Last month at the DC Hilton a man allegedly attempted to assassinate the President and/or other cabinet officials during the White House Correspondents' Assn. (WHCA) gala. The event had 2,600 guests, many of whom were working press and their spouses or others. No doubt there were also network executives and other "dignitaries" (read Trump fans). Several members of the Cabinet attended, including according to multiple reports, a majority of the "line of succession" to the presidency, which frankly seems crazy on its face.

Because the venue is within a larger public building, it has been suggested that some other location would be preferable. Press reports have noted that the location was traditional for an event that has been held there for decades. Other writers have noted that there are numerous other DC locations capable of hosting similar crowds with much greater security.

Trump acolytes in the White House have suggested that one purpose of "The Ballroom" is to create a more secure DC location for public presidential events. Some have suggested the ballroom is just another sop to Trump's vanity. Let's walk that through.

According to a web search today,
• Initial White House and media briefings in mid‑2025 described a ballroom of about 90,000 square feet with a seated capacity of around 650 guests.
• Later statements from President Trump and project descriptions indicated that the target capacity was revised upward, first to 900 and then to 999 seated guests.
• By early 2026, updated briefings and news coverage described finalized plans for a ballroom space of about 22,000 square feet within a larger 90,000‑square‑foot addition, designed to seat roughly 1,000 dinner guests, which is the figure generally cited now.

So on first analysis, the proposed space is at best 100-(1000/2600*100)=61% smaller than the Hilton Ballroom.

Let's assume The Ballroom is complete in time for the 2028 celebration, presumably Trump's last hurrah. So who will be able to attend in the new space?

The WHCA has around 900 members representing about 250 news organizations. Let's assume the journalists and each of their bosses want to attend and bring one guest. That's 2,300 people, plus, let's say 100 government officials. Oops!

Let's assume that only half can attend due to distance, scheduling, etc. That's 1,200 people. Oops!

To whom do you suppose the Trump Administration will prefer to send a gold-embossed invitation, the actual journalists, or their bosses, or big political donors? (Hint: Consider which group is more likely to have contributed to the Trump campaigns over the years.) So there is a strong possibility that future WHCA galas will consist of appointed government officials chatting with financiers and management types who like to pretend they're associated with journalism.

Fun fact: Submit to any AI search engine the query "What US president has experienced the most assassination attempts?" Many people are saying you will probably not be surprised by the response.