Despite the historic beating Republicans took during the midterms, and much to the dismay of some White House staff, President Donald Trump has kept his focus on what truly matters to him: overlaying the nation’s capital with his overly ornate aesthetic. To that end, Trump signed a proclamation Friday naming the Oval Office a national monument. With it, he seeks to forbid future presidents from following him as project-manager-in-chief.
President Barack Obama mocked Trump’s heavily gilded makeover of the Oval Office last month when he said it looks “like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.” Even before that jab and the overwrought response from conservatives, Democrats had discussed undoing the changes Trump has made at the White House. The incoming Democratic majority may choose to halt some of Trump’s construction projects, including the giant ballroom rising where the East Wing once stood.
Trump’s executive order proclamation acknowledges that the White House and its grounds are already recognized as a National Historic Landmark but gives the Oval Office — and Cabinet Room — a special carveout. The National Park Service will now require “documentation, review, and consideration of alternatives before any action that would substantially alter or demolish the monument or its essential architectural elements.”
Trump seems not to have considered that the Democrats taking office soon will likely happily sign off on any efforts to undo to his gold-plated gussying.
As he signed the proclamation, Trump weirdly claimed he would require help from Congress to make it stick. “We’re going to be declaring it a national monument, and we’re going to send it over to Congress, have it ratified,” Trump told reporters. “If they want to say, ‘Let’s not have oval anymore, let’s make it square,’ what happens is they have to go back to Congress and hopefully the Congress, the people in Congress, will be smart enough not to let that happen.”
There’s a lot to unpack in Trump’s statement. The proclamation doesn’t mention Congress but relies on the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows a president to create a national monument on federal land by proclamation without congressional input. Though there are lawyers who say the statute doesn’t let a subsequent president revoke or diminish a previously established monument without Congress, that’s not what Trump’s DOJ has said. When the Trump administration was looking to undo monuments created by President Joe Biden, it argued tersely that the Antiquities Act that gives presidents the “power to declare carries with it the power to revoke.”
Trump calling on Congress to protect his tacky alterations is inconsistent with his administration’s stance on executive authority. He has steadfastly refused to let Congress tie his hands on most matters. His proclamation is a blatant attempt to keep future presidents from doing what he himself is doing.
Even if Congress did need to get involved, Trump seems not to have considered that the Democrats taking office soon will likely happily sign off on any efforts to undo to his gold-plated gussying.
The executive order is quite a display of tunnel vision from a president whacked by voters who had every reason to believe he only cares about his own interests and not theirs. The day before the midterm elections, he held a news conference boasting about his renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The day after the election, he signed the final beam in the White House ballroom alongside Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Burgum, whose department will now oversee changes to the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, called Trump “the builder in chief” and “the greatest builder that has ever been president of the United States,” the latter of which feels like New Deal construction erasure.
Friday’s spectacle felt like the White House staff placating a toddler on the verge of a tantrum.
Graciously, the proclamation acknowledges that future presidents can restyle the Oval Office with no consequences: “Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to restrict the President’s authority to redecorate the monument, select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security modifications that do not substantially impair the monument’s historic structure or architectural character.” In other words, if whomever is sworn in January 2029 wants to get rid of the tacky wall sconces and swap out the gold curtains, then they can.
Friday’s spectacle felt like the White House staff placating a toddler on the verge of a tantrum. The document has no real impact on anything, but if it makes Trump feel better to sign a piece of paper, then hand one to him.
Consider that a staffer took the time to write this proclamation, newly installed White House chief of staff Stephen Miller likely reviewed it, a communications aide drafted a fact sheet and a staff secretary scheduled a signing. It’s an incredible use of resources on exactly the kind of nonsense that has left the GOP rudderless but provided Trump a degree of escapism when he’s supposed to be working for the people.
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