Donald Trump made a major change to the White House and people are furious
People are venting their fury at a major change Donald Trump has made to the White House.
During his first Presidency, Trump was reported to have complained that the White House is not to his taste - allegedly branding it "a real dump". So this time around he's decided to make some changes.
The first and most obvious change was the lashings of gold he applied to the Oval Office. He also added a pair of enormous mirrors to the walls of the most famous office in the world.
But he's long threatened to make more permanent changes to the 'People's House'. And the first step of that renovation has been unveiled.
He's paved over the world famous White House Rose Garden. The garden has remained more or less the same since 1961 when it was redesigned by Rachel Lambert Mellon during John F Kennedy's administration. Melania Trump made some tweaks to it in 2020, but nothing huge.
But this time round it's a different story. Trump has replaced the entire lawn with a long, grey patio of paving stones.
The corners of the patio are decorated with the Seal of the President. And someone thought it would be appropriate to make the drain holes in the shape of the American flag.
It's fair to say the change has not been warmly received.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping - where Rudy Giuliani held a deeply weird press conference by mistake the day Trump lost the 2020 election - is particularly unimpressed.
The Republicans Against Trump Twitter account was similarly fuming.
But Trump isn't going to stop there. New images have emerged of his plan to tack an enormous, gaudy ballroom onto the East Wing.
And it looks remarkably like the one in his Mar A Lago club in Florida.
Funny thing, Mar A Lago also has a patio, where Trump is very fond of holding court with guests and hangers on.
Trump for months has been promising to build a ballroom, saying the White House doesn't have space big enough for large events and scoffing at the notion of hosting heads of state and other guests in tents on the lawn as past administrations have done for state dinners attended by hundreds of guests.
The East Room, the largest room in the White House, can accommodate about 200 people.
Trump said he's been planning the construction for some time.
"They've wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years but there's never been a president that was good at ballrooms," Trump told reporters Thursday. "I'm good at building things and we're going to build quickly and on time. It'll be beautiful, top, top of the line."
He said the new ballroom would not interfere with the mansion itself.
"It'll be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of," he said of the White House. "It's my favorite. It's my favorite place. I love it."
Trump said the ballroom will serve administrations to come.
"It'll be a great legacy project," he said. "I think it will be really beautiful."
The 90,000-square-foot ballroom will be built where the East Wing sits with a seated capacity of 650 people. The East Wing houses several offices, including the first lady's. Those offices will be temporarily relocated during construction and that wing of the building will be modernized and renovated, said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
"Nothing will be torn down," she said.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said the president and his White House are "fully committed" to working with the appropriate organizations to preserve the mansion's "special history."
"President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail," Wiles said in a statement.
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Leavitt said at her briefing Thursday that Trump and other donors have committed to raising the approximately $200 million in construction costs. She did not name any of the other donors.
The president chose McCrery Architects, based in Washington, as lead architect on the project. The construction team will be led by Clark Construction. Engineering will be provided by AECOM.
Trump also has another project in mind. He told NBC News in an interview that he intends to replace what he said was a "terribly" remodelled bathroom in the famous Lincoln Bedroom with one that is closer in style to the 19th century.
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