发布时间：2026年3月5日，美国东部时间上午6:00 / 更新：37分钟前
作者：Betsy Klein、Sunlen Serfaty、Casey Tolan
特朗普东翼宴会厅项目即将获政府委员会最终批准，尽管收到超3.2万条反对公众意见
华盛顿，2026年2月4日，周三——白宫东翼旧址上的宴会厅建设工作仍在继续。
Rod Lamkey/AP
唐纳德·特朗普总统大规模的东翼宴会厅项目，尽管收到了超过32,000条来自公众的压倒性反对意见，仍有望获得负责监督首都联邦建筑和土地规划的政府委员会的最终批准。
美国国家首都规划委员会（NCPC）预计将于周四就宴会厅计划进行最终投票，这标志着该项目在特朗普去年10月突然拆除东翼后快速推进过程中的最新一次获批。
会议前公布的约9,000页公众评论详细列出了美国人的主要反对意见，包括对项目规模和范围、成本以及历史破坏等问题的担忧。
据美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）使用人工智能和人工验证的分析，超过97%的公众反馈反对建设，其中最严厉的批评将拟议中的宴会厅美学比作“妓院”或“拉斯维加斯赌场”。
围绕“特朗普化”白宫以及担心宴会厅代表“威权自我膨胀”的反对声音，在数万条敦促委员会否决该计划的评论中是常见主题。支持建设的评论数量较少，其理由是需要更大、更现代化的空间。
建筑设计师向NCPC展示东翼4亿美元新宴会厅的设计图
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
自重返白宫以来，总统已在这个由12名成员组成的委员会中安插了忠诚者。本周早些时候，NCPC执行主任发表了一份建议，称“（批准）位于白宫场地的东翼现代化项目的初步和最终场地及建筑计划”，几乎确保了项目将继续推进。
这一预期中的批准，距离艺术委员会（另一联邦机构，特朗普在此安插了政治盟友）投票批准设计仅几周，也在联邦法官驳回该国顶级历史保护组织阻止该项目的尝试后几天。
如果NCPC周四批准，任何进一步阻止施工的尝试都将需要法院介入。
最严重的法律挑战来自历史保护主义者提起的诉讼，他们认为特朗普需要国会批准才能进行建设。此外，关于周四NCPC投票的合法性也已存在疑问。
这个耗资数百万美元的项目以惊人的速度推进，凸显了日益大胆的特朗普希望在其第二任期结束前推出一个完工的宴会厅的个人兴趣，这是他重塑白宫和华盛顿以符合其风格和品味的更广泛努力的一部分。
这位前房地产开发商深度参与了这些计划——甚至在本周的一次荣誉勋章仪式上，在未被提示的情况下，详细提及了该项目，这是他对伊朗发动战争后首次公开评论。政府官员此前表示，地面施工最早将于下月开始。
“俗气”和“低俗”：公众评论揭示严重疑虑
NCPC的审查流程包括公众意见征集期，来自全国各地的32,000多人通过数字或手写方式提交了意见，这些评论揭示了人们对特朗普宴会厅计划的深切不安和震惊。
反馈中反复出现“俗气”、“艳丽”、“招摇”、“华丽”、“淫秽”、“丑陋”、“恶心”、“低俗”、“廉价”、“低级”和“无灵魂的酒店会议空间”等严厉措辞。
许多人担心该计划与美国开国元勋设想的“简朴白宫”背道而驰。
一位自称是华盛顿特区长期居民的评论者警告称，特朗普的宴会厅将是“他‘镀金生活方式’的复制品”。
一位评论者表示：“新增部分的规模不仅贬低了建筑的平衡，还在展示美国核心原则方面造成了失衡，破坏了开国元勋确立的平等和谦逊原则。”另一位评论者将该计划描述为“更像君主制的愚蠢之举，而非人民之家的真正构想”。
专家批评项目设计
许多具有相关专业知识的人——建筑师、历史学家和保护主义者——也提出了担忧。
美国建筑师协会前全国主席凯特·施温森（Kate Schwennsen）表示：“如果我的任何前学生提交的东翼宴会厅扩建方案如目前设计的那样，我会给他们不及格。”
施温森曾担任克莱姆森大学建筑学院院长，她指出项目规模“与其环境和场地不符”。
CNN使用人工智能评估提交的评论，并通过识别作者表达的明确情绪来分类是否支持或反对东翼宴会厅项目。模棱两可或中立的评论被归类为“不明确”。
记者随机抽查了2%的结果（超过640条评论），发现AI分类在该样本中准确率达99%。
评论者呼吁重建东翼或起诉特朗普政府
许多评论者敦促委员会要求特朗普将东翼重建至拆除前的尺寸，或鼓励对特朗普政府破坏东翼采取行动，尽管NCPC多次表示其无权处理拆除事宜。
超过8,000条评论包含一个在社交媒体上传播的建议声明：“我反对花费3亿美元用于该项目，该项目在没有适当授权、许可或设计审查的情况下启动。”
当被问及公众对该项目的广泛反对意见时，白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特（Karoline Leavitt）抨击所谓“特朗普偏执的自由派”缺乏品味。
“这些恶意评论显然源于有组织的‘特朗普偏执自由派’运动，他们显然没有风格或品味。遗憾的是，这个国家有些人被‘特朗普偏执症’搞得如此虚弱，以至于即使看到美也无法认可或尊重。”莱维特在给CNN的声明中表示，并强调该计划的宴会厅是“非凡的”，且是私人资助的。
法律挑战：权力滥用与程序合法性
在艺术委员会2月批准设计和NCPC本周四可能通过投票后，该项目的法律障碍仅剩司法干预。
国家历史保护信托基金上周的诉讼被美国联邦地区法官理查德·利昂（Richard Leon）驳回，理由是该信托“选择以《行政程序法》为依据提起诉讼，这并非合适的法律依据”。
该信托本周提起新诉讼，认为特朗普政府在未获国会授权情况下推进施工，违反了权力分离原则。
此外，一个监督组织“公共公民”质疑周四NCPC投票的合法性，称特朗普安插的三人小组（白宫办公厅主任Will Scharf、管理和预算局副主管理Stuart Levenbach、副幕僚长James Blair）违反法律，因其“缺乏法律要求的‘城市或区域规划经验’”。
周四NCPC会议细节
周四的NCPC会议预计将持续很长时间，尽管会议于美国东部时间上午10点开始，但关于宴会厅的讨论预计至少要到下午1点才开始。
超过100人注册就宴会厅计划发言，包括国家历史保护信托基金总裁Carol Quillen、历史保护主义者Bryan Clark Green、华盛顿特区保护联盟执行董事Rebecca Miller等。
该委员会通常面对面开会，但周四的会议将仅在线上举行，原因是“预计议程较长”。此前抗议者曾聚集在NCPC最近的会议外，预计周四还会再次聚集。
委员会预计将在会议结束前就场地和建筑计划进行最终投票。
CNN的Devan Cole对本文亦有贡献。
‘Soulless hotel conference space’: Trump’s East Wing ballroom is poised for approval despite scathing public feedback
PUBLISHED Mar 5, 2026, 6:00 AM ET / UPDATED 37 min ago
By Betsy Klein, Sunlen Serfaty, Casey Tolan
Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House, Wednesday, February 4, 2026, in Washington, where the East Wing once stood.
Rod Lamkey/AP
