Trump Makes More Monstrous Changes to the White House
The president isn’t content ripping up the Rose Garden and splashing the Oval Office with gold.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
Donald Trump continued his White House overhaul Tuesday after announcing the installation of two giant flag poles on the White House grounds—a “gift” from the president that he said “was always missing.”
The two structures, which Trump had previously said would be about 100 feet, will be erected on the North and South lawn, overlooking the White House by some 30 feet, the president announced Tuesday night.
“It is a GIFT from me of something which was always missing from this magnificent place,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump previously said a U.S. flag will fly atop the poles, and while the exact location is unclear, the president claimed they are “paid for by Trump.” The president confirmed “digging” will begin Wednesday morning, and that flags are expected to be raised by mid-morning.
Trump said the addition of two flag poles was long overdue at the White House, where the flag flies from the roof 24/7.
X/White House
A flag already flies from a pole on the White House roof 24/7, along with the POW/MIA flag.
“These are the most magnificent poles made,” Trump claimed Tuesday of the new additions. “They are tall, tapered, rust proof, rope inside the pole, and of the highest quality. Hopefully, they will proudly stand at both sides of the White House for many years to come!”
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the manufacturer of the flags, what country they were made in, or their dimensions.
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Trump first revealed his flag intention in April, around the time another change around the grounds was taking shape.
For Inauguration Day, Trump ordered flags at full-staff despite the mourning period for former President Jimmy Carter lasting through January.
Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS
The president’s overhaul of the Rose Garden, which involves paving over the grass, is being carried out so that women in high heels can walk around easier, he explained.
“It’s supposed to have events. Every event you have it’s soaking wet,” Trump said on Fox News in March. “The women with the high heels, it’s just too much... the grass, it doesn’t work. We use it for press conferences. It doesn’t work.”
As part of the process, trees have been cut down, including a saucer Magnolia that reportedly was one of four planted to commemorate the late President John F. Kennedy.
In addition to alterations of the White House grounds, Trump has overseen a new look Oval Office, which has much more gold than it did a year ago—so much that one critic called it “Russian oligarch style.”
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