Marble Falls          Admittedly, President Trump is committed to expanding his power exponentially without any regard to the ostensible limits of democratic practice and institutions.  His capacity for arbitrary and unilateral dictates is unrivaled, with fresh examples almost daily, whether cloaked in executive orders or delivered when hurling firings like fastballs at the head.  Perhaps there are some that might want to debate these features of the president, but what increasingly seems to exist at rock bottom without any danger of contradiction is that at the core he is simply a billionaire with a commitment to a new gilded age and whatever luxuries and baubles he might want, like the rest of his monied elite.  As clear, is that he is still fundamentally a real estate developer, who can’t be happy, if he’s not buying and building.

First, we had the absurd situation with the Qatari so-called “gift” of a new plane to serve as a placeholder until the construction of the new multi-billion-dollar presidential plane is finally completed.  By all accounts, the plane was a white elephant that Qatar couldn’t sell, so finding a way to use it to curry favor was a lost leader for them.  To meet the necessary standard in comms and comfort to sub as Air Force One, will cost more than a billion dollars in refurbishment and upgrades, making this a gift horse that should have had its teeth examined more closely.  Who knows when it might be ready, not that it matters, since this is really not a presidential aircraft as much as a Trump toy, which will bizarrely end up at his presumed presidential library later after taxpayers have ponied up the billion.

Now, we have a new ballroom plan for the White House.  The price tag here is $200 million, but that is without the predictable and expected overruns.  There’s already a ballroom in the White House, of course, but it only holds 200.  For $200 million this one would seat 900 or a bit more than $222,222 a chair.  Amortizing that expense will be a lift over the years.  The claim is that the cost will be paid, partially by Trump, he offered $100 million to Obama for this project, which President Obama turned down.  The rest will supposedly be paid by unnamed donors.  No transparency on these donors will be available, so this excessive ballroom will open the floodgates for contributions from corporations and other favor seekers.  All of this fast dealing is designed no doubt to keep Congress and those pesky Democrats from pot shooting at his big beautiful ballroom. It’s all head spinning.

There are catcalls of course from those prudes, the ethics experts. Their voices definitely exist in the wilderness, because they won’t be heeded anywhere near Washington.  There are also the preservationists, architects, and other naysayers, who argue there’s no way Trump will get this done before 2029 when his term ends.  Trump says different, and maybe he’s right.  As a developer, he specialized in shortcuts and slow pay.  Maybe this is something he’s looking to spend his free time on rather than watching Fox News and pounding out messages on Truth Social.

Once there are no limits to shame and embarrassment, there also seem to be no boundaries to wild excesses.  I hesitate to wonder, if this isn’t too much, what’s next?