngkin, appearing to refer to Earle-Sears.

‘And the attorney general who I endorsed.’

After the Jay Jones murder-texts scandal broke, Trump called on the Norfolk Democrat to drop out ‘immediately’ and said Virginia must ‘continue to have a GREAT (sic) attorney general in Jason Miyares who by the way has my complete and total endorsement.’

‘Jason will never let you down,’ Trump said.

When asked in June about appealing to moderate voters while running in Trump’s party, Reid told the Hampton Roads’ ABC affiliate that he is running his own race.

‘Donald Trump’s in D.C. John Reid’s in Richmond, and I’m looking to help Virginia, and so, if you love Donald Trump, awesome. If you hate Donald Trump, I really don’t intend to argue with you. I want to save Virginia and that’s why I’m running,’ Reid said.

This week, Trump again obliquely complimented Earle-Sears while speaking to reporters on Air Force One – but declined again to issue a Miyares-type ‘total endorsement.’

‘I haven’t been too much involved in Virginia — I love the state; I did very well in the state … I think the Republican candidate is very good, and she should win because the Democrat candidate is a disaster,’ he said.

He warned that both Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J. – the Democratic nominee in the Garden State – will preeminently be bad for the current U.S. energy dominance agenda.

‘Both the Democrats are going to drive the energy prices through the roof,’ he said.

Trump also faulted Spanberger for refusing to directly call for Jones’ ouster.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for clarity on whether Trump’s comments thus far have equated to an endorsement or whether he plans to offer one in the closing days, but did not receive a response.

When reached as well, the Republican National Committee indicated they were not at liberty to discuss the presidential prerogative in endorsements.

Earle-Sears, however, said she looks forward to working with Trump as governor to continue Republican policies focused on public safety, energy costs to Virginians and conservative values – and that Trump has indeed been supportive of her bid.

‘I am deeply grateful for President Trump’s support and his direct encouragement to voters in Virginia to vote Republican,’ she said.

‘We must ensure Virginia is the best place to live, work and raise a family and, with President Trump, I’ll fight to keep energy costs low, keep our families safe and defend our commonsense values.’

Sources have pointed to Youngkin’s own success brought on by keeping Trump at arm’s length during his own hard-fought campaign against Terry McAuliffe in a closely-divided state.

Youngkin’s messaging in predominantly Democratic northern Virginia and the I-95 corridor focused on issues like biological males in girls sports and parents’ rights that could and did draw crossover votes from Virginia voters not inclined to support someone associated with Trump.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the state, Youngkin campaigned on broader conservative or Trumpian tenets and successfully ran up the score in friendlier southside and southwest Virginia, where turnout in those less-populated counties was elevated.