<\/p>\n
The panelists of \u201cThe View\u201d think President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> White House ballroom plans aren\u2019t helping him beat the \u201cking\u201d allegations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n During Thursday\u2019s episode, ABC\u2019s Joy Behar called the $300 million renovation a \u201cLet them eat cake\u201d moment, comparing the president and his pet project to the out-of-touch aristocrats who thumbed their noses at peasants\u2019 struggles before being overthrown during the French Revolution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Alyssa Farah Griffin<\/a> kicked off the conversation, explaining that it wasn\u2019t the ballroom in and of itself that bothered her, but how the lavish renovation seemed like an absurd thing to focus on while Americans are worrying how to pay their bills, find work or put food on the table.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really care about the ballroom, per se,\u201d she explained<\/a>. \u201cI care about two things: The American people are struggling. The economy is not rip-roaring the way that we were promised that it was going to. I think of all my relatives who voted for Trump, who really thought, \u2018This guy\u2019s gonna bring the country back, he\u2019s gonna make my paycheck go further.\u2019 And that\u2019s just not what we\u2019re seeing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Highlighting just a few of the struggles regular people are contending with, Griffin said, \u201cUnemployment is too high. … You\u2019ve seen major American manufacturers had their worst quarter last year in years, which, we were promised he was going to bring back American manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThis juxtaposition, if he\u2019s building his grand ballroom while everyone is still hurting, bothers me,\u201d she went on, before noting that while she did appreciate the fact the ballroom is being paid for by donors, and not taxpayers, she worried that it could end up as a \u201cpay for play\u201d scheme to gain greater political influence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want the biggest corporations in America feeling like they own a piece of the White House,\u201d Griffin continued. \u201cLike they can cut a fat check and then they feel entitled to meeting, to whatever it might be on policy that they want. It\u2019s not unprecedented, but I don\u2019t like it. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s seemly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Putting things in context, Sara Haines said, \u201cYou\u2019ve got people lining up at food banks to feed their family who are still called to show up at work, some of them. This is a disturbing optical problem that really is, it should be an embarrassment right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhy do the words \u2018French Revolution\u2019 keep coming into my head? \u2018Let them eat cake,\u2019\u201d Joy Behar added<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Truth<\/span>Has No<\/span>Bias<\/span><\/p>\n Your Support<\/span>Fuels<\/span>Our Mission<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Your Support<\/span>Fuels<\/span>Our Mission<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n