Destroying the White House
Published: June 5, 2026 •
4 min read
If you are a history buff like me, you cringe when you think about what Trump is doing to the White House. With everything going on today in Trump's world it is hard to cover each catastrophe that happens with the attention it deserves, before we have to move on to the next one. The story of the White House and what it is now suffering is the prime example of one of those things.
In an effort to at least document these tragedies so we can return to them later, here's a chronological overview of changes Trump has made to the grand old house, ending with the UFC/wrestling-style cage arena currently being built on the South Lawn.
If you look through the list of changes Trump has made to the White House, you can see he starts small, testing what he can get away with, growing in size and boldness with each new change.You will notice that the first few changes are typical changes you would expect a president to make, but quickly grow into wiping away history and trying new things.
January 2025—Oval Office Redesign- Added numerous gold-colored decorative elements.
- Expanded the number of presidential portraits and ornate frames.
- Added gold urns, mantel decorations, and other embellishments.
- Gold wall accents.
- Gold curtains and decorative trim.
- Additional gilded features throughout the room.
- Removal of the historic Jackson Magnolia tree near the White House entrance, which dated to the Andrew Jackson era (Test #1).
- Installation of large freestanding flagpoles on the North and South Lawns. Reports described them as roughly 88–100 feet tall (Test #2).
- An estimated half of the Rose Garden is paved over to make a patio. The Rose Garden's origins trace to 1902 (124 years old), when Edith Roosevelt, wife of Theodore Roosevelt, established the formal garden.
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis commissioned renowned landscape architect Rachel Lambert Mellon to redesign the garden in 1961, making it the Rose Garden it was before being paved over—a piece of history lost (Test #3).
I feel that after paving over half of the Rose Garden, Trump felt confident enough to continue with his larger plans but, just in case, made some smaller tests with the Palm Room and Lincoln Bedroom before taking the wrecking ball to the East Wing.
- The Palm Room and connecting areas received decorative updates and redesigns.
- Renovations and upgrades to the bathroom associated with the Lincoln Bedroom.
- The East Wing was created in 1902 (124 years old) by Theodore Roosevelt but the East Wing most Americans knew was created during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. It provided additional office space, created a formal eastern entrance to the White House, and concealed construction of an underground emergency bunker that was built during World War II—which later evolved into the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC).
- It housed the First Lady's offices, social secretary, and correspondence offices, visitor entrance and security screening areas, and access to the White House theater and other support facilities.
- A reasonable estimate of its size was about 12,000 square feet of above-ground floor area—lost to history forever.
- Construction of a large temporary UFC arena and octagon-style cage on the South Lawn to host a UFC event celebrating the 250th anniversary of American independence ("Freedom 250").
- Seating for thousands of spectators.
- Large scaffolding, screens, lighting, and event infrastructure.
I cannot put into words how upset I am that one man was allowed to do so much damage to THE most historically important residence in the United States. There is nothing I can say that can express the frustration I and many, many Americans feel of having to just sit and watch it happen. I keep waiting for someone to do something to stop Trump from going further, but, unbelievably, there are actually more important things to stop him from doing.
And now the White House lawn is turning into a circus. What has happened to our country?
