If all Donald Trump really means to do is replicate the ambiance of Mar-a-Lago, what might we expect to be going on most of the time in his mammoth addition to the White House?  We need get down to brass tacks on this point.

Having stayed in quite a few hotels over the years, I’m not exactly unfamiliar with them.  And in all that time, I can’t recall seeing anybody actually dancing in a so-called “ballroom.”  In my experience, mainly what goes on in hotel “ballrooms” is conventions and trade shows, and that sort of thing.

What kinds of trade shows or conventions might The Donald want to take place a short stroll away from his bedroom?  And who would pay to produce them, or to rent booth space in them, or to simply attend them?  I doubt that anything within a half mile of something bearing the imprimatur of Donald Trump would be budget- or family-friendly.

What about the eminences who could afford to participate in such gatherings?  Would it be overly fretful of me to imagine that, just possibly, among an assemblage of paragons of business ethics, a rare one or two of them might secretly harbor hopes of coming away with a business deal, or other beneficial arrangement involving (in a very tangential way, of course), even the President of the United States?