President Donald Trump has revealed another tacky addition to the White House, which appears to be AI-generated—for now.
Trump, 80, has spent his second term as president bulldozing the East Wing to build a vanity ballroom while adding golden touches to the White House’s interior and exterior.
On Monday just before 8:30 p.m., Trump posted a seemingly AI-generated image of a golden eagle attached to the Truman Balcony of the White House.
“A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, seemingly confusing America’s 250th celebration marking the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, with the White House, which was built in 1792.
It is unclear who the gift is from. The White House dutifully shared Trump’s post on Monday evening.
In addition to the factual error in the caption, the shield in Trump’s golden eagle image has only 11 stars. There should be 13, to reflect the original number of colonies at the time of America’s founding.
CNN also reported that the president’s image has content credentials in its metadata that indicate it was created with Google AI.
Freelance photographer Andrew Leyden shared an image of the White House taken at 9.30 p.m Monday, an hour after Trump’s post. No golden eagle was visible on the Truman Balcony.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Social media reaction to Trump’s golden eagle was swift and brutal. One person noted on X, “Does he try to make things as ugly as possible? Or is it just bad taste?”
One X user said, “We can’t afford groceries or housing, but don’t worry, the White House will have a giant new gold eagle out front.” Another called the image “authoritarian cosplay,” while one user said Trump had created a “Temu presidency,” referring to the budget website.
Another highlighted the missing stars, stating, “Setting aside how f---ing tacky this s--- looks, why 11 stars?!?,” while another said, “Just paint the entire thing gold already what is taking so long?”
Trump’s desire to overhaul the White House with his beloved golden aesthetic has increasingly led him to adopt a DIY approach.
In their book Regime Change, authors Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan report that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saw the president putting up gold adornments himself. With a bottle of super glue in his hand, he was adding new decorative items to the fireplace mantel.
As well as Trump-ifying the Oval Office with gold photo frames, trinkets, and wall decals, the president has added gold signage to the exterior of the building to point to the Oval Office and the Rose Garden.
Regime Change also details Trump using a laser pointer to highlight golden molding in a White House ceiling. “Look here at the top,” Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson. “There’s $2 million worth of gold here, but I want more.”
However, Trump’s love of gold backfired with the release of the controversial president’s $500 mobile phone.
Patrick Holland, the managing editor of tech site CNET, reviewed the delayed phone for CNN, saying that in a certain light the phone had a “mustard vibe,” rather than gold, and that at other times “it kind of looks like a urine sample.”
