Donors gave $330 million for the ballroom; among them a pardon recipient, contractors, and one closed federal investigation.

Twenty-five million dollars, handed over, purchases nothing whatever, and that is the handsome part of it. Apple gave twenty-five million to the ballroom. Nvidia gave twenty-five million and requested anonymity — requested, mind you, and did not keep it. The Adelson Family Foundation, twenty-five. Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of Dish Network, twenty-five. Fifty-seven names, each committed to a hundred thousand at the least, and the list runs past three hundred and thirty million dollars. Three hundred and thirty. A gift is a transfer without consideration — consideration being whatever comes back the other way — so by its own construction this money bought nothing at all. And what did Big Tech suppose it was doing? One government watchdog says those companies "bankrolled it fully expecting a return on their investment." Further down the same list, among names not published before, sit donors who have had a presidential pardon, government contracts, and at least one federal investigation closed. Most of the money arrived before the East Wing came down. The work proceeds, for now, after a ruling of the Supreme Court in August ... and the house is yours. The list is not.