{"id":222,"date":"2025-08-11T15:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/?p=222"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:30:09","slug":"first-the-white-house-then-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/first-the-white-house-then-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"First, the White House. Then, the country."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let us consider the ongoing overhaul of the White House as a metaphor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months ago, back when I was at The Washington Post, I compiled a series of photos<\/a> to show how the Oval Office had been slowly redecorated to better reflect the aesthetic of the then-slightly-newer president. Even by then, the once-spare room had begun to gleam with gilded bric-a-brac and a number of random golden objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was striking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
May 13, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oh, that’s not the Oval Office. It is, instead, one of the rooms in a palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Relative to the Oval Office under prior presidents, the room above is over-the-top. Relative to the Oval Office today, the Saudi palace is downright understated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feel free to read my commentary on the changes between the pictures below \u2014\u00a0or just scroll through to get the effect<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fireplace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let’s begin by considering the fireplace that sits at the other end of the office from the president’s desk. This is what that fireplace looked like in October of last year, when Joe Biden was president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Oct. 9, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soon after Trump took office, the area had already gotten an overhaul. The greenery on the mantel was replaced with a variety of golden knick-knacks. The paintings on the wall were moved around and new paintings and mirrors \u2014\u00a0all with gilded frames \u2014\u00a0added. A bust of Robert F. Kennedy Sr. was replaced by one of Winston Churchill, placed on a table shaped like a golden eagle, and a number of flags were added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Feb. 11, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can see the changes a bit more easily below. Notice that the mirror on the door at left is too tall and juts up above the door itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Feb. 21, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Notice, too, the addition of some sort of gold object on the table at the center of the room. It has Trump’s name on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Feb. 28, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By March, an ornate \u2026\u00a0something<\/a> was added to the marble just above the fireplace itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
March 13, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was soon joined by other little appliqu\u00e9s on the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
April 7, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here you can get the full effect. Notice that the too-big mirror on the door at left was replaced. Trump also brought back the model of Air Force One that sat on the center table for much of his first term in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
April 14, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
May 6, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
June 5, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Between June and early July, additional appliqu\u00e9s were added to the sides of the fireplace and to the space under the central portrait. This required swapping out the largest center trophy-thing with a less-gold clock. The bust of Martin Luther King Jr. was replaced with one depicting someone that looks like Dwight Eisenhower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
July 9, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Notice, too, that the marble on the fireplace itself was gilded. You can see that better below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
July 22, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Recently, the clock was swapped back out for the golden trophy-thing. Gold statue-things were also added next to each of the busts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Aug. 8, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The slow accretion of gaudiness is obvious when we switch back to the first time Trump entered the White House after his first term ended: when Biden hosted him after Trump won the 2024 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nov. 13, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The overhaul that followed was dramatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the room<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That has also been the case in the rest of the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Biden was president, the area around his desk mirrored the area around the fireplace: lightly decorated and (relatively) austere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
April 10, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then came Trump. More paintings, more flags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Feb. 13, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Golden objects and flourishes were added elsewhere, too, as above the doorway below. Shelves on the opposite wall became home to other little golden objects, in the same manner as the mantel over the fireplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Feb. 13, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump had a copy of the Declaration of Independence<\/a> added to the room, which Tim Tebow looked at for a while when he visited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
April 1, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Notice, in the picture above, that the border ringing the room is unadorned except for some scalloping. A week or so later, it was home to gilded appliqu\u00e9s like those that would eventually adorn the fireplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
April 10, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you’re curious when all of this work was done, you will not be surprised to learn that Trump spent the weekend between April 1 and April 10 at Mar-a-Lago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s Dr. Oz admiring the resulting aesthetic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
April 18, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The accents went further. More gold things on the shelves. The border of the door is now gilded. Golden appliqu\u00e9s were added to the wainscoting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
May 21, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By late May, all of the relief elements of the doorway had been gilded, including the fasces above the lintel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
May 29, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apparently concerned that the room wasn’t gaudy enough, more appliqu\u00e9s were added, including to the wall next to the bookshelf and to the sections of the door. The architectural elements in the border at the top of the room was also gilded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Aug. 6, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Again, compare this with the way the office looked in the last days of Biden’s presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jan. 3, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An unrelenting and unsubtle overhaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside the residence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Trump’s made other changes, too. The Rose Garden went from looking like this\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
June 21, 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2026to looking like this. White-and-yellow striped umbrellas were added to the tables below, echoing the aesthetic on Mar-a-Lago’s patio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Aug. 5, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump also had a gigantic flagpole installed on the south side of the White House \u2014\u00a0another update that mirrors a change he’d made at one of his private clubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
June 18, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Again, this can all be understood as a metaphor. Trump is reshaping the White House to mirror his own predispositions and tastes, regardless of history and regardless of cost. He is in the process of doing precisely the same thing to the rest of the country as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All <\/em>photos are from the White House on Flickr.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let us consider the ongoing overhaul of the White House as a metaphor. A few months ago, back when I was at The Washington Post, I compiled a series of photos to show how the Oval Office had been slowly redecorated to better reflect the aesthetic of the then-slightly-newer president….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions\/286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbump.net\/o\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}