🚨 JUST IN: The White House has released new footage of the current Trump Oval Office and liberals are furious that there's "too much gold."
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 7, 2025
It actually looks stunning.
Trump's Oval looks leagues better than Biden and Obama's.pic.twitter.com/TtCZrl3Hur
October 7, 2025
The problem isn't "too much gold." It's too much ornamentation.
What are all those stick-on doodads? They don't mean anything. They don't seem to be about America.
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107 comments:
It's a gold cave.
I love the guy, but he really leans into the left hook.
"The problem isn't "too much gold." It's too much ornamentation."
Yeah, not my style.
Trump likes to gild refined gold. Who’s the last politician with an aesthetic sensibility? Jefferson
Jones and Scamburger must drop out!
In keeping with my recent dumb movie-watching, I'm thinking of Goldmember: "I love gooooold! The look of it! The smell of it! The taste of it! The texture!" and explaining his name: "I love gold so much that I lost my genitalia in an unfortunate smelting accident. Hence the name... Goldmember."
Wouldn't that be a twist?
That’s what’s golden. And you can take it to the bank!
did Trump visit Amber Room and bring back ideas?
That's like, your opinion. Man.
Ornamentation makes Early English Keyboard Music (Thurston Dart 1950, to give credit to the guy who found something worth discovering)
Even at my mellow late middle age I can be surprised art what people choose to spend their time writing about. Have they simply run out of ways to say "He's not our kind"?
Not "art" but "at" above. Sigh.
Gap in the middle is the record being turned over. Nobody alive remembers that, more or less.
"Trump likes to gild refined gold. Who’s the last politician with an aesthetic sensibility? Jefferson."
1. Gilding gold — I know that's from Shakespeare — is not a matter of over-complication and fussy design. It's just a waste because gold is already gold. Adding another layer of gold doesn't change how it looks.
2. Jefferson did not indulge in over-ornamentation. Monticello is Neo-classical, not Baroque. It has clean lines and the design choices made practical sense.
"European Taste".
"What are all those stick-on doodads? They don't mean anything. They don't seem to be about America."
President Trump is decorating his office the way that he likes. The gold filigree is temporary so that the actual structure of the office is not changed and the next President can put what they like on the wall.
You know who "didn't seem to be about America"? Presidents Biden and Obama. They seemed to be against America.
He needs a gold desk.
Trump is not a "less is more" kind of guy.
Favorite play in high school, when we were forced to read a play of our choice: The Solid Gold Cadillac
More is more. It's not my taste, but we knew what we were getting.
I like the old version, and the idea that it remained largely unchanged through generations.
That's why I was never welcomed in the progressive movement.
We need to see the shitter to judge properly.
As my dear old mother used to say, "All of his taste is in his mouth".
Why has gold been valuable for thousands of years? No doubt being shiny and rare was original attraction.
Is it valuable now simply because it is world wide tradition, and we are taught from childhood that it is valuable?
That our ruling class has good taste is true enough. But the rest of us prefer tacky--think Elvis on velvet--, and the tackier the better. What our betters need to start grasping is that we are tired of being ruled by them. Tired of their values. Tired of their verbal gobbledegook, tired of their aesthetics. We want them and their entire culture gone.
The pope has more gold than Trump.
I'm checking out of the discussion until he hangs one of those singing fish plaques from a few years past. When he does, I know I'll hear about it.
’Jefferson did not indulge in over-ornamentation. Monticello is Neo-classical, not Baroque.’
It continues as one of the finest residential designs in America.
That’s called Trump Style and I love it. You walk into that room and smile. You don’t feel intimidated, you don’t feel ordinary. You just stand there and smile.
Why is that? Because you know you’re in the presence of a man who loves life and doesn’t sweat the small stuff.
Because, let’s face it, the least important thing in the world is how leaders decorate their offices. And for the artsy-fartsy class to get bent out of shape about this least important thing makes it even more joyful.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
"Have they simply run out of ways to say 'He's not our kind'?"
Most people don't have an opinion on the office one way or the other; they either like or don't like Trump. The ones who don't like him find a reason to dislike everything about him, including his decor.
'Could not that gold have been sold and given to the poor?' Bear in mind who it was that asked the question I paraphrase here. Also think about how much our investments in social programs go to the people they purport to help.
"...how much of our investments..."
"That our ruling class has good taste is true enough."
No. Actually they dont.
It'd look better to me with about 50 percent less of those gold hangy things. You don't need to cover every single inch of barren wall.
It reminds me of Lili Von Shtupp's room.
It's only for 3 more years, and none of us will be invited.
"They don't seem to be about America."
Wait....What?
