Jack White slams Donald Trump’s ‘disgusting’ Oval Office redesign: ‘What an embarrassment’
The musician shared an image from the president’s meeting with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, comparing the harsh gold colour in the White House to a “professional wrestler’s dressing room”
By Larisha Paul
President Donald Trump has signed 191 executive orders from his desk in the Oval Office since taking office in January. His recent orders have focused on ramping up his efforts to embolden law enforcement across the country, as well as attempting to ban mail-in voting and allow law enforcement to displace and institutionalise unhoused people. Meanwhile, these critical and consequential decisions are being made in the ugliest room in the White House, according to musician Jack White.
“Look at how disgusting trump has transformed the historic White House,” White shared on Instagram, where he published an image of Trump’s recent meeting with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. Following a recent redesign, the Oval Office is now covered in harsh yellow-gold accents, like Halloween costume jewelry from a Party City clearance bin. “It’s now a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler’s dressing room. Can’t wait for the UFC match on the front lawn too.”
In the image, White tagged WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair in place of Trump. He also compared the president to Idiocracy, the 2006 film in which an anti-intellectualism movement leads to the functional collapse of the United States. “He’s almost fully achieved the movie,” White said. The only difference is that the president in Idiocracy was actively seeking out help from intelligent people.”
In July, Trump boasted about the new design. “I picked it all myself. I’m very proud of it,” he said, per USA Today. Barbara Res, who previously oversaw construction as the former vice president at Trump Organization, told the publication that Trump “used the word ‘class’ a lot, and it was a high-class thing for him. It conveyed an illusion of taste and wealth, and that’s why he wanted to gild everything.”
White describes Trump’s choices differently. “Look at his disgusting taste, would you even buy a used car from this conman, let alone give him the nuclear codes?” the musician asked. “A gold plated trump bible would look perfect up on that mantle with a pair of trump shoes on either side wouldn’t it? What an embarrassment to American history. Also pictured in this photograph, a REAL leader of a nation in a black suit.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded to White’s comments in a statement to The Daily Beast on Tuesday night. “Jack White is a washed up, has-been loser posting drivel on social media because he clearly has ample time on his hands due to his stalled career,” Cheung said. “It’s apparent he’s been masquerading as a real artist, because he fails to appreciate, and quite frankly disrespects, the splendor and significance of the Oval Office inside of ‘The People’s House.’”