Trump Goes on Ballroom Posting Spree After Oil Waltzes Past $112 a Barrel

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump fired off posts about the massive ballroom he has ordered built shortly after oil closed at $112 a barrel on Thursday.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 12% on the session, ending at $112.06 for the week with U.S. markets closed on Good Friday. That is the highest in nearly three years.

The jump showed that Trump’s primetime address to the nation did nothing to quell energy traders’ fears of a prolonged conflict with Iran, which has established a nascent tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil flows. Substantial amounts of fertilizers, aluminum, helium, and other vital commodities also typically flow through the strait.

Before launching the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Trump reportedly dismissed the idea that Iran would close the strait in response to U.S. airstrikes.

About 90 minutes after oil markets closed, Trump, who hadn’t posted in several hours, fired off three posts in quick succession. All were about the privately-funded $400 million ballroom that is being built where the White House’s East Wing used to be until Trump razed it last year. On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered construction halted, and the Trump administration is appealing.

This week, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that the president is required to obtain congressional approval to build the ballroom.

“Unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!” Leon wrote in his ruling.

During Trump’s address on Wednesday, West Texas Intermediate spiked five percent to $103 a barrel over the course of the 20-minute speech. The upward trend continued into Thursday, when AAA reported that the national average for a gallon of gasoline was $4.08.

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