Bill Clinton Says Donald Trump’s White House Makeover Looks Like 'Liberace’s Bathroom' During Florida Campaign Stop

Former Democratic presidents are taking a crack at roasting Donald Trump's gaudy White House makeover.

Days before President Barack Obama made headlines for saying President Trump has "the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Bill Clinton got in his own dig, saying that Trump had made the Rose Garden look like "the entrance to Liberace’s bathroom."

Clinton made the quip at a relatively small event on October 20 in Hollywood, Fla., where he was stumping for Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly. Jolly is in a tight race with Republican Byron Donalds as they campaign to replace term-limited governor Ron Desantis.

Clinton got his quip in as he was ripping Donalds, currently a congressman for Florida, for supporting Trump's gaudy renovation projects.

"To spend $900 million [on the White House Ballroom] and to try to justify building a model of the Arc de Triomphe that’s better than the original and saying I had to do this because I want to store drones in there?” Clinton asked rhetorically. "[Donalds] went along with all that. I think we ought to give David Jolly a chance.”

Trump paved over the Rose Garden in the summer of 2025, turning it into a patio replete with white stones and statues of former presidents. Critics noted that it resembles Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago home.

He also adorned the Oval Office with gold trimmings, tore down the East Wing in an effort to build a massive ballroom, put a helipad on the White House lawn, botched a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and added a presidential "walk of fame" with a joke at Joe Biden's expense.

As Clinton mentioned, he has been pitching the construction of a Triumphal Arch akin to the one in France, but his would be used as a military facility with drones and snipers.

Clinton's Florida stop comes as Donalds holds a small lead over Jolly per polls, while Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon faces an uphill climb against incumbent Ashley Moody. Florida has become a Republican stronghold in recent elections, but has grown into one of several red states that Democrats have felt bullish about heading into the 2026 midterms.

"You need somebody who will get up every morning and just bust a gut trying to do something that will help you. That’s what you need, and I think that someone is David Jolly,” Clinton told a group of 400 supporters.

Clinton also joked about how Donalds seemingly deemphasized his ties to the unpopular president in the weeks leading up to the election.

“I laughed the other day when he took references to President Trump off his campaign website. He even took down a section that listed ‘enact the Trump agenda’ as a priority of his. Go figure,” Clinton expressed. “Now I understand the need to periodically update your website, but people in Florida are entitled to know, I think, whether you change your mind or just change the words, hoping nobody will notice.”