There is a parade of golden objects that march across the mantel, relegating the traditional Swedish ivy to a greenhouse. Gilded Rococo wall appliqués, nearly identical to the ones at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, are stuck to the fireplace and office walls with the same level of aesthetic consideration a child gives her doll’s face before covering it in nail polish....
Lots of photos, analysis, and historical background, so go to the free link. I'll just quote one more thing:
Right before the 2016 election, Fran Lebowitz called Mr. Trump “a poor person’s idea of a rich person.” On the campaign trail, he didn’t look or sound like the rest of the new American billionaires. He wasn’t polished or smooth. His appearance was shoddy, strange, lacking all polish. And all that gold in his house? Well, yes, it looked fake. It was Rococo. He was a normal guy self-consciously performing wealth, something Americans had been doing for the previous 20 years. Not to mention the past 240....
Would America be less of a hellscape if it were polished and smooth?
Odd that we got that metaphor out of nowhere — the little girl covering her doll's face in nail polish — and then the word "polish" became the essence of the way educated, intelligent people "perform wealth": "He wasn’t polished or smooth." And then the author doubled down about polish: "His appearance was shoddy, strange, lacking all polish."
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90 comments:
Fran Lebowitz called Mr. Trump “a poor person’s idea of a rich person.”
…stole that from John Mulaney- Donald Trump is like what a hobo imagines a rich man to be. Fitting as Fran is a hobo of sorts…
Did the leftie war room decide rococo was an effective weapon and send up the bat signal to the minions?
NOCD.
Al Czervik was the model.
“We love him for the enemies he has made.” A slogan once applied to Grover Cleveland today applies to Trump. How can a real American not love a man that anti-American Democrats (and other worthless people) hate so much?
Like Kak and so many others, Keegin and Lebowitz stumble over an insight, stand up, dust themselves off, and keep marching to the narrative.
I get so, so tired of the Left constantly banging on Trump.
The tech billionaires look and act like gaudy new money- lots of shiny new toys without much focus. New England old wealth- they dress like hobos and their old homes in Maine or Nantucket have the tacky old decor mum and dad had…until they put them up for sale…
Trump should have re-imagined the white house, oval office in Brutalist themes, with a nod to mid-century sensibilities. Then the left would go out of their way to tell us how aweful mid-century brutalist style was instead of how much the LOVE IT normally. Missed opportunity.
Polish is kind of a fun word. For example, on Memorial Day, I polished off a lot a beers. Capitalize it, then you have a nationality.
On Alcatraz, Trump wants to refurbish “The Rock” in Rococo.
Only to find Gideon’s Bible.
I was able to click through and view. Wasn’t the oval office nastier under some recent leftie administrations? Biden with those gold drapes as the feature and your nanna’s sofa with the skirt and rounded arms…and that wallpaper…Obama with the rust drapes, vertical striped walls and the velvet sofas- insert racist snark here. I was surprised- W’s was really good..
...and leftists are a dumb person's idea of what a smart person would sound like.
The subtext for Harvard and Yalies: Those UPenn guys are so tacky; not even really Ivy.
…when you go all-in on leftie quips as the strategy and it fails bigly where can you go from there…except away?
"Not our kind, dear" doesn't work as well when your kind sucks.
"…stole that from John Mulaney- Donald Trump is like what a hobo imagines a rich man to be. Fitting as Fran is a hobo of sorts…"
Lebowitz said it in 2016. When did Mulaney say it?
I just want to remind Emily that Fran Lebowitz, last September, called on Joe Biden to dissolve the Supreme Court.
I agree with Big Mike at 7:08
I’m so old that I remember when comedians were funny.
Trump is fully Trump down to his awful taste in design and architecture. But there is an audience for the stuff he likes. It's been around for centuries and it seems to hang in there with some.
I like much of what Trump does. But his design taste has always been awful.
