{"id":997,"date":"2026-07-20T11:35:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=997"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:35:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:35:40","slug":"the-man-who-green-lighted-trumps-ballroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=997","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Green-Lighted Trump\u2019s Ballroom"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., chairman of the United States Commission of Fine Arts, old Atlantan, chum of King Charles, and unapologetic Russophile, recently gathered fifty guests inside a replica Roman triumphal arch, in downtown Atlanta, for an intimate performance by Mikhail Simonyan, a Russian violinist and a Deputy Minister of Culture. An hour before the show, Simonyan, who lives in Siberia, wandered into Cook\u2019s office atop Millennium Gate Museum\u2014the anomalous arch\u2019s name. He walked by framed photographs of Cook with heads of state, looking for something to eat. \u201cIs there any steaks around here?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

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Cook, a ruddy-faced seventy-year-old, whose reading glasses teetered on the tip of his nose, directed Simonyan, whom he called \u201cone of the greatest talents in the world,\u201d to the first floor. Cook built the arch two decades ago, when resurrecting classical architecture in America was an eccentric idea. Now it\u2019s an official plan. Empowered by his friend Donald Trump (\u201cI had shrimp with him on his desk a few weeks ago,\u201d Cook dropped), he\u2019s focussing on the nation\u2019s capital: more arches and monuments, huger facilities. It was Cook\u2019s commission that green-lighted the plan for a ninety-thousand-square-foot White House ballroom that one prominent architecture critic described, in the Times<\/em>, as a \u201chuge, dumb box.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe White House has been insufficient since the Harrison Presidency,\u201d Cook declared later, during a cocktail reception on his arch\u2019s first floor. Among the attendees was a chronicler of Georgia\u2019s waterfalls, two longtime members of Little Richard\u2019s band, a retired Russian N.H.L. player, and a contingent from Atlanta\u2019s country-club set. Cook went on, \u201cTrump is fixing it, and I\u2019m helping.\u201d He added, \u201cI assure you, you can paint things gold left and right, but you can also tone that down later. As long as the proportions are right\u2014which they are\u2014this man is going to leave us a legacy of such astonishing beauty!\u201d<\/p>\n

Another thing Cook considers beautiful is classical Russian architecture. He built a large turreted dacha in North Atlanta, \u201cin the Russian wooden vernacular,\u201d he said. In June, he showed photographs of the place at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a gathering known as Putin\u2019s Davos, which he said he\u2019d attended as, \u201cessentially, the Minister of Culture for the United States.\u201d During a Senate hearing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he was \u201cunaware\u201d of an American delegation at the forum; none had attended in nearly a decade. Cook, however, insisted that \u201cState pushed me to go. It was entirely designed around me.\u201d His mission, he indicated, was soft diplomacy. He recalled a State Department official telling him,\u201cMany guys in your position would say, \u2018This is quite dangerous.\u2019\u00a0\u201d The actor Steven Seagal, who has had Russian citizenship for ten years, attended, as did the far-right podcaster Candace Owens, although their seats weren\u2019t as good as Cook\u2019s. \u201cMy six State Department dudes had me first row direct center,\u201d he said. He added, \u201cI requested and received Coca-Cola\u2014not sold there currently.\u201d (Coca-Cola suspended business dealings with Russia in 2022, but the soda is imported through other countries.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At a filmed Q. & A., Cook rose to address Putin. \u201cI appreciate all of the hospitality that has been afforded to me on my return to St. Petersburg,\u201d he said. \u201cI love this city, and I think you\u2019re aware of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHooray, I also love St. Petersburg,\u201d Putin, looking amused, responded, through a translator.<\/p>\n

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The State Department, Cook recalled, \u201cwas shocked but pleased\u201d by his polite dialogue with the Russian leader, and also with the hockey puck he\u2019d put on President Trump\u2019s desk as a gesture of good will from Putin. (Cook obtained the puck himself, though he would not say from where.) Simonyan\u2019s visit, Cook said, was a thank-you from Russia.<\/p>\n

The violinist still hadn\u2019t got any steak when he began to perform in the ersatz arch. He opened with Brahms, followed by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, and ended with a tune generally credited to an eighteenth-century British Army surgeon intent on mocking Colonial Americans. Members of the audience laughed as they began to recognize the strains of \u201cYankee Doodle Dandy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted \u2018The Devil Went Down to Georgia,\u2019\u00a0\u201d a lone dissenter said later.<\/p>\n

Cook was misty-eyed at the music. Back in his office, he told an intern to order pizzas. As he waited for dinner, Simonyan sat on a couch with Little Richard\u2019s bandmates Shawn (Swift) Johnson and James (Big J) Nelson, who both kept their sunglasses on. They\u2019d come to pitch Cook on building a statue of the deceased rock-and-roll legend, in Macon, Georgia. \u201cAnything monument-related, he\u2019s the guy,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

As Cook made the rounds, pouring glasses of wine, Simonyan pitched Johnson and Nelson an idea of his own. \u201cYou know what we need?\u201d he said. \u201cA big peace concert at the residence of the American Ambassador. Then some stadiums in Siberia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been to Russia,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cWe\u2019ll bring the whole band. It\u2019ll be like Live Aid.\u201d They considered who else might join them.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSteven Seagal can play guitar,\u201d Simonyan said. \u201cHe\u2019s actually pretty good.\u201d\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., a Presidential sidekick from Atlanta and a triumphal-arch enthusiast, is just back from Russia, where he hung out with Putin and Steven Seagal. Charles Bethea reports. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yankee-doodle-dept"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Man Who Green-Lighted Trump\u2019s Ballroom - City Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=997\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Man Who Green-Lighted Trump\u2019s Ballroom - City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., a Presidential sidekick from Atlanta and a triumphal-arch enthusiast, is just back from Russia, where he hung out with Putin and Steven Seagal. 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