In seven months, Donald Trump's administration changed trade rules, due process norms, and scientific standards, affecting many areas of the United States. The Oval Office underwent a pronounced aesthetic overhaul influenced by Trump's background in real estate and hospitality. Gold accents increased substantially, appearing on ceiling trim, door frames, fireplace, sculpted cherubim, trophies, vases, and personalized gold coasters. A White House spokesperson said the highest-quality gold was paid for by Trump personally. The number of presidential portraits rose to nearly twenty, compared with six under Joe Biden and two under Barack Obama. Public responses ranged from praise as a symbol of renewal to comparisons with a wrestler's dressing room.
From rewriting the rules of free trade to upending the norms of due process and challenging scientific orthodoxy, no corner of the country has remained untouched, including the president's own centre of power: the Oval Office. Leaning into his former career as a real estate developer and hotelier, the president has, in his own words, applied some Trump touches to the room's decor.
Over the following months, the goldening ratcheted up, with gold trimming across the ceiling, door frames and fireplace. Even the sculpted cherubim inside door frames were painted gold. Clockwise from top left: Trump's golden coasters; gold trimming over doorways; new painting in the Oval Office; the golden cherubim. Composite: Getty/Rex/AP Over the months of his administration, the number of of gold trophies and vases littered across the mantlepiece have multiplied and there are now even gold coasters with Trump's name on them.
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