President Donald Trump’s massive East Wing ballroom project is poised to get its final approval from a government commission that oversees planning for federal buildings and land in the nation’s capital, despite receiving over 32,000 comments from the public overwhelmingly opposing the construction.
The National Capital Planning Commission is expected to take a final vote to approve plans for the ballroom on Thursday, marking the latest clearance for the project in a process that has been on a fast track since Trump suddenly demolished the East Wing last October.
Some 9,000 pages of public comments to the NCPC released ahead of the meeting detailed major objections from Americans who expressed concerns about the project’s size and scope, cost and destruction of history, among other complaints.
According to a CNN analysis using AI and human verification, more than 97% of the public feedback was against the construction, with the most scathing criticisms likening the proposed ballroom’s aesthetic to a “brothel” or “Vegas casino.”
Objections centering around the “Trumpification” of the White House and fears that the ballroom represented “authoritarian self-aggrandizement” were a common theme among the tens of thousands of comments urging the commission to reject the plan. The much smaller number of comments in support of the construction cited the need for a larger and more modern space as reason for backing it.
Architect Shalom Baranes shows elevation drawings for a new $400 million ballroom at the White House to members of the National Capital Planning Commission on January 8, 2026, in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Since returning to office, the president has stacked the 12-member commission with loyalists, and earlier this week, the NCPC executive director published a recommendation to “(approve) the preliminary and final site and building plans for the East Wing Modernization Project located on the grounds of the White House,” all but guaranteeing that the project will move forward.
That expected approval would come weeks after the Commission of Fine Arts, another federal agency where Trump installed political allies, voted to approve the design and days after a federal judge rejected the nation’s top historic preservation group’s attempt to block it.
Approval by the NCPC on Thursday would mean that any further attempt to halt construction would require intervention from the courts.
The most serious legal challenge comes from a case brought by historical preservationists, who argue that Trump needs congressional approval to carry out the construction. And there are already questions about the validity of Thursday’s NCPC vote.
The remarkable speed with which the multi-million-dollar project has progressed has underscored an emboldened Trump’s personal interest in unveiling a finished ballroom before the end of his second term, part of a broader effort to remake the White House and Washington to suit his style and taste.
The former real estate developer has been intimately involved in the plans – even referencing it at length, unprompted, this week at a Medal of Honor ceremony that marked his first public comments after launching war with Iran. Administration officials have previously said that above-ground construction will begin as soon as next month.
