{"slug": "trumps-new-ballroom-adviser-has-been-dead-for-227-years", "title": "Trump’s new ballroom adviser has been dead for 227 years", "summary": "President Donald Trump shared AI-generated images and a video of himself with George Washington, whom he thanked for ideas on the White House ballroom, as his administration asks the Supreme Court to intervene after a federal appeals court halted construction on the $400 million project. Washington, who died in 1799 and never lived in the White House, is an unlikely adviser, and Trump's posts come amid efforts to shape his legacy, including a 'Trump 2028' meme despite the 22nd Amendment's two-term limit.", "body_md": "President [Donald Trump](http://salon.com/topic/donald-trump) has apparently found a new adviser for his embattled White House [ballroom](http://salon.com/topic/ballroom): [George Washington](http://salon.com/topic/george-washington).\n\nTrump spent part of his weekend sharing a series of seemingly AI-generated images depicting himself alongside the nation’s first president, including one showing the pair writing with quill pens, another riding horses together and a short video in which Trump and Washington stroll through the still-unbuilt ballroom.\n\n“Thank you, George, for some of your brilliant ideas on this great Military Complex/Ballroom!” Trump captioned the 10-second video.\n\nWashington’s newfound role as Trump’s 18th-century architectural consultant comes as the president fights to continue [construction](https://www.salon.com/2026/08/07/trump-pitches-ballroom-as-military-center-after-appeals-court-halts-construction/) on the $400 million White House project. The Trump administration [asked](https://www.salon.com/2026/08/15/trump-cant-take-no-for-an-answer-on-his-ballroom/) the [Supreme Court](http://salon.com/topic/scotus) on Friday to intervene after a federal appeals court ruled that aboveground construction could not proceed without congressional approval.\n\nThe imaginary collaboration also contains a historical wrinkle: Washington never actually lived in the White House.\n\nWashington selected the site for the President’s House and oversaw aspects of its planning and construction, but left office in 1797 and died in 1799. [John Adams](http://salon.com/topic/john-adams) became the first president to live in the still-unfinished building when he moved in the following year.\n\nTrump’s Washington posts arrive amid an increasingly public effort to shape his own presidential legacy. His administration is simultaneously fighting over the ballroom and efforts to place his name on the [Kennedy Center](http://salon.com/topic/kennedy-center), while Trump has repeatedly shared heroic and AI-generated depictions of himself online.\n\nOn Saturday, he added another image to the collection: a [photograph](https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-sparks-fury-on-the-left-with-meme-suggesting-hes-running-in-2028-things-are-going-to-get-really-really-bad-very-very-soon/) of himself wearing a “Trump 2028” hat [accompanied](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117101395583923690) by the declaration, “WE ARE GOING TO WIN.”\n\nThe [22nd Amendment](https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxii) prohibits anyone from being elected president more than twice, something Trump acknowledged earlier this month when he [conceded](https://people.com/trump-says-law-very-strong-about-term-limits-12059355) that the law on presidential term limits is “very strong.”\n\nWashington, meanwhile, famously made [relinquishing power](https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/george-washington-s-farewell-address) part of his own legacy.\n\nAfter commanding the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, Washington voluntarily surrendered his military commission to Congress rather than retaining control of the army. He later declined to seek a third presidential term, [establishing](https://www.mountvernon.org/education/secondary-sources/government-resources/saying-goodbye) the two-term tradition eventually written into the Constitution.\n\nWashington’s [legacy](https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/ten-facts-about-washingtons-presidency) has hardly escaped [historical scrutiny](https://millercenter.org/president/washington/impact-and-legacy). He enslaved more than 100 people at Mount Vernon, and historians continue to grapple with the [contradiction](https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/whitewashing-our-first-president/) between the nation’s founding ideals and the human bondage practiced by its first president, among his [strong mythology](https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/video/first-among-men-george-washington-and-the-myth-of-american-masculinity/).\n\n*Start your day with essential news from Salon.\nSign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.*\n\nBut Trump’s latest posts appear less interested in interrogating Washington than in imagining him as a collaborator — writing, riding and offering design tips to his 21st-century successor.\n\nWhether Washington would have approved of Trump’s ballroom is impossible to know. In Trump’s AI-generated version of history, however, George has apparently already signed off.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trumps-new-ballroom-adviser-has-been-dead-for-227-years", "canonical_source": "https://www.salon.com/2026/08/16/trumps-new-ballroom-adviser-has-been-dead-for-227-years/", "published_at": "2026-08-16 14:30:14+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-16 14:42:05.725545+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["generative-ai"], "entities": ["Donald Trump", "George Washington", "White House", "Supreme Court", "John Adams", "Kennedy Center"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trumps-new-ballroom-adviser-has-been-dead-for-227-years", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trumps-new-ballroom-adviser-has-been-dead-for-227-years.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trumps-new-ballroom-adviser-has-been-dead-for-227-years.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/trumps-new-ballroom-adviser-has-been-dead-for-227-years.jsonld"}}