{"id":110896,"date":"2025-08-28T10:46:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T05:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=110896"},"modified":"2025-08-28T10:46:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T05:46:27","slug":"from-gold-plated-dreams-to-200m-ballroom-trump-builds-his-presidential-stamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/110896\/","title":{"rendered":"From gold-plated dreams to $200m ballroom, Trump builds his presidential stamp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>WASHINGTON(National times)-  From a gold-plated White House to a grandiose revamp for the capital, Washington, Donald Trump is trying to leave an architectural mark like no American president has attempted for decades. &#8220;I\u2019m good at building things,&#8221; the former property magnate said earlier this month as he announced perhaps the biggest project of all, a huge new $200-million ballroom at the US executive mansion. Trump made his fortune developing glitzy hotels and casinos branded with his name. Critics say the makeover Trump has given the White House in his second presidency is of a similar style. Parts of it now resemble his brash Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, particularly the newly paved-over Rose Garden with its picnic tables and yellow and white umbrellas. During Trump\u2019s first term, the British style writer Peter York dubbed his style \u2018dictator chic,\u2019 comparing it to that of foreign autocrats. But Trump has also recently unveiled a grand vision for the entire US capital. And he has explicitly tied his desire to \u2018beautify\u2019 Washington to his recent crackdown on crime, which has seen him deploy troops in the Democratic-run city, where just two months ago he held a military parade on his birthday. &#8220;This is a ratcheting up of the performance of power,&#8221; Peter Loge, director of George Washington University\u2019s School of Media, told\u00a0<em>AFP<\/em>. &#8220;That\u2019s what he does. Puts his name on bibles and casinos, so the logic makes complete sense. Except now he\u2019s playing with lives, the reputation of the United States and a democratic legacy.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Oval bling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump is far from the first president to carry out major renovations at the White House in its 225-year history. Franklin Roosevelt oversaw the construction of the current Oval Office in 1934, Harry Truman led a major overhaul that ended in 1951, and John F Kennedy created the modern Rose Garden in 1961. The White House Historical Association put Trump\u2019s changes in context, saying the building was a &#8220;living symbol of American democracy, evolving while enduring as a national landmark.&#8221; Its president, Stewart McLaurin, said in an essay in June that renovations throughout history had drawn criticism from the media and Congress over &#8220;costs, historical integrity and timing.&#8221; &#8220;Yet many of these alterations have become integral to the identity of the White House, and it is difficult for us to imagine the White House today without these evolutions and additions,&#8221; he wrote. Trump\u2019s changes are nevertheless the furthest-reaching for nearly a century. Soon after his return, he began blinging up the Oval Office walls with gold trim and trinkets that visiting foreign leaders have been careful to praise. Then he ordered the famed grass of the Rose Garden to be turned into a patio. Trump said he did so because women\u2019s high-heeled shoes were sinking into the turf. After it was finished, Trump installed a sound system, and\u00a0<em>AFP<\/em>\u00a0reporters could regularly hear music from his personal playlist blaring from the patio. Trump has also installed two huge US flags on the White House lawns, and a giant mirror on the West Wing colonnade in which the former reality TV star can see himself as he leaves the Oval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Big beautiful face\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Billionaire Trump says he is personally funding those improvements. But his bigger plans will need outside help. The White House said the new ballroom planned for the East Wing by the end of his term in January 2029 will be funded by Trump and other patriot donors.&#8221; Trump, meanwhile, says he expects Congress to agree to foot the $2 billion bill for his grand plan to spruce up Washington. On a trip to oil-rich Saudi Arabia in May, Trump admired the &#8220;gleaming marvels&#8221; of the skyline \u2014 and he appears intent on creating his own gleaming capital. That ranges from a marble-plated makeover at the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts to getting rid of graffiti and \u2014 ever the construction boss \u2014 fixing broken road barriers and laying new asphalt. But Trump\u2019s Washington plans also involve a crackdown by the National Guard that he has threatened to extend to other cities like Chicago. He has repeatedly said of the troop presence that Americans would &#8220;maybe like a dictator&#8221; \u2014 even as he rejects his opponents\u2019 claims that he\u2019s acting like one. Trump\u2019s own face even looms above Washington streets from huge posters on the Labour and Agriculture departments. &#8220;Mr President, I invite you to see your big beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labour,&#8221; Secretary of Labour Lori Chavez-DeRemer said Tuesday at a cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON(National times)- From a gold-plated White House to a grandiose revamp for the capital, Washington, Donald Trump is trying to leave an architectural mark like no American president has attempted for decades. &#8220;I\u2019m good at building things,&#8221; the former property magnate said earlier this month as he announced perhaps the biggest project of all, a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From gold-plated dreams to $200m ballroom, Trump builds his presidential stamp - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2025\/110896\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From gold-plated dreams to $200m ballroom, Trump builds his presidential stamp - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON(National times)- From a gold-plated White House to a grandiose revamp for the capital, Washington, Donald Trump is trying to leave an architectural mark like no American president has attempted for decades. &#8220;I\u2019m good at building things,&#8221; 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