White House staff were forced to step in to stop President Donald Trump from hanging a potentially damaging chandelier in the Oval Office, according to a new book by Republican strategist Scott Jennings.
The problem wasn’t aesthetic. It was physics. The ceiling couldn’t hold it, Jennings writes in A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization.
In the $25 book, CNN’s resident MAGA pundit recounts a visit to the Oval Office when Trump floated the idea from behind the Resolute Desk: “I’m thinking of putting a chandelier in here… Right through the shield there on the ceiling.” Trump then asked him directly, “If there’s any room that needs a chandelier, it’s this one. What do you think, Scott?”
Jennings, in response, offered, “I think it will come in handy at night, Mr. President.” He adds that the room was “awash in sunlight” already but noted privately that “if anyone knows where to put a chandelier, it is this man.”
However, White House staff later investigated the request, Jennings writes, discovering that the Oval Office ceiling “couldn’t hold the weight.” CNN reported in March that Trump had “toyed” with the idea of hanging the light fixture. The idea died there—one of the few Trump redesign schemes that didn’t make it into the building.
However, extravagant light fixtures became commonplace elsewhere in the Executive Mansion, especially in Trump’s Cabinet room, which is dominated by three ornate chandeliers.
Jennings frames the Oval Office chandelier episode as part of a broader theme, namely, Trump’s fixation on recasting the Oval Office as aggressively as he has recast the government around him. In a reflective moment, Jennings writes, “I paused to consider a decorating question that only presidents usually ponder. And I’ve marveled at his constant redecorating of the most important office in the world. The paintings. His own mugshot. The Declaration of Independence. He’s restyling the Oval visually as fast as he’s reshaping all of American politics.”
Elsewhere in the book, Jennings calls Trump’s aesthetic churn a governing metaphor. “Trump’s redecorating is a metaphor for the way he has governed in his second term—adding new elements at such a rapid pace that hardly anyone can keep up. It’s clear that he has a vision for what he wants, and it is up to the rest of us to figure it out and embrace it.”
Trump’s interior-design track record during both terms has included heavy gilding, oversized portraits, and swapping out historical pieces for personal iconography.
The book itself arrives with Trump’s fingerprints on more than just the décor. Jennings has said the president personally chose its cover—an unusual but on-brand blurring of political messaging and Jennings’ close relationship with the president.
The chandelier saga pales in comparison to later redesign schemes. President Trump is currently in the throes of building a ballroom at the White House, after tearing the East Wing down to make room.
The $300 million party space will be privately funded by Trump and various billionaire donors, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Palantir—many of whom currently benefit from lucrative government contracts or government deregulation.
Not even historic trees were safe from Trump’s path of destruction at the White House.
Satellite imagery shows that six trees, including southern magnolias commemorating presidents Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt, were axed or removed from the White House grounds last month, as part of Trump’s East Wing teardown.
Trump also green-lit a tacky “Presidential Hall of Fame” along the colonnade, one that features a picture of an autopen instead of a portrait of Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden. Trump also had the Rose Garden paved over to make way for a Mar-a-Lago-inspired outdoor dining area named “The Rose Garden Club.”
Even the toilets weren’t safe. Trump ripped out the historic Lincoln Bathroom and replaced it with a marble vanity project as millions of Americans were at risk of losing food stamp benefits thanks to the government shutdown.
Back inside, conspicuous gilding (that may or may not be from Home Bargains) has become a go-to for the president. The tacky features appear to have been squeezed onto every available inch of wall at the White House, particularly the Oval Office.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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