You could do a month's worth of posts examining that statement.
Trump isn’t gilding a lily, he’s trying to class-up what has been an office in disgrace, occupied by shameless quislings.
It would work better if he'd replaced Biden's unflattering bluish wallpaper with something simpler and darker. The bright white woodwork doesn't help, either. He may have started by trying to hide the smoke stains on the fireplace surround and then became addicted to ornament.
I still think Trump is a Goa'uld.
How dare you mock Orange Liberace’s fabulous fabulousness.
The Ben Franklin bust looks like you could tilt the head down and push a red button to open the doors to the sliding-pole entrance to the Bat-Cave!
This calls for my favorite band: Marillion - The Gold:
The gold stops us
The gold always did
The gold took more lives than Uranium
Than Plutonium
Pandemonium...
The thunder approaches
The heavy sighing of the monster...
Come to break the heavy weather
Come to silence all the singing birds
Tearing up the sky like paper
White-welding through dark steel of clouds
And the release of the sudden rain
The gold stops us
The gold always did
The gold took more lives than Uranium
Than Plutonium, Pandemonium
The Gold!
Jet engines and demolition
And the summer rain
Like finding a lost child
The roads are travelled by many
Like promises of peace
And some choose not to go
The fear looks like bravado
It always did
I see them waiting, smiling
On the borders in dawn's mist
Or lost to the world in their upturned boats
I'll be free or I'll die trying to be
Trying to BE
CC, JSM
It's his style. Every president puts an asthetic twist on the Oval Office and the White House that reflects his own intrests and opinions and that of his times. Trump likes gold. It isn't to everyones taste, and I think that argument is fair. I certainly am not impressed. But its not my office. For now, at least, its Trump's. But acting like there is something wrong, or potentially nefarious about Trump's fondness for gilding the lily is just silly. Critize it as gross, low brow, crass, tastless and vulgar. But not totalitarian. The Oval wasn't around for the Victorian asthetic of, say, Franklin Pierce, but if it had been I think his decorators would have shrugged at Trump's restraint.
Last time I checked gold, I think it was about 1,800 and that moron, Glen Beck was telling his fans to stock up and all of the smart people were mocking him. I wonder how that turned out?
Lance said...
It reminds me of Lili Von Shtupp's room.
She changed around it a bit since I was last there.
If I recall correctly from my tour of the White House many years ago, Jackie Kennedy had all the silver sconces, etc. in one of the official rooms (the dining room?) gilded. I guess it is different when you have a D after your name.
I agree with policraticus, Trump has always decorated with too much gold, but it was funny to see him visit England and see almost the same level of over the top gold decoration at Windsor Castle as what he has now. Also, historically, the White house had plenty of gold ornaments, I read that Theodore Roosevelt redecorated in a simple style. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/the-white-and-gold-room-with-mid-c18th-decoration-royalty-free-image/533585058?adppopup=true
"Last time I checked gold, I think it was about 1,800 . . . ."
The last time I checked, about 60 seconds ago, it was at 4,000.
The original phrase was 'paint the lily.'
That is all.
"mezzrow said...
I'm checking out of the discussion until he hangs one of those singing fish plaques from a few years past. When he does, I know I'll hear about it."
Take me to the river?
Take it up a notch, fart machine (available through Althouse portal) under couch and chairs. Lighten things up when Schumer or Zelensky there.
Trump's going Baroque! Will silk culottes be making a Presidential comeback on our 250th Anniversary? Althouse will need to weigh in on whether her thing against men in shorts places her in opposition to our founding fathers' preferred leg-ware.
Trump is America's first gay President. The obsession with interior decorating is really something else.
Auric Goldfinger appproves.
Trump is America's first gay President.
Not that there's anything wrong with that!
My daughter has long said she thinks he should just "go gay." We have several friends, long-married men with children, whose mannerisms and/or fashion choices have made me wonder just where along the spectrum (and it is one, but with very strong bimodality) of human sexuality they are. But they are welcome, in my world, to be heterosexual men who have strong "feminine" sides - just like Trump.
The peasants will pay more for groceries and healthcare but the king must shit in a gold toilet.
-MAGA
HAGA: Horse’s Ass Gone Astray
The price of gold broke $4000/ounce for the first time today. The dollar is down 10% this year.
Trump is just filling the time between sombrero memes and Middle East peace treaties with a little day trading.
I wasn't reading anything into Trump's choice of decor, just thinking it wasn't to my taste, until I read the post about Swifties finding hidden meanings. Now I think the meaning of Trump's decor is "Après moi, le déluge".
I'm 90% joking and 10% "wouldn't blame him if it were".
