Amid outrage over White House demolition works making way for Donald Trump’s “new, big, beautiful” ballroom, footage has resurfaced of a comedic sketch by his longtime nemesis Barack Obama that seems uncannily prophetic.

The then US president was addressing the White House correspondents dinner in April 2011, at the same time as rumours swirled that Obama had been born not in Hawaii, but Kenya.

Fuelling the so-called “birther” campaign was none other than real estate mogul Donald J Trump – host of reality-TV show The Celebrity Apprentice – who publicly questioned Obama’s citizenship and claimed he had sent private investigators to Hawaii to uncover the truth.

In Obama’s comedic address to the correspondents’ dinner, he began by stating that Hawaii had released his “official long-form birth certificate” and joking that on this night he would release his official birth video. To the amusement of the guests, he went on to show a clip from The Lion King.

Obama then joked about the nationality of several 2012 presidential candidates, before segueing back to again more directly roast Trump, who was present at the dinner and whose political aspirations were already clear, even though he did not officially declare his presidential candidacy until 2015.

“I know that he’s taken some flak lately but no one is happier, no one is prouder, to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald,” Obama said.

“That’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like, did we fake the moon landing, what really happened in Roswell, and where are Biggie and Tupac?”

Referencing Celebrity Apprentice, Obama made a crack about the host’s “credentials and breadth of experience”, before predicting what the White House might look like if Trump became president.

“Say what you will about Mr Trump, he certainly would bring some change to the White House,” Obama mocked, indicating a screen on which was projected a photoshopped, cartoon-like image of the official presidential residence and workplace.

In the parody rendering, “TRUMP” was emblazoned across the top of a high-rise addition to the iconic building, with “the White House” scrawled in purple cursive neon writing underneath. Below that were the words “hotel”, “casino”, “golf course” and – largest of all – “presidential suite”.

The image also included gold pillars and a large chandelier – which seem, in hindsight, especially predictive – with a pair of golfers and two women in bikinis shown in the foreground.

President Trump has decked out the Oval Office in gold finishes since he returned to the White House in January.

Appears Trump has more gold to go on the walls. pic.twitter.com/xt8D1hkOd7

— Blanche Victoria (@tammytabby) September 29, 2025

Although there’s no sign yet of a casino, Trump has embarked on a significant makeover of the White House since beginning his second presidency this year.

These include removing the Rose Garden lawn, used for major events and ceremonies, and replacing it with a patio dining area, installing new marble floors and chandeliers, and adding glitzy gold decals and embellishments to the Oval Office and other rooms.

In April, Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Wall Street Journal the new décor made it a “golden office for the golden age”.

The most recent dramatic and controversial change is the demolition of the East Wing as construction begins on the President’s lavish $US200 million ($A308 million), 8400-square-metre ballroom.

Internal renderings show the ballroom will resemble the gilded spaces of Trump’s private clubs, with gold and crystal chandeliers, columns, a coffered ceiling with gold inlays, gold floor lamps and a chequered marble floor.

An interior rendering of the new White House ballroom. Image: The White House

But images and videos showing heavy machinery tearing down the historic East Wing before formal final plans for the ballroom have even been received have sparked widespread outrage, prompting the White House to issue a statement claiming the ballroom is a “bold, necessary addition”.

“Unhinged leftists and their Fake News allies are clutching their pearls over President Donald J Trump’s visionary addition of a grand, privately funded ballroom to the White House,” it said, listing details and photos of previous White House renovations.

According to People, Trump’s aesthetic changes to the White House are intended to make it look more like his Palm Beach club Mar-a-Lago.

“Anytime Melania and Donald can make the White House feel more like Mar-a-Lago, they will,” the publication quoted a club member as saying. “They love Mar-a-Lago.”

Back at that 2011 White House correspondents dinner, Obama’s address was greeted by raucous laughter and applause by most of the guests at the Washington Hilton Hotel. But Trump reportedly sat stiffly throughout, with a forced smile.

Some have even suggested that this was the beginning of his antipathy towards Obama.

“A lot of people think that this is where this all started,” Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, told The Guardian in 2016.

“President Trump does not have a sense of humour, he’s not self-deprecating, and the White House correspondents’ dinner is a fun event where people make fun of each other, especially in politics.”

Setmayer suggested that Trump was also jealous of Obama’s continued popularity. Others have alleged that his obsession with the former president is rooted in racism.

The 44^th and 47^th presidents have continued to trade insults over more than a decade, and earlier this year Trump moved Obama’s official portrait from its prominent position in the White House entranceway to a hidden stairwell.

In July, the current President went so far as to accuse his predecessor of treason in relation to claims about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Obama issued a rare and terse response, saying the “bizarre allegations” were “ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction”.

In comments likely to further rile Trump, Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego this week suggested that rather than tearing down his glamorous ballroom when they’re back in power, the Democrats could serve an even greater humiliation.

“I think to really mess with [Trump], just name it the Barack Obama ballroom,” he told NBC News.