During Meeting With Oil Execs, Trump Flaunted a Ballroom That Doesn’t Yet Exist
He also said the ballroom was both under budget and ahead of schedule—neither of which is true.
Photo: Screenshot Politics
Welcome back to Monday Barf Bag.
Trump has (again) killed satire, and in the latest dispatch of astronomically awkward moments (that not even the most hardworking comedy writer could imagine), he sidetracked a White House meeting on Friday with more than 30 U.S. oil tycoons when he forced everyone in the room to look out the window—and soak in the image of… nothing.
The meeting was organized by the White House to discuss plans for investment in Venezuelan oil and included executives from Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Valero. “We have many others that were not able to get in,” Trump told the room, sitting between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “I said if we had a ballroom, we’d have over a thousand people, everybody would—I never knew your industry was that big, I never knew you had that many people in your industry.” The president of the United States did not know that the biggest industry in the world was not… big?!
During a meeting today with oil executives, Trump began babbling and wandering around the room, looking out the window. Far from normal behavior, even for him.
The only reason GOP leaders aren’t doing something must be because Trump is not actually running anything.
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule.bsky.social) January 11, 2026 at 12:51 AM
Trump then turned around. “Come to think of it, well, I got to look at this myself.” He walked over to the window, where he stared out at a pile of unceremonious rubble where the now-demolished East Wing once stood. “Wow. What a, what a view.” (Reminder: unceremonious rubble.) “This is the door to the ballroom,” he said. “Wow, what a job.” He then walks back to the table and tells everyone, “An unusual time to look, but I figured we might as well look.” (While these distractions might be concerning for any other 79-year-old, I’m sure Trump is just that excited about his stupid pet project.) “If the fake news would like to go back and take a look, you can,” he continued. “But you’ll see a very big foundation that’s moving.” He suggested the ballroom was both under budget and ahead of schedule. Neither is true.
For the rest of the meeting, Trump continued to twist reality (and exaggerate opportunities) by urging the companies to invest in Venezuela, saying they need to spend at least $100 billion to rebuild the country’s energy sector. (The same day, he also signed an executive order to block courts from seizing any revenue the U.S. collects from Venezuelan oil.) Per his plans, the U.S. plans to choose which oil companies enter the country and provide some “security,” and in exchange, the companies are sure not only to get their money back, but also make a “very nice return.” “One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices,” he added.
But oil bosses were reluctant to bite, and Exxon CEO Darren Woods called the country “uninvestable.” “We have had our assets seized there twice and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some significant changes from what we’ve historically seen and what is currently the state,” he said. On Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he disliked Woods’ response, that he was “playing too cute.” He said he’s now “inclined” to keep the company out of Venezuela.
“If you don’t want to go in, just let me know because I’ve got 25 people that aren’t here today who are willing to take your place,” he told the oil execs.
Welp. At least he wasn’t sleeping during this meeting, I guess.
More barf:
- New footage of Renee Nicole Good being shot and killed by ICE agents reveals one of the goons called her a “fucking bitch” after she was shot. [Alpha News]
- Greg Bovino got booed out of a Target in Minnesota while taking a bathroom break [Raw Story]
- Trump said he might veto a bill on extending health care subsidies—legislation that would help millions of Americans. [Bloomberg]
- Christopher Raia was tapped to replace Dan Bongino at the FBI. I’m sure he’s qualified. Especially considering he was picked by Kash Patel. [CNN]
- Trump suggested Greenland doesn’t belong to Denmark just because the latter had a “boat land there 500 years ago.” Boy, do we have some bad news for him…[CNBC]
- Officials admitted they have no idea why—or how—at least four monkeys were on the loose in St. Louis, Missouri. [New York Times]
- ICE spent the weekend in Chicago… tripping on ice. So much for Operation Midway Blitz. [@TheTNHoller via Twitter]
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