There is a wonderful replica of the Oval Office in the Reagan Library. I'm always a bit surprised how compact it is. It is not all that large a space.
- Krumhorn
....'Auric Goldfinger approves....'
'What do you want me to do, open the government?'
'No, Mr. Trump. I want you to die !'
Of course, it's tacky. How else would all that stuff stick to the wall?
It's only for 3 more years, and none of us will be invited.
Speak for yourself waterboy!
Not a big fan of gold plated stuff...kinda gaudy.. YMMV
Hunter lost his bag of coke - and the Biden's stuffed the gold in their own bank accounts.
Trump paid for that.
F the left.
Tea-D-Terrorist cannot recall the shit-show of high inflation during her King's reign of terror. The Blithering puppet shit show.
That's a beautiful tall case clock.
1790s or so. perhaps.
Based on other comments here, it sounds like prior presidents have decorated the office as they liked. That being the case, why should anyone care how Trump chooses to decorate it? I mean- aside from looking for more stuff to bitch about because Trump.
Their taste differs from Trump’s. That doesn’t make him wrong.
The dimensions of the Oval Office are as follows:
Long Axis: 35′ 10″ (10.9 m)
Short Axis: 29′ (8.8 m)
Height: 18′ 6″ (5.6 m).
These measurements define the formal working space of the President of the United States
the king must shit in a gold toilet.
if shit is gold bricks can pay off natioal debt a little bit!
I've visited the Palace of Versailles in France, and many other European palaces of kings in Austria and Germany. It is clear that Trump wants to emulate all the gaudy gold rooms these monarchs had. He needs to remember that these monarchies did not end well. I just finished reading Charles Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities." This will not end well.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Stay Gold, Dony Boy!
Do you get gold blind? After a while, is a room just a room again?
“I just finished reading Charles Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities." This will not end well.”
C’mon, lonejustice. Just get off your fat ass and return the book to the library within the prescribed time and you won’t be fined.
That reminds me. What happened to that visit to Fort Knox?
I noticed NO images of the above the law grifter - the Crooked puppet Soros Biden. I'm good with that.
Modeled after the Kremlin. Putin would feel right at home.
TeaBagHag said...
"The peasants will pay more for groceries and healthcare but the king must shit in a gold toilet.
-MAGA"
At least we're not paying for the healthcare of your illegal little brown clients.
Kak - Democrat Hillary Clinton actually pocketed Russian money with her secret Uranium deals.
Here she is - D-hag bag
Trump pees standing up. Know who else peed standing up? Monarchs!
This will not end well.
dead man said...
C’mon, lonejustice. Just get off your fat ass and return the book to the library within the prescribed time and you won’t be fined.
---------
Charles Dickens had hundreds of thousands of readers. How many do you have? Maybe two, including me?
Wow. If I had known that Trump had over-the-top bad taste in decorating and had a tendency to gild things, I never would have voted for him. Why was this kept secret?
That's sarcasm, for those of you in Rio Linda.
Oh go have congress with your prized Duroc, lonejustice. Don’t forget teh reacharound!
The French Revolution resulted with the guillotine. Let's hope it doesn't happen here.
"I've visited the Palace of Versailles in France, and many other European palaces of kings in Austria and Germany."
Clearly, someone who advocates for monarchy in America.
I have no doubt that MAGA Trump supporters would be just like Monsieur Defarge and his wife Madame Defarge and would shout with glee when their political opponents were decapitated by the guillotine.
The key impulses of baroque are exuberance, drama, and faith. It was the fruit of the Catholic counter-reformation. It takes life and tries to experience it like putting your mouth around a firehose. These qualities are exactly what most people *like* about Trump -- -his energy, his clear enjoyment of everything he does, his absolute confidence. He has a Baroque aristocratic personality, and it's no wonder that he likes Baroque ornamentation. He wouldn't be Trump otherwise. If you want Brutalism, go back to Obama.
The next post down - a real slippery slope
Lonejustice wrote: I have no doubt that MAGA Trump supporters would be just like Monsieur Defarge and his wife Madame Defarge and would shout with glee when their political opponents were decapitated by the guillotine.
Funny, that is nearly the image that I have been cited to discuss my progressive friends, many of who would happily ship me and my family off to the re-education camps or worse. But I reject the use of the word "glee" here. "Glee" implies a carefree happiness and exuberance, not the brooding hatred that erupts from Madame Defarge.
My conservative friends seem to be happy and able to laugh at memes, even ones that poke fun at VP Vance and Trump. The left cannot meme because they do not know what humor is. Everything is grim-faced hatred.
