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Sleeping giant awakens as Trump drops thousands on dubious light show
What happened
AlterNet reports that President Donald Trump had four gold chandeliers installed in the West Wing for his June birthday through a $50,000 no-bid contract awarded to a small firm after the White House bypassed normal procedure. The “sleeping giant” in the headline is the American public: the article argues that polling shows voters increasingly connecting Trump’s personal enrichment and displays of wealth with their own economic hardship.
The outlet contrasts the chandeliers and a proposed $800 million-to-nearly-$1 billion White House ballroom with Pew survey findings that nearly…
The skinny
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