There is apparently a new premium tier of American citizenship. It costs $25 million, includes preferred seating in a 1,000-person White House ballroom, and comes with complimentary access to the phrase “independent of any business interests.”

The Washington Post obtained an internal donor list showing $333 million in private commitments for President Trump’s planned ballroom. Apple and Nvidia each pledged $25 million. So did the Adelson family and Dish Network co-founder Charles Ergen. Microsoft, Amazon, Palantir, defense contractors, crypto executives and other familiar visitors to the federal-government customer-service desk appear across the list.

Reuters reported that half the total came from companies or executives whose firms have held federal contracts during Trump’s second term. The Post found donors with interests in regulatory decisions, contracts and, in one case, a pardon involving a family member. Neither outlet established that a contribution purchased a government favor. That is the beauty of the arrangement: nobody has to print “ONE REGULATORY OUTCOME” on the ballroom raffle ticket.

The Catch

The sales pitch is that private donors spare taxpayers the expense. The fine print is that the public still has to trust an administration that would not disclose the amounts, a nonprofit structure that does not require public donor reporting, and corporations insisting that eight-figure gifts to the president’s signature construction project have absolutely nothing to do with the federal business sitting in their other browser tabs.

Nvidia called its support patriotic and independent of its business interests. Apple declined Reuters’ request for comment. The White House said the donors represent great American companies and argued critics would complain if taxpayers paid for the project instead. This is the traditional corporate-governance technique known as presenting two bad options and pretending the ethics department chose one.

Trump had said he and wealthy friends would cover the estimated $400 million project. The Post reported that Trump himself was absent from the donor list it obtained. Meanwhile, the administration sought $1 billion from Congress for security infrastructure connected to the project, according to Reuters. The private ballroom is therefore beginning to resemble a free printer that requires a $1 billion public ink cartridge.

The problem is not that corporations donated to a building. The problem is that powerful companies can place enormous, partly secret bets on a president’s personal priority while ordinary citizens are expected to believe influence never notices the catering entrance.\n\nDisclosure would not prove corruption, and secrecy does not prove a deal. Disclosure is simply the minimum equipment needed to examine power without using a divining rod. If a contribution is truly civic-minded, sunlight should not cause it to burst into flames.

If the ballroom needs a name, skip the branding consultant. Call it the Conflict Of Interest Convention Center. The naming rights have already been paid in full.