Conan O’Brien couldn’t help but mock Donald Trump’s tacky obsession with gold.
On Tuesday’s episode of Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, the veteran TV host threw shade at the president’s gold-themed renovation of the White House.
Throughout his time in office, Trump, 80, has insisted on covering the official presidential homes in various forms of gold. This includes a gilded redesign of the Oval Office with 20 gold-framed portraits; 24-karat gold detailing in the Cabinet Room and the Entrance Hall; and gold accents in the Lincoln Bathroom. In the Oval Office, Trump even installed some of the gold additions himself with the help of super glue.
Suffice to say, the president’s obsession with gold is no secret.
O’Brien, 63, jokingly pointed out that his own house is “painted gold and all gold rugs.”
“It’s very Trumpy, but for different reasons,” mocked the Emmy-winning host. “Trump came by, and he was like, ‘This is pretty good,’” he added, mocking Trump’s voice.
“He drops in all the time,” O’Brien joked.
O’Brien is a staunch critic of the president. In his 2026 commencement address at Harvard University, his alma mater, O’Brien torched Trump and his lawsuit against the institution.
He has routinely spoken out against Trump and his administration, criticizing the president’s crusade against late-night hosts and free speech; mocking the failed rebranding of the Kennedy Center; and joking about the president’s alleged friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His latest dig was tame in comparison. But it illustrates Trump’s bizarre fixation on gold, which has shown up in the decor of his Mar-a-Lago golf club and his penthouse at Trump Tower in New York City. As president, Trump has personally decreed that gold structures be built across the country, including a giant statue of himself in Miami.
White House correspondents Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan unpacked the president’s unwavering aesthetic choices in their book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, one that has perplexed his own staff.
According to the writers, “When Trump asked White House residence staff what they thought of the glittering display, most responses were muted, but his devout aide Natalie Harp would gush with delight.”