‘Gaudy’ and ‘vulgar’: Public comments reveal serious misgivings
Part of the NCPC’s review process requires a public comment period, and more than 32,000 people wrote in from around the country with digital or handwritten notes to express their opinions. These comments revealed deep unease and astonishment about Trump’s ballroom plans.
Again and again, harsh terms like “gaudy,” “garish,” “ostentatious,” “glitzy,” “obscene,” “hideous,” “disgusting,” “vulgar,” “cheap,” “low class” and a “soulless hotel conference space” showed up in the feedback.
There were many concerns about how the plans run counter to what America’s founders had envisioned for a humble, modest White House.
A commenter who identified herself as a longtime Washington, DC-area resident, warned that Trump’s ballroom would be a “replica of his ‘gold plated lifestyle.’”
The scale of the new addition “not only demeans the building’s balance but also creates an imbalance in the presentation of what America is about, undermining principles of equality and humility established by the founding fathers,” a commenter said. Another described the plans as “more reminiscent of a monarchical folly than a genuine conception of The People’s House.”
Rendering of the public view of from Pennsylvania Avenue in documents for the East Wing ballroom construction proposal.
National Capital Planning Commission
Many people with relevant expertise – architects, historians and preservationists – wrote in with concerns.
Kate Schwennsen, former national president of the American Institute of Architects, said: “If any of my previous students had submitted the proposed Ballroom addition to the White House as currently designed, I would have given them a failing grade.”
Schwennsen, who is the former director of the Clemson University School of Architecture, outlined issues with the project’s scale as “inappropriate for its context and site.”
CNN used artificial intelligence to evaluate the submitted comments and categorize whether each supported or objected to the East Wing ballroom project by identifying explicit sentiments expressed by the writers. Ambiguous or neutral comments were evaluated as unclear.
Reporters manually checked a random sample of 2% of the results – over 640 comments – and found that the AI classification was 99% accurate for that sample.
Visitors to the Washington Monument look toward the White House and the continuing work on the construction of the ballroom, Wednesday, February 4, 2026, in Washington, where the East Wing once stood.
Rod Lamkey/AP
Many commenters urged the commission to require Trump to rebuild the East Wing to the same dimensions it was before the demolition, or encouraged action against the Trump administration for destroying the East Wing, though the NCPC has repeatedly said it does not have authority over demolitions.
More than 8,000 comments included a suggested form statement that had spread on social media: “I oppose the spending of $300 million on this project, which was initiated without the proper authorization, permits, or design review.”
Asked for comment on the breadth of public opposition to the project, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lambasted what she described as “Trump deranged liberals” lacking taste.
“These nasty comments are clearly stemming from an organized campaign of Trump deranged liberals who clearly have no style or taste. It’s a shame that some people in this country are so debilitated with Trump Derangement Syndrome, they can’t even recognize or respect beauty when they see it,” Leavitt said in a statement to CNN, going on to describe the planned ballroom as “extraordinary” and emphasizing that it is being privately funded.
Legal challenges ahead
Following the Commission of Fine Arts’ February approval and NCPC’s expected Thursday green light, the only potential remaining roadblocks for the project would be through litigation.
The Trump administration notched a temporary win last week after a lawsuit from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s attempting to block ballroom construction was rejected. US District Judge Richard Leon’s ruled that the Trust’s choice to use the Administrative Procedure Act to challenge the project was not the appropriate argument for the suit.
The Trust filed a new lawsuit this week, now arguing that the administration is violating the separation of powers by proceeding with the project without Congressional authorization.
President Trump’s East Wing Ballroom construction is reflected in a mirror on the West Wing of the White House on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA/AP
Separately, a watchdog group, Public Citizen, is questioning the validity of Thursday’s NCPC vote. In a new report, the group alleges that Trump’s installation of a trio of top allies to the commission – staff secretary Will Scharf as chair, Office of Management and Budget associate director Stuart Levenbach as vice-chair, and deputy chief of staff James Blair as a commissioner, violates the law. The three White House staffers, the report says, “fail to have any of the ‘experience in city or regional planning’ the law requires appointees to have.”
Thursday’s NCPC meeting is likely to be a lengthy one, and though it begins at 10:00 a.m. EST, discussions about the ballroom aren’t expected to begin until at least 1:00 p.m. EST.
More than 100 people are registered to speak about the ballroom plans, including National Trust for Historic Preservation president and CEO Carol Quillen, historic preservationist and former NCPC member Bryan Clark Green, and DC Preservation League executive director Rebecca Miller.
The commission normally meets in-person, but Thursday’s events will be online-only, which, it says, is “due to the anticipated agenda length.” Protesters assembled outside the NCPC’s most recent meetings and are expected to gather again on Thursday.
The commission is expected to take a final vote on the site and building plans before the meeting concludes.
CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.