(AFP) – Knocking down the East Wing of the White House apparently wasn’t enough for Donald Trump. The US president unveiled yet another makeover to the storied residence on Friday, showing off a marble-and-gold renovation of the Lincoln Bathroom. The old version, dating back some 80 years, had pale green tiles and strip lights, according to a picture posted by Trump on his Truth Social network.
But now, it has gold taps and mirrors, along with lavish white and gray marble walls, Trump revealed in more than two dozen photos in a string of posts. “I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!”
It comes just days after Trump sparked controversy by demolishing the entire East Wing of the White House in October to build a giant new $300 million ballroom. But the bathroom renovation is the first major work done on the executive mansion of the White House itself. The Lincoln Bathroom is near the Lincoln Bedroom, an ornate room on the second floor of the mansion where the US president lives.
The Lincoln Bedroom used to be the late president’s office and cabinet room and was renamed in 1945 when President Harry Truman ordered furnishings from the Lincoln era to be placed there, according to the White House Historical Association. Tesla and Space X tycoon Elon Musk said he slept in the Lincoln Bedroom on a number of occasions at Trump’s invitation when he was running Trump’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency.
Billionaire property developer Trump has enthusiastically embarked on a series of renovation and building projects since his return to power — which many critics have derided as tacky. He has covered the Oval Office with gold decor, paved over the grass of the Rose Garden with an outdoor patio, and put two huge flagpoles on the White House’s north and south lawns.
© 2024 AFP
