President Donald Trump is wiping away Camelot—one paint stroke at a time.
The president, 79, has ordered that the John F. Kennedy-era paint colors of the U.S. Air Force presidential and VIP fleets be replaced with his preferred palette, CBS News reported Tuesday. Gone will be the light blue and white-colored aircraft long associated with the days of Camelot. In their place: dark navy, deep red, and Trump’s well-documented favorite shade—gold.
Shortly after returning to the Oval Office for his second term in January 2025, Trump told reporters he planned to revive his long-stalled effort to customize Air Force One after former President Joe Biden scrapped the proposed redesign during Trump’s first term, citing costs and delays.
“We want power blue, not baby blue,” Trump said last year. “Everything has its time and place. We’ll be changing the colors.”
Before Trump’s re-election, one of his advisers told Politico that he would move forward with the change if he returned to office.
“The model was on the coffee table in the Oval Office and he pointed it out many times to foreign and domestic visitors,” the person told the outlet. “He thought it represented America more and represented strength—the red, white, and blue.”
Former President John F. Kennedy collaborated with Raymond Loewy, widely regarded as “the father of industrial design,” to renovate the fleet in 1962. He chose light blue, his favorite color, with the help of his wife, Jackie Kennedy, as part of an effort to reshape how the world viewed the American government.
This isn’t the only redecoration Trump has undertaken. The president has also launched a MAGA-themed revamp of the Kennedy Center, going so far as to add a sign reading “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” to the front of the venue. He has also announced plans to shutter the Kennedy Center for roughly two years to facilitate a “complete rebuilding” of the existing structures.
Trump is devoting significant attention to a reported $400 million White House ballroom, which he has said he plans to name after himself. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted last year that the ballroom was the commander in chief’s “main priority.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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