When President Donald Trump isn’t busy signing executive orders, gutting the federal government, or instigating trade wars, he’s taking aim at another enemy: grass.
Trump reportedly plans to pave over the grass of the White House’s Rose Garden to mimic the hard, marbled surfaces of his Mar-a-Lago property.
But according to The New York Times, the roses will remain.
Talks of ripping up the Rose Garden’s grass aren’t just happening idly between Trump’s attacks on civil rights. According to anonymous insiders, discussions are happening almost daily.
This is one of many questionable interior design choices Trump has made since returning to the White House, where he also decided to frame and hang a New York Post cover featuring his mugshot.
He also redecorated the Oval Office walls, adding portraits of past presidents to almost every inch.
“The White House has not been given any tender, loving care in many decades, so President Trump is taking necessary steps in order to preserve and restore the greatness and glory of ‘The People’s House,’” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield told The New York Times.
Speaking of restoring greatness and glory, Trump has also brought back his Oval Office “Diet Coke button,” which prompts a staff member to bring him a soda.
Many presidents have added their own flavor to the grounds in the past, like Barack Obama’s basketball courtbut removing the grass from the Rose Garden would be a substantial change—not unlike Trump’s other behaviors.
Of course, Trump and his wife Melania drew ire for their treatment of the Rose Garden during his first term, too
The only first lady to rip up the garden in 60 years, Melania tore out the historical crab apple trees—some of which were planted by former first lady Jackie Kennedy—which typically filled the Rose Garden with pink blossoms in the springtime.
“Melania tearing out all the flowers and trees in the Rose Garden and leaving it a mere shell of what it once was is a metaphor for Trump’s entire presidency,” one user wrote on X.
If getting rid of everything beautiful was a metaphor for Trump’s first term, then killing off anything that remains surely represents his second.
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