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.
These accents are “of the highest quality” and are being paid for by the president himself, according to a Fox News report that was light on details:
A White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the gold Trump added to the Oval Office “is of the highest quality,” declining to provide further details. The spokesperson also said that Trump personally covered the cost of the gold accents, though did not specify how much gold was added or how much Trump spent.
However, as explained by BuzzFeed, the moldings looks oddly similar to accents available for as low as $30 on Home Depot’s website.
For comparison, this is what the Oval Office looked like in the last year of the Biden administration:
Photo: Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
And this is what it looks like now:
Photo: Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
This is actually pretty impressive, considering that gold paint doesn’t exist:
Margaret Hartmann
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