President Donald Trump’s long-awaited makeover of the White House Rose Garden left much to be desired for online social media commentators.
A drastic departure from its former sprawling, lush lawn, one commentator roasted the tombstone-colored terrace as a “parking lot.”
“Trump turned Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden into a parking lot. Sad day for history and nature,” wrote one commentator on X.
Another X commentator added, “Trump killed the roses like he’s killing everything else that made America great.”
“This is how you know Trump is from Queens,” another user said.
News that the MAGA figurehead was plotting to pave over the garden space emerged in February. The New York Times reported that Trump wished to transform the historic garden into an events space with an interchangeable floor.
The roses will “stay,” Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in March, adding that there were practical reasons behind why he wished to remodel the garden’s grassy center.
“You know, we use [the Rose Garden] for press conferences, and it doesn’t work because the people fall. ... It just didn’t work,” Trump said, citing “women with the high heels.”
For one X commentator, the idea was better than the execution.
“Looks awful. Devoid of life. Just more concrete in the concrete jungle,” they wrote. “Could have at least interlaid brick or some sort of designed pattern.”
Another commentator added on X, “The fact that he turned the rose garden into f---ing cement is such a perfect metaphor for everything these people do.”
Or perhaps it was just a bad picture, another commentator proposed on X, writing, “Preferred the grass than this sterile look. But maybe the picture is just unflattering.”
In another quip about the minimalism of the space, a commentator wrote on X, “Surely they’re bringing in some plants? I know…ironic.”
According to the White House Historical Association, the Rose Garden was planted in 1913 according to the specifications of First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson, 28th President Woodrow Wilson’s first wife. The garden was revitalized under the direction of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie in 1961.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
