Joe Rodriguez is a San Benito resident, a local citizen watchdog, and a former candidate for the San Benito City Commission.
Remember when Donald Trump promised that his new White House ballroom would not cost American taxpayers a dime? Well, in the words of the great TV commentator Maury Povich, “That was a lie!”
Trump’s big lie began when he decided, on his own, to tear down the East Wing in the middle of the night, without congressional approval or proper permits. He did it on a whim before anyone could stop him.
This is basically Trump’s MO. He is still fighting a (not a) war with Iran without congressional approval.
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, a U.S. president, including Donald Trump, must report to Congress within 48 hours of deploying troops into hostilities and must terminate that involvement within 60 to 90 days unless Congress authorizes continued military action.
According to Trump, the clock on the war stopped when he announced a ceasefire with Iran. Ergo, no congressional approval is required. But I digress.
Trump’s illegal demolition began in the summer of 2025, initially with a price tag of $200 million paid by private donors. Suddenly, the price tag rose to $300 million, then $400 million, all while sticking to the same lie that it would be paid for with private donor money. No need to worry!
Supporters framed the project as a “gift” to all Americans. Just as Mar-a-Lago, 99.9999% of Americans would never be invited to these places.
By May 2026, the promise of no taxpayer funding was replaced by a Senate committee proposal to provide the Secret Service with up to $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for “security features” related to the ballroom project.
Senate Republicans found a backdoor to place the full cost of Trump’s ballroom at the feet of the American taxpayers. The original promise of a donor-funded ballroom suddenly became Trump’s “Big Lie #2” following “Big Lie #1,” that the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen.
While Trump stood in the White House Oval Office last summer, promising that no taxpayer dollars would be spent on his ballroom, his Republican caucus in the House of Representatives was busy proposing to let the ACA (OBAMACARE) expire, allowing health insurance premiums to double for millions of Americans, cutting 40% of NIH funding for cancer research and food assistance (SNAP), and slashing $4 billion in education funding.
To date, the Trump administration has spent about $25 billion on the war in Iran.
An April 2026 Harvard Kennedy School analysis by public finance expert Professor Linda Bilmes projects that the total cost of the U.S.-Iran war will reach $1 trillion.
This projection contends that official government figures significantly undercounted the actual economic impact, including upfront combat costs, long-term veteran care, and interest on the national debt.
That is roughly $2 billion per day for a conflict that is not a war.
In 2016, President Trump made a campaign promise to eliminate the national debt within eight years. Instead, the gross national debt has roughly doubled since he first took office. It stood at $19.9 trillion in January 2017.
In March 2026, the United States’ national debt surpassed $39 trillion for the first time, reaching the grim milestone less than five months after it hit $38 trillion in late October 2025.
By the midterm elections, the United States national debt will reach $40 trillion. This is unsustainable.
But don’t worry; let’s spend another $1 billion on another building so Trump can etch his name on yet another taxpayer-funded government building, as dictators do.
The Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center of the Performing Arts (now closed), Trump-class battleships, The Trump gold card, Trump coins, Trump dollar bills, Trump passports, Trump national park pass, Trump banners, TrumpIRA.gov , Trump Accounts, and TrumpRX.gov all bear his name.