I think Mulaney said it in 2009.
https://genius.com/John-mulaney-the-dow-jones-and-the-very-rich-donald-trump-annotated
"Oh, I saw a class advertised where you can learn how to get rich now from Donald Trump. He will teach you. He has an online college. He'll show you his methods of getting rich. And he would know, wouldn't he? Trump would know, because he is a very rich man. In fact, to me, at this point, like Donald Trump is not just a rich man, like Donald Trump is almost like what a hobo imagines a rich man to be, y'know? It's like years ago Trump was walking through an alley, and he heard some guy just like, "Ho-ho, boy, oh, boy. As soon as my number comes in, I'm gonna put up tall buildings with my name on 'em. I'll have fine golden hair, and a TV show where I fire people with my children." And Trump was like "That is how I will live my life. Thank you, hobo, for that life plan." I bet you when Donald Trump makes a decision, he thinks to himself, "What would a cartoon rich person do? Put up billboards of my face everywhere? That's a good idea."
So, Mulaney wins.
If I painted a doll's face with nail polish (something I never remotely considered doing) that would've been a permanent change. I doubt Trump's style decisions are permanently changing the Oval Office.
Sorry I had "2019" in my comment about Mulaney's comedy record. It was 2009. Corrected. Saying "So, Mulaney wins" when it looked like he was 3 years later made no sense. Really sorry for the confusion.
Actually it's an idea that different people could have arrived at independently. Like calculus.
Hillary or one of her fans left a comment there with the term "Deplorabilia".
He’s like Gatsby, and a lot of those comments are like things characters in the novel said about Gatsby.
Painting a doll's face with nail polish is the sort of specific non-sequitur that a psychologist would find compelling. Are you OK, Emily?
I don’t know when it began but Mulaney’s bit is old. I first heard it when he was on Seth Meyers. There’s a link to the show dating it to 2015…
That's one of the longest sneers I ever read.
I wonder how much of this 'surrounded by excess' is just Trump being committed to his brand in a way that is likely to be the most seen, the most relatable in the strange way mentioned, by the deplorables. His private jet isn't overly opulent. His apartment in Trump Towers and his residence at Mar a Lago are excessive - but they often appear in personal interest stories, so...
Trump likes traditional. And maybe Melanie does too. So, we get this sort of sneers and "what a bunch of hicks" comments. But make no mistake, if Trump had gone "Modern" and "minmalist" - the NYT's would be sneering at that too.
Without reading how many other commenters will have gotten here before me:
Not our sort, dear.
“Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin' the scene with a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin' the scene with a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh
Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac
Gangsta whitewalls, TV antennas in the back
You may not have a car at all
But remember brothers and sisters
You can still stand tall
Just be thankful for what you've got”
Fran Lebowitz makes an interesting comment about Trump not being like other billionaries. But of course only focues in on how "smooth" they are compared to Trump. Another difference is looks. Lots of Tech Giants look like mark zuckerberg. They're nerdish to the point of looking like space aliens. And they have all the charisma of Komquat.
Trump is tall, goodlooking, and was a school athlete. And it shows. Of course, Fran probably stays away from looks, given that she appears to be a Jewish Accountant who had sex change operation.
All the polished old money spend their fortunes on risky 3 mile dives to see the Titanic in PVC submersibles or take 15 minute rocket trips to just beyond the Karman Line so they can call themselves "astronauts". That's how I can tell at least.
The NYT's took the same tack with the 1st lady. Everything she did was wrong. The usual MSM attack on Republican 1st ladies to paint them as frumpy and repressed. Pat Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower, Barb. Or crazed shrews like Nancy reagan. The only one that didn't get the "treatment" was Laura Bush.
Melanie is the 21st century Jackie. She was style, she has class. She was a former fashion model and knows how to dress. So, the NYT's cant use the standard attack. So it mocks her as a empty headed clothes horse, who secretely hates her husband.
Once you understand everyone - even the arts and fashion writers - are on a mission to "Destroy Trump" everything they publish makes sense.
Rough 1Domanent not smooth. Metaphor without enough care, feeling, "polish" (r. soldier). 2 violent, not quiet or kind. 3.(1) not complete (r. copy, first attempt at a bit of writing; incomplete copy)
Rude 1Primary in natural first condition (without education, art); cf. rough 3. 2Domanent unpleasing in behavior, probably on purpose. 3.(1,2) r. health strong, having force.
