President Donald Trump appears to have a toy Marine One on his desk in the Oval Office.
The 79-year-old president was snapped showing off his replica model of the White House to conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly during his visit to the White House on Wednesday.
The dollhouse-sized set seems to come with all the trimmings, including a miniature version of the helicopter used to ferry him around.
“It was magnificent,” Reilly recounted about the visit on his online No Spin News show. “I’ve never seen the White House in better shape.”
Speaking about the ongoing construction at the White House, O’Reilly said it’s hardly noticeable.
In images O’Reilly shared of his trip, Trump can be seen holding up design miniatures showing various iterations of what the “new” White House will look like once his new $300 million ballroom is constructed.
“I’ve been going to the white house for 25 years,” the 76-year-old TV personality continued. “He’s made it into a symbol of grandeur.”
Trump’s second term has been characterized by the president attempting to put his design stamp on the People’s House. This has included paving over the Rose Garden, gilding the Oval Office and adding gaudy new signs to label the various rooms of the complex.
The former Fox News host said that the 79-year-old president spoke to him about various issues during his 40-minute visit, including a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire and the controversial pardoning of disgraced former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández.
The desk that Trump displayed his toy helicopter on is the 145-year-old Resolute Desk, a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. It was temporarily removed from the White House in February to be “lightly refinished” not long after Elon Musk’s son, X Æ A-Xii, was seen wiping his nose on it.
It’s not the first time that Trump has been seen with miniatures to help him convey things to those around him.
In October, Trump showcased a massive triumphal arch that he intends to build in the nation’s capital in front of Arlington National Cemetery, using a scale model of the arch on a map of D.C.
The cost of the arch is thought to be roughly $100 million and is planned as a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, with miniature models reportedly helping the president make his design choices.
“There’s a small arch. A middle arch. A large arch,” one source close to the project said. “And he likes the large one, of course, as long as it’s big and gold and white.”
