Former vice president Kamala Harris went on a furious rant on President Donald Trump, slamming his decision to build a new $300 million ballroom at the White House, demolishing the East Wing, while millions of Americans face the loss of food aid during the ongoing government shutdown.Speaking on The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart podcast, Harris accused Trump of prioritising luxury over lives. “Are you f–king kidding me?” she said angrily. “This guy wants to create a ballroom for his rich friends while completely turning a blind eye to the fact that babies are going to starve when the SNAP benefits end in just hours from now. Come on.” She went on to criticise what she described as Trump’s obsession with image and excess. “I’m not going to be distracted by, ‘Oh, does the guy have a big f–king hammer?’ What about those babies?” Harris said, drawing a contrast between the lavish project and struggle of low-income families.The MAGA chief’s ballroom project is estimated to cost around $300 million and involves tearing down the East Wing of the White House to make way for a 90,000-square-foot hall. The White House has maintained that the expansion is funded entirely by private donors and no taxpayer money is used, but Democrats have denounced it as wasteful and tone-deaf amid the cost-of-living crisis. The shutdown has already jeopardised federal food assistance for nearly 40 million Americans and threatens to raise healthcare costs as subsidies under the Affordable Care Act are set to expire.Harris urged action on behalf of working families, pointing out what she called Trump’s misplaced priorities. “It costs $8 billion to keep SNAP going for poor children? Come on. And taxpayer dollars, by the way,” she said, referencing Trump’s earlier $20 billion bailout to Argentina.
