In theory, Donald Trump might’ve felt some trepidation about the members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts who were meeting to consider his plans for a White House ballroom. After all, the commission has challenged previous presidents’ proposed alterations to the mansion, and the incumbent’s radical vision for a massive and unnecessary vanity project seemed like the kind of endeavor commissioners would oppose.

But in practice, Trump had nothing to worry about because the deck was already stacked: The president filled the commission with handpicked loyalists — including, as of this week, Chamberlain Harris, his 26-year-old former receptionist who has no relevant qualifications.

The Washington Post reported, “Former fine arts commissioners said they could not recall a commissioner in the panel’s history with as little prior arts experience as Harris. Several former commissioners also noted that Trump has installed multiple appointees with minimal arts and urban planning expertise on both panels set to review his construction projects remaking Washington.”

Since the fix was in, few were surprised by the results of Thursday’s commission meeting. The Associated Press reported:

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a panel made up of President Donald Trump’s appointees, on Thursday approved his proposal to build a ballroom larger than the White House itself where the East Wing once stood.

The seven-member panel is one of two federal agencies that must approve Trump’s plans for the ballroom. The National Capital Planning Commission, which has jurisdiction over construction and major renovation to government buildings in the region, is also reviewing the project.

Before the arts commission voted, the staff secretary informed the board that the panel had received roughly 2,000 messages about the project from the public. Attitudes were lopsided: 99% of the people who wrote in voiced their opposition to the plans.

At a recent White House event, the president boasted that “people love the ballroom.” Evidently, there’s reason to believe otherwise, even if his handpicked commissioners didn’t care.

But while that wasn’t surprising, Thursday’s meeting did include an unexpected twist. The commission was supposed to simply vote on the design of the ballroom; but in this instance, the presidential loyalists went ahead and also gave their final approval to the entire project, ignoring plans to meet again next month to review a follow-up presentation by the project’s architect.

The vote on final approval was unanimous.

The process, however, still has some additional hurdles. Not only does the National Capital Planning Commission still have to weigh in, but a federal judge also is expected to soon rule on whether the project can proceed. Watch this space.