With his approval ratings hitting a second-term low in recent polling, President Donald Trump decided on Tuesday to show off the progress being made on the luxury ballroom he’s building at the White House.

While speaking with reporters outside the White House, Trump boasted that the planned ballroom will “be something incredible” and then explained that it would come with military defense capabilities.

“On top of the roof, we’re gonna have the greatest drone empire that you’ve ever seen,” the president said. “And it’s gonna protect Washington.”

A reporter then asked Trump to elaborate on some of the security features in the ballroom.

The ballroom’s “underneath part, it’s far more complex than the upper,” the president responded. “Because what you don’t see are the floors that are beneath here. And they have very, very important rooms down there, very, the most important. This was the one opportunity for the military to do something.”

After rambling about the ballroom being “ahead of schedule,” Trump said it would have “a drone-proof roof, again, it’s all sealed, and all of this that you see is totally sealed, and we use it as a drone port, you can have unlimited drones up there, and drones are what’s happening right now.”

Trump also reiterated his disinterest in Americans’ concerns about his illegal war with Iran raising the price of gas and leading to the highest level of inflation since 2023.

“This is peanuts,” Trump said of the price of gas, which as of Tuesday stood at an average of $4.53 per gallon in the US. “And I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while, it won’t be much longer… But I don’t even think about that. What I think about is you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon.”

There is no indication that Iran was anywhere close to having a nuclear weapon at the time Trump launched his war in late February without any authorization from the US Congress.

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified under oath before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee last month that Iran’s nuclear weapons program had been “obliterated” by US-led airstrikes that were launched last year, and that there “has been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.”

Trump’s boasting of the planned defense stockpile also came days after an anonymous White House official claimed to the press that Cuba is preparing to attack the US with drones – an allegation the Cuban government and commentators dismissed as laughable.

Trump had hit pause on nenewed Iran attack at Gulf monarchs’ request

Trump had written on his Truth Social platform Monday afternoon that

I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond.

“This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!” the president wrote, and he continued:

Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.

Responding to the post on X, Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, concluded that “once again, Trump has realized that escalation will end up badly for the US. That does not necessarily mean, though, that the necessary realism, discipline and creativity will be mustered for the talks.”

-Common Dreams