Trump’s Newest Bonkers White House Renovation Idea Revealed
The president has found a new way to disfigure the People’s House.
Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS
President Donald Trump is reportedly planning yet another construction job at the White House.
Trump has already demolished the entire East Wing to make way for his supersized vanity ballroom, as well as paving over the historic Rose Garden.
The 79-year-old has also created his own Presidential Hall of Fame outside the West Wing, covered the walls of the Oval Office in gold, and erected towering flagpoles at the front and rear of the building.
Now, Trump is investigating the installation of a helipad at the White House to prevent the South Lawn grass being scorched by powerful new Marine Corps helicopters, according to The Wall Street Journal.

President Donald Trump isn't satisfied landing on the White House lawn in the $20M VH-3D Sea Kings
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
Citing sources close to the plans, the Journal said Trump has already discussed the design of the helipad with his associates. Other sources told The Washington Post the permanent helipad on the South Lawn could be installed as soon as this summer.
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The South Lawn has long been used to land helicopters at the White House. But the Journal’s sources note that the new VH-92A Patriot is more powerful than the VH-3D Sea King it is replacing, which has been in use for decades.
The new, more powerful generation of helicopters have been known to burn grass so they are not allowed to touch down on the South Lawn, while the VH-3D lands on small boards which are placed underneath its wheels.

The president can transfer into a Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin VH-92 Patriot on a tarmac strip such as at Joint Base Andrews. Here Trump is landing at a MAGA Inc. fundraiser dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Last year, Bloomberg reported the problem had first been identified in 2018 when the VH-92 Patriot’s spinning rotors and engine exhaust burned the White House lawn.

Test flights to the White House in 2018 revealed the problems but it was too late to halt the $5B investment.
Sgt. Hunter Helis/WikiCommons
The VH-92 Patriot is the base presidential variant of the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, while the VH-92A is the highly militarized, fully upgraded model designed for the U.S. Marine Corps fleet to serve as Marine One.
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The upgraded model has been earmarked to be the full-time presidential helicopter for over a decade, according to the Post. It has yet to be used to fly a president to or from the South Lawn, but has been used to fly Trump elsewhere.
The VH-92A cost around $215 million each, according to a 2019 report by the independent Government Accountability Office. The Marine Corps ordered 23 for the presidential fleet at a cost of around $5 billion.

The White House Rose Garden pre-Trump.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The White House Rose Garden post-Trump.
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
The Marine Corps told the Post that the VH-92A “continues to support administrative lifts of the President outside the National Capital Region.”
It said its Marine One squadron is “appropriately resourced to fly all required missions.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Marine One for comment.
“President Trump has continued to make improvements at the White House and all around D.C. to benefit future presidents and Americans,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement to the Daily Beast.

Trump looks on as a U.S. flag is raised on a newly installed flagpole on the South Lawn of the White House.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
A retired colonel who flew on Marine One missions said installing a permanent helipad would ruin the White House, telling the Post it would be “stupid from an aesthetic standpoint.”

At the moment, the presidential helicopter lands on small boards, rather than a permanent structure.
KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images
Ray L’Heureux, who retired in 2011, said the South Lawn is “historic” and the “back yard of the White House.” He suggested a temporary landing pad could be used.
Trump previously claimed he paved over the historic Rose Garden lawn to make life easier for guests wearing high heels.
“What was happening is, that’s supposed to have events. Every event you have, it’s soaking wet,” Trump said last August, adding “It’s soaking wet... and the women with the high heels, it’s just too much.”
Trump has been obsessed with showing off mockups of the ballroom.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The president, who last week said the White House “was a s--t house” before he returned, has also repeatedly gushed over his ballroom, which is now set to cost over $400 million.
Trump bulldozed the entire East Wing of the White House to make room for the ballroom, which will have bulletproof glass.
“We’re building a ballroom in the back, which will be, I think, the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world,” Trump said last week.
“You’ll never see anything like it. And it’ll also be very safe, it’s got glass this thick,” he added. “It’s at the highest level of safety.”
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