Have You Noticed That The Man Has No Taste?

Did you see what Trump is doing to the White House? No I mean the actual White House! The Rose Garden that goes all the way back to First Lady Edith Roosevelt, who established a colonial-style garden in 1902! President Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. to redesign the garden in 1935 (Who designed Walnut Hill Park in New Britain). Then Jacqueline Kennedy made it into the Rose Garden that we have today... or did!

White House bulldozes Rose Garden to start Trump's plans to pave over it

USA Today

Renovation work continues in the Rose Garden at the White House on June 18, 2025 in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump plans to have the historic landmark paved over.

The Rose Garden was created by First Lady Ellen Wilson, the first wife of President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, replacing the colonial garden created by President Theodore Roosevelt’s wife, First Lady Edith Roosevelt. 

Famously, First Lady Jackie Kennedy brought in landscape designer Rachel Lambert Mellon in 1962 to create what most of us have known as the White House Rose Garden, a lush garden with flower beds filled with color and roses.

Now we have a sterile concert pad!

 

And couple that with all the gold he added to the White House...

Donald Trump Flew In His 'Gold Guy' to Give the White House a Mar-a-Lago Makeover

The White House aesthetic has rapidly shifted since Trump's inauguration in January, appearing more and more like the president's Palm Beach estate with each new decoration

People

By Raven Brunner 

April 21, 2025

President Donald Trump got some interior design help from a trusted person after returning to the White House in January. 

A piece in The Wall Street Journal published on April 16 revealed that the politician, 78, enlisted cabinetmaker John Icart, who has worked on projects at Mar-a-Lago, to add gold finishes throughout the White House.

The newspaper reported that Trump has added multiple gold-colored touches throughout the government building, including golden borders to his and Vice President J.D. Vance's portraits, gilded carvings for the fireplace mantel, a gold Trump crest in a doorway and gold coasters with his last name on it, among others. 

Trump also reportedly brought gold cherubs from his Mar-a-Lago resort.

You can't say that Trump doesn't have any taste, he does. It is just that it is gauche.

All of Trump’s Tacky and Trollish White House Renovations

New York Magazine

By Margaret Hartmann

April 21, 2025

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.

[...]

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.

Trump’s renovation of the Rose Garden was gauche to the point of sacrilege — a tasteless affront to its long and dignified history. And all the gold he’s added to the White House? Downright vulgar.

He’s not just redecorating — he’s remaking the White House into the palace of a tinpot dictator.