Has Donald Trump entered the bunker phase of his presidency? He didn’t seem keen to leave the White House when asked a perfectly natural question about whether he would attend the wedding of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, to Bettina Anderson in The Bahamas this weekend.

“Uhhhh. He’d like me to go,” Trump hesitated. “I’m gonna try and make it. But it’s going to be just a small, little private affair. […] I said, “This is not good timing for me. I have a thing called ‘Iran‘ and other things.’ ”

Whether he shows up or not, the temptation to hunker in his bunker isn’t entirely metaphorical for Trump. A secure, underground lair at the White House could soon be all too real, not just in his mind. The ballroom that he has been obsessing about non-stop is going to be heavily fortified.

For an estimated cost of $1bn (£750m), a bill taxpayers would foot, the ballroom will extend six floors underground, with its own command and communications centre, military hospital, and a hardened roof of “impenetrable steel” with a base “for unlimited numbers of drones”, Trump said excitedly on a tour of the site.

There can be no more powerful symbol of a president under siege. As time........

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