Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Aside from adding a Diet Coke button and displaying the occasional Sharpie-scrawled map, during Donald Trump’s first term his changes to the White House were in line with the design tweaks every president makes. But in his second term, the real-estate mogul is bringing his maximalist aesthetic to the White House, adding lots of gaudy décor and plotting grand renovations to the building and grounds.
Obviously, on the list of awful things Trump has done in his second term, adding tacky gold trinkets to the Oval Office ranks pretty low. But the changes, and the taunting ways Trump and his team have shown them off, reflect the broader themes of his second term. It’s like Trump has cast himself in an HGTV show about how to make your home reflect your kinglike abuses of power and quest for revenge.
Here’s a running list of Trump’s most ridiculous White House renovations.
All gold everything
Trump is so committed to adding Midas-like touches to the White House that he had his Mar-a-Lago “gold guy” flown in on Air Force One, as The Wall Street Journal reported in April:
A cabinetmaker from south Florida who has worked on projects at Mar-a-Lago, John Icart helped add custom-made gold finishes to the Oval Office, including gilded carvings for the fireplace mantel and the molding that wraps around the most famous office in the world, administration officials said. Icart traveled to Washington with Trump on Air Force One, according to one of the officials. He declined to comment, referring questions to the White House.
This involved festooning the Oval Office with gold furniture and various trinkets, and adding gold carvings to the fireplace and crown molding:
Administration officials said Trump personally oversaw the installation of the gold carvings on the mantel in the Oval Office. He also brought gold cherubs from Mar-a-Lago to be installed in the White House.
Prominently displayed next to the Resolute Desk is a large gold FIFA World Cup trophy. Seven gold vases and urns decorate the mantle.
… Trump has affixed a gold Trump crest over the door leading into the White House from the colonnade, a recent visitor said. There are gold coasters with Trump’s name on side tables.
For comparison, this is what the Oval Office looked like in the last year of the Biden administration:
Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
And this is what it looks like now:
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Trump recently told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that gold paint doesn’t exist, so this must have been quite a difficult project.
Trump: A little secret… people have tried to come up with gold paint that would look like gold. You’ve never been able to match gold with gold paint. That’s why it’s gold pic.twitter.com/xvno8TnSw7
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 19, 2025
A cluttered Oval Office portrait display
Is patriotism judged by the number of Founding Fathers you can showcase on your office wall? That’s what Team Trump seems to think. Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino showed off the Oval Office’s newly painting-covered walls in February. According to CNN, Trump has tripled the number of paintings in his office, and you can see at least 15 in the video:
Behind the scenes in The Oval Office at The @WhiteHouse where President Trump added more portraits🇺🇸🦅 pic.twitter.com/BuMcyYb1tM
— Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) February 5, 2025
A Trump near-assassination painting to replace Obama’s portrait
The picture of Trump raising his fist after narrowly avoiding an assassin’s bullet is undeniably cool. But does a painting based on the image need to be hanging on the wall in the White House that’s usually reserved for the latest official presidential portrait? Perhaps not.
The Trump White House put the painting in the spot that most recently featured Barack Obama’s portrait, then highlighted the move on social media.
Some new artwork at the White House 👀 pic.twitter.com/l6u5u7k82T
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 11, 2025
Petty! But at least the portraits of Trump’s predecessors were just moved, not buried in a storage room. NBC News reported:
Obama’s portrait was not the only one moved during the recent Trump redecoration. The 44th president’s portrait was moved to the spot George W. Bush’s occupied, and Bush’s portrait is now in the staircase, according to a White House official.
