Trump's Drapes

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I see from various new sources that things happened rapidly after the inauguration. Not only did Trump rapidly sign some items before the inauguration party, but people saw to it that the website whitehouse.gov got a makeover, the presidential Tweet network got switched over, and the décor of the Oval Office got changed.

According to my newspaper, they replaced a bust of Winston Churchill (I had no idea one had been there, or that it had been removed), replaced a rug covered with “inspirational sayings”, and changed the drapes from red to gold.

I thought – gold – of course, like all that stuff at Trump Tower, and Trump’s bathroom fittings. Of course he’d want gold.

Then I realized that we’ve just inaugurated Auric Goldfinger.

2

It’s only in Britain that the presence or otherwise of the Churchill bust in the Oval Office is an actual issue. Somehow this has become the key symbol of the state of the ‘Special Relationship’, which, of course, is itself an issue only people in Britain worry about.

However it is now traditional that any British news coverage about the bust includes some choice comments from Churchill’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames, a voluble Conservative MP, about how completely irrelevant this is. This now also has the advantage for Soames that, as a very vocal Remain supporter, it allows him to continue a public feud against Boris Johnson. This is one of those things for which you have to be British for it to make any sort of sense.

3

As we speak, they are installing the TRUMP sign on the White house…

4

There’s a ‘Special Relationship’? Never heard of this or realized it was an ‘issue’ before. Explain?

5

FYI, there’s a Wikipedia article on the “special relationship” in case you want to know more.

6

George W Bush’s oval office

Bill Clinton’s oval office - or another pic of Bill Clinton’s oval office

Nixon/Ford’s oval office

7

I have to say this seems to illustrate the whole liberal/conservative bubble thing. As I recall, the American conservative press was up in arms when Obama took the Churchill bust out of the Oval Office, and what that meant for the US/UK “special relationship”.

8

All three had gold drapes. Just like Trump.

Obama’s red drapes are the outlier. Red and burgendy are my favorite colors. I might have kept the drapes.

9

BTW when I saw this thread I assumed it would be about whether they match the carpet or not.

10

Those are more of that obnoxious 1970s “Harvest Gold” which was unfortunately in style at the time.

11

And those are the actual curtains he’s using. The rug is from Ronald Reagan.

12

From Flickr, a larger collection of pictures of the Oval Office (or replicas of it in presidential museums). Truman, interestingly, had grey drapes!