Donald Trump inspected the progress of his beloved White House renovations as soon as he landed in D.C. after a work-and-golf trip to Scotland.
Footage from Tuesday shows the renovation enthusiast walking through the Palm Room with son, Donald Trump Jr., and Don Jr.’s girlfriend, Bettina Anderson. The construction area is still littered with a drop sheet, trash bag, and red bucket from Home Depot.
“It’s not looking too good, right?” Trump told reporters, pointing to the roof. “We’re fixing the ceiling,” he added, noting he has “nice” chandeliers picked out for the room.
The president then went outside to check how his radical redesign of the White House Rose Garden was coming along, holding an impromptu news conference while he leaned over bushes.
The White House has been majorly Trumpified since January. The Rose Garden was one of his first projects. In March, Trump said he wanted to make the area more user-friendly, especially for women, by paving it over.
“It’s supposed to have events. Every event you have, it’s soaking wet,” Trump said. “People can’t—and the women with the high heels, it’s just too much... We use it for press conferences and it doesn’t work because the people fall into the wet grass.”
Trump had just returned from a trip to Scotland, which included a meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the announcement of a trade deal with the EU—but in which the president still managed to get in several rounds of golf at his own courses.
On Monday, before his departure, Trump admitted he had more important things to do than play golf—like putting out “fires all over the world”—before going to play another round anyway.
Photos taken on Tuesday show that the paved area covering the Rose Garden is now almost fully constructed. That will mean it is ready in time for Trump’s planned UFC match on the grounds of the White House next year.
In June, Trump erected two 88-foot flagpoles on the North and South lawns of the White House. “I didn’t want to go too crazy,” the part-time renovator said. “I thought that would be enough... You know, they’re big. They’re about as big as you can get. We’re proud of it.”
Inside the White House, Trump has given the historic building the Midas Touch with his beloved gold decor spread all over. That has included adding gold trim to the crown molding around the ceiling of the Oval Office, to match the gold curtains and gold around the fireplace mantel.
Gold cherubs from his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate have been installed in the White House, as well as gold vases and urns and a gold ‘Trump’ crest over the door leading into the White House. There are also gold drink coasters with the president’s surname printed on them.
During a meeting in the Cabinet Room earlier this month, Trump was debating what the correct finish for the ceiling was.
“Will I gold-leaf the corners?” he asked assembled officials, adding, “It won’t look good because they’ve never found a paint that looks like gold. So painting it is easy, but it won’t look right.”
In February, he also spoke out loud about his dream to build a $100 million ballroom in the White House, based on a Grand Ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. This week, he gave an update on the plans, saying he would start construction in two months and the whole project would be finished in under two years.
“It’s a very incredible structure, it’s going to be beautiful, normally I could build a building like that in 4 or 5 months,” Trump said on Pod Force One.
“But it’s very intricate inside, it’s beautiful, the best marbles, it’ll be a great tribute to the White House. Other presidents have talked about it but it never got done. I’m the builder. I know how to do it.”