Vulgar 1D coarse. 2 coarse, flashy (derivation, of the crowd)
Wm. Empson
That's one of the longest sneers I ever read.
Right?? And it's not enough to sneer at his taste. She (I'm assuming the author is "she" or she-adjacent, because it's catty as hell) then has to mind-read that he didn't even make any decisions about any of the rococo she observes - a child's level of aesthetic consideration.
I have the feeling the aesthetic consideration this writer took in her own home centered on, "What will my friends and colleagues think if I buy this sofa? Is it obvious enough that the fabric is organic? Can I make it seem that buying a print instead of an original was ... maybe ironic? Or unself-conscious, how about that? Will they think I'm too conformist if I arrange these grouped knickknacks - I mean pieces - symmetrically? I'd better shift them off-center..."
dominant
Actually it's an idea that different people could have arrived at independently. Like calculus.
…or so the plagiarist’s defense team would like to convince you to believe. I’ve heard comedians have their own version of justice in these matters- where’s wince when you need him?
Oh, and - last year we were in Charlottesville for a conference and, before returning home, went wine tasting. Virginia wines are okay, but I must recommend the Trump Winery - beautiful property, beautifully done. Bonus: it's next door to Dave Matthews' winery, apparently, so we were able to sneer at that ridiculous whiny hipster from the hilltop as we enjoyed a glass of something, the meadows spooling out below us to the woods. Some strangers offered to take our picture, and insisted on framing one of them with the American flag (it was large, but in proportion to the site - not a car dealership flag) in the background.
Given the state of things, a District Court Judge will soon place a Preliminary Injunction on his Oval Office decor.
Is this the outrage of the week? Looks like they’re running out of ideas.
I thought Fran Liebowitz was perfectly cast as a corpse in "Animal House." Should have quit while she was ahead.
When I was a 21 year old English major, I once wrote a very serious 25 page paper on the significance of color in the clothing of the characters in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. This article has the same pretentious, English major tone done best by young people who have no idea what they're talking about and have to write about something.
Yes, Trump has fairly awful taste in home decor. I don't like it either. Who cares? Why does that have to have meaning and significance? I blame everyone's English teachers...
As I've said before, there is little difference between Trump's drapery and that of most presidents before him (we can forgive the Carters: it was full-bore Seventies). In fact, it may still be Biden's drapery. Yes, he has more historical portraits on the walls. But they are more same than different. Fran Lebowitz has alway been a stupid, humorless, elitist cunt.
Journalists on the hate Trump beat are lazy and know nothing of even recent history.
Why this Donald Trump fellow sounds positively deplorable.
Chris said...
“Trump should have re-imagined the white house, oval office in Brutalist themes, with a nod to mid-century sensibilities. Then the left would go out of their way to tell us how aweful mid-century brutalist style was instead of how much the LOVE IT normally. Missed opportunity.”
Good idea. The problem with that is that the Trumps would have to actually live with that Brutalism too.
Rehajm said:
Did the leftie war room decide [______________] was an effective weapon and send up the bat signal to the minions?
works every day - for almost all their MSNBC hive-codes.
That's a lot of column inches to say "tacky." Of course, as any fool can plainly see, it really doesn't matter how he decorated his office, because it would be deeply troubling to everybody who matters.
Trump's love of gold gilt isn't new. It's his thing.
What is really funny is to hear the snobs all wondering why the working class not-our-sort types won't vote for their guy. Their guy is so superior to all of these guys wearing dirty jeans and driving big pickup trucks, can't they see that? Don't they know their betters when they see them?
TLDR version:
"ew"
Their dream is that Trump's funeral be attended only by the family that they couldn't turn against him, like Gatsby. Gatsby, however, was fiction. The Gatsby character was pretty appealing, still is generations later, and not despite his bounder lifestyle and gaudy "rococo" appeal, but because of it. Hmm...
