Politics'This Place Was Not Properly Taken Care Of': Donald Trump Goes Off on Gross White House
Donald Trump called his landmark D.C. home a 's---house' before his 'tacky' renovations took over and transformed the place.
May 12 2026, Published 2:21 p.m. ET
During a speech honoring law enforcement on Monday, May 11, President Donald Trump remarked that the White House was a "s--- house" before his second-term renovations.
Speaking from the Rose Garden, dramatically transformed into a stone-paved patio that critics have widely lambasted, Trump claimed the building was in disrepair when he returned to office in January, specifically citing crumbling columns and peeling plaster.
He joked that, while his wife, Melania, had advised him to "act presidential" and avoid foul language, he felt the term was the only way to accurately describe the building's previous condition.
Donald Trump dissed the White House during his speech.
“I was told by my wife, you have to act presidential, so don’t use foul language. I won’t. Therefore, normally I would have said it was a s--- house, but I don’t want to say that,” he admitted, adding that the columns were falling down and the plaster was falling off.
“I paid for it myself, all of the stone, all of the different things we have, and we’re bringing the White House back to shape,” Donald said.
Renovations are being funded through a mix of private donations, personal funds, and taxpayer money, depending on the specific project.
Donald Trump brought up the ballroom.
Donald also focused on his obsession — the ballroom.
While the $400 million ballroom construction is allegedly privately funded, Republican senators have proposed a bill for $1 billion in taxpayer funds to cover security infrastructure and upgrades related to the project.
Additionally, some underground security work connected to the site is already being funded by the government.
“We’re building a ballroom in the back, which will be, I think, the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world,” he said.
“It’s going to be a very safe ballroom,” the president noted, adding that it would have 6-inch glass that you could “look through it and you can see as perfectly as though it weren’t there.”
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The president said the White House was 'not properly taken care of.'
Donald alleged the White House and the executive mansion "was not properly taken care of" and, without any sense of irony, looked "a little tacky" before his updates.
He contrasted the past state with the current "tippy top" condition, highlighting new stonework he claimed to have paid for himself.
This is not the first time Donald has reportedly disparaged the executive mansion; in 2017, he was famously reported by Golf Magazine to have called the White House a "real dump.”
Critics, design experts and some media personalities have labeled the president's White House redesigns — specifically the Oval Office — as "tacky" and "gaudy" due to an extensive, "maximalist" use of gold-leaf decoration and "spray-painted, plastic" additions.
The decor is frequently mocked.
This aesthetic, characterized by critics as a "bargain-bin palace" look, has been described as a "gilded monument" that reflects a personal brand over traditional presidential dignity.
The Oval Office has been described as featuring "gold everywhere," including gold-covered cherubs, gold drink coasters and gold paint on the fireplace and ceiling.
Queen Camilla reacted with a "wow, this is the Oval Office" upon seeing the redesign, which anglophiles and Brits translated as British polite understatement and also mocked the decor as "gaudy" and "disgusting.”
