Donald Trump was given free rein to ramble about his White House renovations in a softball interview with his daughter-in-law about “beautiful brass” and granite.
The 79-year-old president presented his new additions as a major accomplishment of his presidency, even as his approval rating has continued its downward plunge and many of his biggest renovation projects face legal challenges in court.
“This stone can last a million years,” he boasted of the new granite path leading to the “Presidential Walk of Fame” outside the Oval Office.
“We’ve got to acknowledge everyone’s favorite one,” Fox News host Lara Trump said of the presidential portraits hanging before them, apparently giving Trump his cue to praise himself.
Instead, he immediately gestured to one of his predecessors, saying, “Well you have Barack Hussein Obama.”
“We have all the presidents down to myself,” Trump said, before pivoting to a plaque detailing the history of the Rose Garden.
“This is a plaque,” he said. “This is a history of it, I did this,” he said, leaving out that he’d also had the Rose Garden paved over.
Trump went on to brag that his plaque was an improvement over the typical ones made with wood and brass, because “in about two years you’d see the brass falling on the floor.”
“This is all solid, beautiful solid brass,” he said.
Returning to the wall of presidential portraits—which Trump crafted to suit his narrative of history, framing an autopen in place of former President Joe Biden, and describing former President Barack Obama as “one of the most divisive political figures in American history,“— Trump showed off his newly laid flooring.
“This granite was just put [down]. The floor was badly broken, it was slate. Slate’s not a good flooring material to start off with,” he said.
The president has wasted no time in the past 18 months, moving swiftly to gild the White House in his image. As well as the Walk of Fame, the paved Rose Garden, and the new granite path, there have been numerous golden accents added to the Oval Office.
New portraits, including one of Trump post-assassination-attempt, have been hung. The Lincoln bathroom was completely redone in marble.
On the grounds, two huge new flagpoles have been erected, and, of course, the entire East Wing has been demolished to make way for a giant ballroom.
The cost of these projects are not easy to pin down. In August 2025, Fox News reported that Trump himself had paid for the Oval Office’s augmentations.
The Rose Garden makeover cost $1.9 million and was funded by private donations to the Trust for the National Mall.
The biggest renovation, the ballroom, which is currently embroiled in a legal battle, had an estimated price tag of $400 million, which the president said would be funded through donations.
But following another assassination attempt at the White House Correspondent Association’s annual dinner, the cost of the ballroom ballooned, with a $1 billion dollar ask tacked onto a congressional spending bill.
The $1 billion in public funds would go towards security improvements, a six-story-deep bunker complex under the ballroom, and a drone facility.
Asked about the total cost of renovations already carried out, the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