Just to check that I cam across correctly, I looked up "bounder" on line and did not get the definition of the term that I meant. So I prompted ChatGPT and got the version I was thinking of, so here it is:
"Bounder – A man of objectionable manners, especially one who is pretentious, dishonorable, or behaves in a socially inappropriate or crass way—often while trying to appear more refined or gentlemanly than he really is."
I don't think that Trump has ever behaved dishonorably, or even pretentiously, but "crass"? Socially inappropriate? Well, by whose rules?
I know something about bad taste. To my way of thinking, it's a gift that you're either born with or you're not. Instead of those stuffy Presidential Portraits, how about some framed, original art work by Frank Frazetta. He's an American artist, and such art would underscore the majesty of American power. The pictures should be framed not with gilt but with discreet neon illumination.......I'm not into that Resolute desk either. How about shiny black quartz with just one item on it: A big red button that says "Nuclear Launch Button". That would be really cool. It should be protected by a Plexiglas shield to guard against accidental mishaps, of course......Maybe a lava lamp or two to add whimsy to the room. The seats look a little stiff and formal. Something a little more padded and comfortable and covered with red leather is called for.
Libtard tripe to feed the Two-Minute Hate of braindead Democrat Party members.
Yeah. No body cares.
All I care about is whether Winston Churchill has returned to the Oval.
Indeed, who gives a hoot about 47's taste in decor. Consider rather his political instincts (the McDonald's shift, the trash truck run, etc) and his laudable Cabinet choices (Hegseth, Rubio, Bondi etc) and his sense when hiring would be politically dangerous (keeping Ms. Stefanik in the House with a thin majority there rather than sending her to that useless talkshop, the UN.)
If these moves originated with him, hats off to personal political genius. If they came from canny advisers, hats off to YUGE commonsense in seeing and taking sound advice.
He's a real guy. In his profession, as a NYC builder, you had to be, dealing with (perhaps mob affiliated) contractors, union bosses, shop stewards, city officials, city bureaucrats, and the everyday working Joe. Some of his affectation of wealth is because that's what regular people associate with wealth. His resorts and hotels are popular because they make you feel wealthy. The appeal to the snooty will fall on deaf ears amongst the electorate.
The Simpsons had the "hobo's idea of what a rich man would be" back in '89, though it wasn't Trump in particular, but a homeless guy who got rich. He was happy with his solid gold house and rocket car.
My favorite story about hobos acquiring sudden wealth:
There was a homeless guy in NYC who got hit by a taxi. An enterprising lawyer sued the cab company and got the guy a large settlement. The guy rented an apartment, filled it with booze and invited all his homeless friends to share in his good fortune. He didn’t survive the party but he died happy doing the thing he enjoyed most in life.
The reason this aspect of Trump resonates with Normals and is so hated and resented by the celebrity class is that Trump understands wealth the way most Americans do: the purpose is to be able to do exactly what you want and ignore what anyone else thinks. What's the point of doing all the work to get rich is you then spend all your time concerned about the opinions of other rich people (the tragedy of Gatsby)? But that's how the people who are really desperate to get their houses in Architectural Digest live. Seems miserable to me. I think most Normals would rather have the neighborhood's BEST collection of light-up Christmas dinosaurs than constantly worry if their outdoor lights were sufficiently "tasteful."
"Would America be less of a hellscape if it were polished and smooth? "
By all means, go back to sleep, people! Everything is under control. The guardians of the realm - uh, I mean The Nation - are judiciously and prudently using and protecting the powers you've delegated and carefully husbanding your tax dollars. We now return you to your regularly scheduled distractions.
Trump keeps making Sulzberger richer.
Polish the Polish bric-a-brac.
The Noveau Riche have many homes. Old-money has one and rents the others.
Billionaires aren't aristocrats (neither are many titled aristocrats). The tech moguls have a bit of polish from their days at Harvard or Stanford. The others -- if you've heard of them -- own sports teams or movie studios and treat other people like garbage. Those you haven't heard of treat other people like garbage but you don't hear about that. Fran Lebowitz has spent time with the "merely rich" -- people successful in their professions or people who inherited money from their grandparents. The "truly" or "really" or "seriously rich" are a different animal altogether.