"I have no doubt that MAGA Trump supporters would be just like Monsieur Defarge and his wife Madame Defarge and would shout with glee when their political opponents were decapitated by the guillotine."
On the one hand, it's obligatory to point out that this is just "mind reading," but what if it's not that innocent, what if they are consciously saying this stuff that they know they have no evidence for in order to justify a violent "response."
"Clinton actually pocketed Russian money with her secret Uranium deals."
Since the hundreds of millions that Putin gave her, actually went to the Clinton Foundation, I assume that a lot of that money had to be used to grease palms to get the deal done. Hillary could not get that deal done on her own.
what if they are consciously saying this stuff that they know they have no evidence for in order to justify a violent "response."
You mean like calling Trump "Hitler" and "Nazi" so much and so often that people on the left actually tried to kill him?
I have no doubt that MAGA Trump supporters would be just like Monsieur Defarge and his wife Madame Defarge and would shout with glee when their political opponents were decapitated by the guillotine.
That's because you're an idiot. An idiot who projects his own thoughts onto his opponents.
I think Trump really likes that glitzy French Second Empire style. Which was briefly popular in DC at the time too -- the executive office building immediately adjacent to the White House is built in that style, for example, rather than the pseudo-Roman classical style of most other Federal buildings before the dark times, before the brutalist yoke. There also used to be a lot of mansions in DC in a similarly French style with mansard roofs etc.
My mother loved those sorts of wall decorations. And in the late '60s, early '70s there was a modest craze for plaster copies of that stuff. She loved French Provincial furniture and decorations...
I seem to recall learning about something called "The Gold Rush", when tens of thousands of Americans, yes, real Americans, went ga-ga for gold. I'm sure that the pinched schoolmarms in Puritan New England disapproved, decoration being from the devil and all that.
The projections become more violent in theme (from “Trump’s a wannabe dictator” to “MAGA is hoping for guillotines”) as the unhinged leftists here sail farther from sanity and embrace their inner rage, just as spooky Spanberger is urging them to do.
About as large as an average pebble, the oyster has a rougher texture, its colour not as uniform and compromised by a silvery-white sheen. It lives in the world of close-minded isolationism. Yet it can be opened. First, you will need a dull serrated knife. Then hold the oyster firmly in a kitchen towel and try to pry it open from different angles. Impatient or delicate fingers get cuts and broken nails – the procedure is unrefined. As I work my way around edges, breaking them, I give my oyster a white halo. Inside there’s a whole world, edible and potable: the firmament, that’s what we should call the upper shell, closed upon the bottom, framing a slimy verdant pond with a meaty sack in black lace that expands and retracts as I watch and sniff it. And very rarely, but it does happens, the meal comes with something extra – a pearl with which we can adorn ourselves.
- Francis Ponge The Oyster
There are people for whom plebian bad taste is a deliberate strategy. Ambulance chasing lawyers and payday lenders, for example. Both are trying to appeal to the lower classes. The former don't want to seem to elite (which would intimidate) or ethical (that would suggest they wouldn't pull every dirty trick to WIN). Payday lenders want to appeal to people who feel uncomfortable in 'proper' banks. Trump actually wants to offend those with elite tastes and get them to say things that will continue to reveal that those 'betters' hold the 'lowers' (who share Trump's tastes) in contempt. I'm half surprised Trump hasn't yet hung a Thomas Kinkade painting in the WH.
One of my complaints about Trump the businessman was I thought he was over the top with the gold decoration of his hotels. What I find interesting is the discussion now of his Oval Office. What did his Oval Office look like during his first term? While there were stories about things added and subtracted, I do not recall a discussion of gold as an issue then. If true, I find that interesting because it tells you something of his mindset. I disliked Trump so intensely that I not only didn't vote for him, but also I have never seen the Apprentice or any of his appearance in other shows or movies. But, he seemed to have a reverence in his first term for the historical nature of the presidency and somewhat reigned in his personality. Starting with the second inauguration (and Melania's kick-ass hat and outfit), there was a new attitude. Personally, I hate the gold but do like the additional paintings on the wall. And, having studied American history for decades, I know that previous presidents weren't choir boys either and there is no need to pretend they were to try and "score" points on Trump.
If I didn't read the comments here fairly regularly, I would have never seen the (now obvious) direct line from redecorating a room and the Reign of Terror.
So, thanks, I guess.
"I've visited the Palace of Versailles in France, and many other European palaces of kings in Austria and Germany."
Versailles wants to be the Hofburg Palace when it grows up.
It will all be scraped off ,next King up! sidewalk ripped up ,flowers planted again, and ketchup fully removed from the walls!
The Dems needn't worry. President Vance will remove all that stuff in four years.
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