Vice President JD Vance has a simple defense for President Donald Trump’s gold-drenched Oval Office makeover: his 5-year-old kid digs it.
“His favorite color is gold. And whenever he walks into the Oval Office, he’s just blown away by it because it does have this bright, lively feel,” Vance told USA Today, referring to his son, Vivek. “And I think it’s fitting for, again, the place where the leader of the free world comes to work every day.”
Trump’s gaudy redesign has seen the office plastered with gilded mirrors, gold medallions, eagle figurines, and even gilded cherubs brought in from Mar-a-Lago.
“I was overwhelmed by the grandeur of the office, all the incredible history that had been made,” Vance said of his impressions of the office when he first visited on January 21.
“But if I was being honest, it was the middle of winter, the drapes were closed. It was very dark. It had kind of a dark and gloomy feeling. This is the workplace of the leader of the free world. It should be a little brighter,” he said, adding: “I like what the president has done to it.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Vance for comment.
Not everyone shares Vance’s enthusiasm. Grammy-winning musician Jack White called Trump’s gilded makeover “an embarrassment to American history,” blasting it as “a vulgar, gold-leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler’s dressing room.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung was furious with the criticism. “Jack White is a washed up, has-been loser posting drivel on social media because he clearly has ample time on his hands due to his stalled career,” he told the Daily Beast earlier this month.
Cheung added, “It’s apparent he’s been masquerading as a real artist, because he fails to appreciate, and quite frankly disrespects, the splendor and significance of the Oval Office inside of ‘The People’s House.’”
The Oval Office isn’t the only space Trump has overhauled. Since returning to the White House, he has also paved over the Rose Garden with a concrete patio and erected oversized flagpoles on the grounds.
Trump is also revamping the historic West Colonnade, a walkway which connects the West Wing to the Executive Residence and dates back to Thomas Jefferson’s presidency. A new, $200 million ballroom in the East Wing is also in the works.
Some critics argue the president is wrecking the building’s historic character.
Democratic strategist Chris D. Jackson, who worked on the Biden campaign, blasted Trump’s White House renovations on X in July.
“This is awful. The Rose Garden and Colonnade used to be my favorite parts of the White House,” he wrote. “Now they look like everything else he touches: stripped down, soulless, and ruined.”
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