I think the oval office looks great. I hadn't really noticed that there was more gold than previous oval offices, but that Trump put more pictures in the oval office. I love it. It makes the office of the Presidency more tangible. "What would Jackson do?"
What an extraordinarily sneering little paragraph. Don't the left purport to be on the side of the poor? Not implying their lack of polish—of all things—is an embarrassment? And mocking the nouveau riche for not doing rich right is so European. We don't do that here.
"Old-money has one and rents the others."
No, they have invisible compounds in places like the Adirondacks that the likes of you and I will never see.
Imagine a frustrated journalist who would like to take a bottle of nail polish and paint it on Trump's face. That would solve the problem of "His appearance was shoddy, strange, lacking all polish."
Yea, and Versailles was a low class dive, LouisXIV was a stupid nabob who had no sense of dignity.
I once read a book about social class in the US. It had a set of rules you could apply to your surroundings that placed you on a level from "bottom out of sight" to "top out of sight." It had little rules like if you have a bowling ball in your closet, -3 points. If you are top-out-of-sight, you likely drive a late model domestically produced car. Once I was at a golf course near the Adirondacks, actually, and there was a lady who left the pro shop, just as I came in, and got into a late model mid sized Buick. The guy in the pro shop said "Nice lady, wasn't she? She's a Rockefeller." So that one checked out.
ehajm said...
.... New England old wealth- they dress like hobos and their old homes in Maine or Nantucket have the tacky old decor mum and dad had…until they put them up for sale…
**************
Indeed. I was once invited up to Maine for a summer
afternoon at an old house overlooking a private beach. Pretty classy.
The house was filled with old furniture, an ancient gas stove, and seemed a bit down-at-the-mouth.
Then I noticed a framed handwritten lettering on an olld documen hanging on a wall . It turned out to be the deed to a piece of Mount Vernon.
A French couple was with me. When our hosts were elsewhere I quietly took out a dollar bill and pointed at George to indicate the owners' ancestor.
They were Lees.
It's aligned with this administration's emphasis on transparency... after all that DOGE has revealed, nothing is more appropriate than decorating the White House like a casino.
So this is what they're bitching about this week. Trump redecorating the Oval Office.
Would it ever occur to these people to get a life?
Original Mike said...
"All I care about is whether Winston Churchill has returned to the Oval." Yeah. He's back. Somewhere there's a picture of Trump behind the desk and Churchills bust is on a table behind the desk.
Speaking of old money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br-ljup5Bow
Threadbare and dog hair. Buy good furniture and carpet, and keep it for a century.
Two words: Orange Liberace.
Jaq said...
I once read a book about social class in the US. It had a set of rules you could apply to your surroundings that placed you on a level from "bottom out of sight" to "top out of sight."
That sounds like Paul Fussell's Class. I don't think it was meant to be taken seriously. At least I hope it wasn't, as I'd think less of Fussell if it were. Things have changed since then -- old fortunes have been split up through death and inheritance, and the old upper class doesn't have the power or status that it once did. Nobody much cares if they are living somewhere out of site and few seriously measure themselves against some supposed upper class standard. The other thing is that people reading (and writing) such books tend to think that they are somehow outside or above the class system. They aren't.
The Trump Hotel in Las Vegas couldn’t be any more “not Vegas” if it tried. The lobby is grand but understated, decorated in light colors with lots of glass. People walk through speaking in hushed tones and the service is amazing. The bar/restaurant is comfortable and still nice enough that you want to dress up a bit. No casino, no entertainment - that can be had elsewhere. Guests want to have a refuge from the craziness of the rest of the Strip. It’s a great layover spot.
And if Prof. M. Drout can point me in the direction of those light-up Christmas dinosaurs I’d get them in a heartbeat.
I never took the book "seriously" in that it didn't serve as any "how to" for the bounder in me, but it was an interesting book. And yes, things have changed a lot since then. Which is higher class? A tennis ball, or a golf ball? Today I would say tennis ball, Tiger Woods mad golf into a sport for the masses, but it failed his test, since it is larger than a golf ball. I am nevertheless glad I read it.
