President Donald Trump is continuing his campaign to spruce up the White House, making a series of “security enhancements” to the entrance of the North Portico in addition to restoring its columns.
A White House official told The Independent the maintenance underway consists of “standard renovation work” and stone repair to the building’s famous Ionic columns and that “security enhancements and upgrades” would be made to the entrance doors.
They added that the project is scheduled for completion by mid-September but declined to delve into specifics or give an estimate for the overall cost of the president’s latest undertaking.
Trump first trailed his latest makeover on Truth Social Saturday, posting two pictures of work underway on the executive mansion’s exterior and writing: “This is the horrible front of the White House, and it’s been like that for years. The condition is deplorable, just like our Country was when I inherited it from Sleepy Joe Biden.
“The Radical Left Dumocrats criticize me for spending so much time bringing our White House back to the Glory of 100 years ago – Actually, it will be far better than that, and they will not shame us for bringing our Great and Brilliant Monuments to the past and the future back to levels never seen before.
“This is what we are doing all over Washington, D.C., and, in different ways, with our Country, itself!... In a short period of time, it will be a Symbol of Extraordinary Beauty and Pride!”
Scaffolding was already being erected around the residence’s columns last week before the president posted his announcement, with huge tarps hung over the framework to conceal it from public view.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also discussed the matter on his recent appearance on The Katie Miller Podcast, hosted by the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller.
“President Trump comes out to greet a world leader, he sees door dings in the pillars and says, ‘Look at all this stuff that needs to be repaired,’” Burgum told Miller. “It’s all historic renovation work.”
The secretary praised Trump’s “attention to detail” and said that National Park employees were “so pumped” to be involved in making the renovations at his request.
The president’s “beautification” agenda shows no sign of letting up – a proposal was also submitted Friday for erecting permanent fencing in Lafayette Square, across the street from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
That followed Trump proudly showing off new signage and decorative maple trees outside of the West Wing last week, only the latest modifications to a White House that has undergone much change since his return to power.
Trump began by redesigning the Oval Office with as much gold as possible, then had the Rose Garden paved over into a patio reminiscent of the open-air dining area at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and demolished the first lady’s offices to make way for his controversial ballroom.
He has also added partisan plaques to the colonnade and flagpoles to the lawns and had the Lincoln Bedroom’s adjoining bathroom redecorated.
Another ongoing project is the construction of a new helipad on the South Lawn to accommodate Marine One.
The president has further turned his attention towards improving other national monuments around Washington in the country’s 250th anniversary year, with the recent clean-up of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool proving a particularly troubled business.
He has suffered plenty of setbacks, however, His ballroom has been the subject of several legal challenges, his proposed triumphal arch near Arlington Cemetery has been opposed by House Democrats and his name stripped from the Kennedy Center last month by court order.
Trump also appears to have abandoned his plan to place a bald eagle emblem to a prominent portico balcony after social media commentators quickly pointed out its eerie echo of Nazi iconography.
