A top adviser to Donald Trump has exposed the president’s dramatic Trumpification of the Cabinet Room, including a glimpse of a mirror he plucked from a White House vault.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino Jr. posted a clip of the now-hardly-recognizable room. Over music from Star Wars, he proudly showed off the tacky 24-karat gold decals that now fill its walls, their matching curtains, presidential portraits in gold frames, and more.
Scavino’s video shows the Cabinet Room filled with gaudy golden moldings that look identical to a $58 “Ekena Millwork Onlay” available at Home Depot. The piece is marketed online as a decorative embellishment and is also plastered on the walls of the Oval Office.
The clip begins by showing that Trump, 79, added a pair of golden trophies to sit atop a wooden credenza at the front of the room. On each side of the cabinet are the flags of the Space Force and the office of the president.
As Scavino pans to the right, the extent of the president’s remodeling comes into focus, including the addition of flags from every U.S. military branch.
The video also captured decorative ceiling medallions that are, you guessed it, gold. Not even the door frames were spared, as Trump appears to have fitted them with gold piping, too.
Midway through Scavino’s video, a circular, golden mirror that Trump added to the room is shown mounted across from where the president usually sits. Trump bragged during a Cabinet meeting in October that he “just moved it up here, special from the vaults.”
The room’s busy walls—filled with presidential portraits and gold ornaments every couple of inches—are a stark change from past administrations.
Even Trump’s first term saw little change to the room. He only changed some of the presidential portraits on display—something all presidents, including former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, did before and after him. Now, however, Trump has stuffed so many portraits in the room that there is hardly any open wall space.
While less dramatic than Trump’s additions, the Cabinet Room got a facelift in 2006 to improve lighting and carpet to make it appear fresher on camera. The remodeling during George W. Bush’s second term was completed in coordination with the White House Historical Association and was quietly completed without widespread backlash.
Trump bulldozed the White House’s East Wing last summer without permission or warning, making room for his pet project, a massive White House ballroom that he hopes to have completed by the end of his term in 2029. In MAGA fashion, however, Trump’s drastic changes to the White House’s appearance—while spiking gas prices and plummeting his own approval rating—are still being cheered on by his sycophants.
Under Scavino’s post, the twice-failed congressional candidate Kari Lake wrote, “This is the greatest makeover in the history of America. The Trump House is amazing 🇺🇸.”
