Trump struggles with governing details -- but remains focused on interior decorating

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The president clearly struggles when it comes to policymaking, but when it comes to interior decorating, Trump apparently has quite a bit to say.

America’s decorator president … SMDH

Trump struggles with governing details — but remains focused on interior decorating www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— @jimrissmiller.bsky.social 2025-07-09T21:18:20.549Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-struggles-governing-details-remains-focused-interior-decorating-rcna217809

But when it comes to interior decorating, Trump apparently has quite a bit to say. As The Washington Post summarized:

After talking about tragedy in Texas, about war in Ukraine and Gaza, about bombs on Iran and about global tariffs, President Donald Trump revealed perhaps his biggest passion: the aesthetic changes he has made to the White House. He is, in many ways, the world’s most powerful interior designer.

As the Republican’s second term got underway, he and his team took a surprising interest in interior design, specifically targeting portraits and murals of former officials the president doesn’t like. This dovetailed with Trump taking great pride in putting a copy of the Declaration of Independence on the wall in the Oval Office.....

This included an extended riff on the color of the room he and his team were in at the time and a lengthy story of how he obtained a clock that used to be in Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s office.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h7qtoo7nxqxarrsijohjhbw4/post/3lthugmnozc23

Link to tweet

This comes on the heels of a series of related reports, including news that there’s a picture of Trump alongside first lady portraits in the White House, and a separate report about replacing a portrait of Barack Obama with a painting related to the assassination attempt that targeted Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

And don’t get me started on the president and his “gold guy” adding gold finishes to the Oval Office.

Of course, it wouldn’t be altogether fair to say Trump invests excessive amounts of time in interior design and decorating, because he also cares about exterior design. He and his team have, for example, torn up the White House Rose Garden and installed a flagpole that the president seemed awfully excited about.

In 1998, the late David Broder criticized Bill Clinton in a memorable way. “He came in here and he trashed the place — and it’s not his place,” the longtime Washington Post columnist said.

Nearly three decades later, the quote comes to mind anew.