President Donald Trump had his latest bling request for the Oval Office denied.
Trump, 79, could not resist asking to keep the FIFA World Cup trophy after it was displayed in his office on Friday, but FIFA President Gianni Infantino politely informed him that it was not his to take.
Still, Trump marveled at the historic trophy’s beauty—and spoke at length about his own drastic remodeling of the Oval Office, which has transformed the once-subtle space into a cut-price Palace of Versailles.
“Can I keep it?” Trump asked Infantino, who had just handed him the most revered prize in international soccer. “Seriously, it fits very well on the wall right over there. We’ll put it right below the angels.”
Infantino, chuckling nervously, explained that the historic trophy—hoisted by every World Cup winner since 1974, the last being Lionel Messi’s Argentina team—has to be saved for next summer’s tournament winners.
Trump relented and released the relic. He was not so generous with this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup trophy, also made of gold, which he bizarrely commandeered after the tournament. Trump went onto the field for the trophy presentation at the final in New Jersey and now keeps it on display in the Oval Office. The tournament’s winners, Chelsea, a club from London, had to be shipped a replica.
Infantino still made sure that the president was not leaving their meeting empty-handed. In addition to praising his Washington, D.C., crackdown and suggesting that the perennially mediocre U.S. men’s national soccer team actually has a shot at winning the World Cup next summer, he also gifted Trump an oversized cardboard version of the “first ticket” for next year’s tournament final, which will also be just outside New York City.
Holding the World Cup trophy—which is pure gold on a malachite base—got Trump on a roll talking about his love for his favorite precious metal, which now occupies seemingly every other inch of the Oval Office.
“You see the way this is looking nice?” Trump asked reporters, gesturing to the blinding amount of golden trinkets and gilding that now consume the space. “I can’t tell you how much that gold costs—a lot of money. There’s nothing like gold, and there’s nothing like solid gold.”
The president said a drastic change was needed in the Oval Office, which he claimed was not “representative” of the position the way former presidents had it decorated.
“When we took it over, it was dirty, not clean,” he said. “I immediately changed the chair and had this beautiful desk renovated… This was not appropriate for the Oval Office when I took over.”
The amount of gold in the office has slowly grown throughout the year. It began with a few shiny trinkets in the first days of MAGA 2.0, but exploded after Trump flew his personal “gold guy,” John Icart, up from South Florida to get gilding in April.
Trump officials said Icart added gold accents to the Oval Office’s mantel, where the office’s iconic potted Swedish Ivy once sat. He also gilded its walls, the moldings that wrap around the office, and delivered golden cherubs that are now on display.
Trump said he thinks the office makeover will stand the test of time.
“They can’t imagine anyone changing it,” he said. “People come in. They really love it. They love what we’re doing here.”
