Donald Trump 'Fell Flat on His Face' While Renovating New Ballroom, Claims Journalist

James Ball, a columnist for The i Paper, has blasted President Donald Trump's vanity projects and international plans, noting how they are all collapsing simultaneously. Ball argues that these failures have left the octogenarian president looking "foolish and weak" on the world stage.

"Trump, in other words, waded into a complex problem that successive administrations failed to address, declared he alone could fix it, didn’t learn anything about the actual underlying issues, and fell flat on his face," Ball wrote. "Some readers might be spotting parallels between the reflecting pool and the President’s Middle East policy, but even just sticking to his misadventures in the Capital provides no shortage of disasters."

Ball highlighted a specific incident where Trump attempted to abruptly shut down the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for a two-year renovation. After failing to clear the proper legal channels, a judge ordered Trump's name stripped from the building and halted the construction.

“The President had to remove his name from the Kennedy Centre, laws keep tripping him up - and now he can't even keep his pool clean," he wrote.

Trump’s heavily pushed $2.6 million East-Wing modernization project — which critics dubbed an eyesore — faced severe legislative and legal roadblocks. Congress pushed back heavily against using taxpayer funds for what opponents called a "gilded palace.”

Ball noted that following U.S. and Israeli military actions, Trump's ongoing efforts to reopen the vital shipping Strait of Hormuz forcefully have met with minimal success.

Ball said that Trump's total lack of impulse control is defining his second term. He describes him as behaving less like the leader of the free world and more like an "incompetent children's TV villain" who blusters through setbacks.

"Trump sees himself as a strongman and wants the world to see him in the same way," Ball wrote.

"He thinks Congress and the Supreme Court work for him. Laws are things he gets to write, not things he has to follow. He seems to believe that every other nation has to do what he wants," he added.

Ball noted that Trump is the antithesis of a strongman, given his failures and struggles at home and abroad.

"But it is a lot harder to project that image when you can’t even manage a home renovation or fix the pool at the bottom of your garden," Ball wrote.

"Trump is a man in a rush, particularly to leave a lasting impression on Washington, D.C. But by trying to build a legacy in the nation’s capital, he risks doing the opposite. He wants a legacy in marble, not one covered in algae," Ball added.

Regarding Trump's architectural history and his fixation on his Washington legacy, Ball noted that, "Trump was never subtle as a real estate developer. He slapped his name in huge gold letters on almost every building he constructed..."

Ball blasted the POTUS for his ineptitude as president, writing, "Trump's failure served to remind us how truly small he really is.... But reality confounds him. Take him out from behind the oceans of fawning MAGA hats and put him next to a real survivor of sexual violence, and all the grinning and preening tricks fail."

Records show that Trump's ballroom project is expected to cost $600 million. Despite the administration’s claims that the project would be "taxpayer-free," federal agencies are on the hook for more than half — roughly $307 million.