The lamestream media and its few supporters on this blog clearly don't know shit from shinola.
"Just outside his office there’s even a copy of his mug shot printed on the front page of The New York Post."
I'm glad the NYT was able to include this gem!
Light-up Christmas dinosaur.
What do rich people call Harvard graduates, “the help.”
“I wonder how much of this 'surrounded by excess' is just “Trump being committed to his brand in a way that is likely to be the most seen, the most relatable in the strange way mentioned, by the deplorables. His private jet isn't overly opulent. His apartment in Trump Towers and his residence at Mar a Lago are excessive - but they often appear in personal interest stories, so...”
As everyone here knows, we have a place at Trump International in LV. It’s in his typical style. White marble, chandeliers, gold/brass, white, and silver. So, no doubt most of the elitists probably hate it. Most of the guests see it as elegant.
I suspect that much of this issue is classist. The upper middle class doesn’t like ostentatious displays of wealth. I remember the comments my mother made after the woman who always sat right in front of us showed up with maybe a $100k ring on her finger. Never mind that the couple had founded the largest independent bank in the state, and was, by then, worth mid eight figures, and probably died with a net worth into the low nine figures. It just wasn’t done. The upper middle class just didn’t flaunt their wealth that way.
But the lower middle class does, and esp Blacks. They love the bling. And nobody does bling like Trump does. A surprising number of Black weddings at the hotel.
Remember Pat Nixon, and her good wool coat, after Jackie in her furs? That was the norm for Republican First Ladies, with the grudging exception of Nancy Reagan, until Melania moved into the WH. And between Carter and Biden, Dem First Ladies have dressed a half step down. Crooked Hillary, at least should have had the taste of her upper middle class upbringing. Low point though may have Jill Biden with her upholstery print dresses. Then there is Melania, who turns heads with every outfit she wears, and decorated the WH for Christmas more elegantly than any First Ladies have done since Jackie.
Trump is head of state, as well as head of government. He does so for the most powerful country on the planet. One of the purposes of the White House is entertaining, and esp heads of state of countries around the world. Just as the King of the UK doesn’t have to apologize for the elegance of Buckingham Palace when he entertains, the President shouldn’t have to apologize for the White House. And Trump’s upgrades there go to enhancing the experience of those attending functions there.
“ The Trump Hotel in Las Vegas couldn’t be any more “not Vegas” if it tried. The lobby is grand but understated, decorated in light colors with lots of glass. People walk through speaking in hushed tones and the service is amazing. The bar/restaurant is comfortable and still nice enough that you want to dress up a bit. No casino, no entertainment - that can be had elsewhere. Guests want to have a refuge from the craziness of the rest of the Strip. It’s a great layover spot.”
The food is very good. Expensive, but not exorbitantly so. My partner absolutely loves their coffee. Biggest thing that she misses in LV (except maybe her sister). Rooms are big (studio ~500 sq ft, one bedroom ~1,000 sq ft) with floor to ceiling windows. Extremely comfortable beds. Some of the best in town. My partner, a trained interior designer, thinks that the decor on the floors is exceptionally well done, and esp with the “refresh” last year that gave us new carpeting and furnishings.
Staff are friendly, but professional. We are on a first name basis with Security, Valet, Bellmen, bartenders, gift shop, and maybe half the front desk staff. In the bar, the male bartenders are phenomenal. We call the big one “Tips”. He suggested to a patron one night that the way for Trump to carry NV was to announce that under him, tips wouldn’t be taxed. Next day, Trump announced it (and won NV).
Most of the staff seem to love the Trumps, even with the added hassle of full Presidential USSS coverage. The older two boys run the hotel, with Eric dropping by every 2-3 weeks. One Security Officer told me that he met them at a company picnic. If you need something done, and are having problems with the hotel bureaucracy, get to Eric, and it gets done. Two guys, wearing wife beater tank tops and cargo shorts were running the bbq grill. Very approachable.
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