Another Trump portrait to troll the former First Ladies
Trump squeezed another image of himself — the same one he uses as his Truth Social profile picture — in between the officials portraits of former First Ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton. Representative Jimmy Patronis, a Florida Republican, was first to flag the change to a portrait display on the ground floor of the White House:
This portrait of @realDonaldTrump just went up in the White House today! #Awesome #MAGA pic.twitter.com/8lfP1HAzhZ
— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) April 22, 2025
And days later, Trump himself showed it off to Glenn Beck:
President @realDonaldTrump shows @glennbeck his latest addition in the White House 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ib426C0sC0
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) April 23, 2025
A Declaration of Independence replica of unclear origin
Is it terrible for the president to have a copy of the Declaration of Independence on display in the Oval Office? No. What’s weird is that Trump initially asked to move the original copy of the declaration to his office, according to The Atlantic, though it’s on public display at the National Archives Building in an oxygen-free, argon-filled case.
Instead, Trump has displayed one of several historic copies that were in the government’s possession. But when he showed it off to Laura Ingraham in a March interview, he acted like it was the original, and did not provide any information on this copy’s historical significance.
Trump: Here is the Declaration of Independence. They asked that this be done. It’s never been up — it’s been in the vaults for many, many decades. pic.twitter.com/ciq8HDPhO3
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 19, 2025
Two giant “Gulf of America” maps
One addition that definitely has no historic significance: Trump’s “Gulf of America” map — or rather, maps. Trump joked in February that he was getting “teary-eyed” while looking at the Oval Office display, which is just a printout showing his new name for the Gulf of Mexico.
President @realDonaldTrump gets teary eyed looking at the Gulf of America 🤣 pic.twitter.com/HtEah5W9hf
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) February 25, 2025
Even weirder: At some point he swapped this out for a less-detailed depiction of the “Gulf of Mexico.” During his March interview with Laura Ingraham, he gestured to a slightly different map and declared he’s “very proud of this.”
Ingraham: What do you think these presidents would be thinking right now?
Trump: I think they’d be proud of our country.. .. this is the resolute desk pic.twitter.com/Z5W8TOpqae
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 20, 2025
Two “beautiful” flagpoles
When you look at the White House do you think, Looks okay, but definitely needs more flagpoles? Apparently that’s what Trump has been doing for years, and now he’s finally taking action.
After he was spotted surveying the White House lawn with groundskeepers on April 23, Trump told reporters about his plan to install two “beautiful” poles, which will support a pair of 100-foot-tall, “top of the line” American flags. As the New York Post notes, there’s an American flag on the top of the White House, but there are no freestanding flagpoles on the grounds.
“They needed flagpoles for 200 years,” Trump said. “It was something I’ve often said, you know, they don’t have a flagpole per se. So we’re putting one right where you saw us, and we’re putting another one on the other side, on top of the mounds. It’s going to be two beautiful poles.”
Trump: “We’re putting up a beautiful, almost 100 foot tall American flag. On this and another one on the other side. Two flags. Top of the line. And they’ve needed flagpoles for 200 years … paid for by Trump.” pic.twitter.com/0XzU8VZHug
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 23, 2025
Paving over the Rose Garden
Trump wants to make the iconic space outside the Oval Office less of a Rose Garden and more of a Rose Patio. Trump discussed his plans with Ingraham, saying the grass needs to be removed because it gets wet sometimes, making it a less-than-ideal event space:
Ingraham: Are you paving over the grass here?
Trump: Every event you ever have, it’s soaking wet. It’s soaking wet. And people can’t — and the women with the high heels. pic.twitter.com/Rf5ohxulab
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 19, 2025
The paving of the Rose Garden “has been the subject of almost daily discussions,” according to a February New York Times report. And the paper suggested the renovation isn’t really about Trump’s concern for women in heels, but his desire to replicate Mar-a-Lago at the White House:
Mr. Trump has made clear to associates that he wants to recreate the patio experience at Mar-a-Lago, his members-only club and home in Palm Beach, Fla., creating a better space for entertaining guests. When he is at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump spends hours of his evenings on the patio, with club members and other V.I.P.s dropping by his table to pay their respects. He often holds an iPad, controlling the playlist and blasting Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown at earsplitting volumes.
It turns out Trump is more devoted to his budding DJ career than anyone realized.
