{"id":2426824,"date":"2025-04-24T08:58:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T12:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-media-have-a-new-conspiracy-theory-about-trumps-decor\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T09:02:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T13:02:17","slug":"the-media-have-a-new-conspiracy-theory-about-trumps-decor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-media-have-a-new-conspiracy-theory-about-trumps-decor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Media Have A New Conspiracy Theory About Trump&#8217;s Decor"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-media-have-a-new-conspiracy-theory-about-trumps-decor%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2426824&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the tendency of critics to draw exaggerated parallels between Donald Trump and ancient figures, like Adolf Hitler and Louis XIV, based on trivial comparisons. It highlights a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-transparency-even-the-leftist-media-is-slamming-the-biden-administration-for-border-blackout\/\" title=\"What Transparency? Even The Leftist Media Is Slamming The ... For \u2018Border Blackout\u2019\">recent opinion piece<\/a> by Carolina Miranda, where she connects trump&#8217;s luxurious decor in the Oval Office with Louis XIV&#8217;s absolutist rule, suggesting that such aesthetic choices reflect an authoritarian mindset. The author critiques this interpretation, noting that Trump&#8217;s taste for ostentatious decor isn&#8217;t novel or uniquely sinister, as many <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">successful businessmen possess similar preferences<\/a>. Moreover, the article contrasts the critical reception of Trump&#8217;s decor with a more favorable portrayal of Joe Biden&#8217;s decor choices, arguing that decor style shouldn&#8217;t be conflated with political values. Ultimately, the author posits that Trump&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-the-oval-offices-look-changed-from-biden-to-trump-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"How the ...\u2019s look changed from Biden to Trump - ... Examiner\">maximalist style<\/a>, although gaudy, embodies a distinctly American approach to design, which is bold and unapologetic.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Trump critics often engage in what Federalist contributor Inez Stepman calls the &ldquo;Hitler also ate breakfast&rdquo; fallacy: pointing out some tertiary or non-evil habit of Adolf Hitler&rsquo;s like <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/InezFeltscher\/status\/1891853929496899911\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">driving in a car<\/a> or having an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2025\/04\/nazi-germany-tariffs-trade\/682521\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">affinity<\/a> for tariffs, and drawing a comparison to Trump, as if any mundane activity in which Hitler ever engaged is necessarily and permanently fascist-coded. In a 1,700-word <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/interactive\/2025\/trump-oval-office-baroque-rococo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">thinkpiece<\/a> published Wednesday, Washington Post opinion columnist Carolina Miranda used that blueprint to draw parallels between President Donald Trump and a new historical villain &mdash; the famously absolutist King Louis XIV of France &mdash; based on similarities in their interior decorating taste.<\/p>\n<p>If you look at the maximalist gold accents with which Trump has appointed the Oval Office, &ldquo;the sparkle conveys something more insidious about how Trump views himself,&rdquo; Miranda writes. &ldquo;Behold the new Sun King, a wannabe emperor who views his powers as absolute.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2025\/04\/localimages\/giphy.gif&amp;ct=s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sure, Jan<\/a>. <\/em>Trump&rsquo;s affinity for flashy, theatrical decor is only breaking news if you&rsquo;ve been living under a rock since the last century. And he&rsquo;s hardly the first successful American businessman to develop a taste for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elledecor.com\/design-decorate\/trends\/g45311998\/america-best-historic-homes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">extravagant digs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Miranda argues that Trump&rsquo;s penchant for Rococo design reflects &ldquo;an aesthetic that connotes absolute rule&rdquo; and says &ldquo;Trump&rsquo;s gilded gewgaws&rdquo; are &ldquo;intimately connected&rdquo; with &ldquo;our growing authoritarian state.&rdquo; Personally, I thought it was pretty authoritarian for the Biden administration to censor Americans&rsquo; speech online, round up pro-lifers in armed raids, and brand parents with the language of &ldquo;domestic terrorism&rdquo; for raising concerns at school board meetings. But Biden&rsquo;s taste is more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.townandcountrymag.com\/leisure\/real-estate\/a33809100\/joe-biden-real-estate-homes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New England elitist<\/a> than Palm Beach, so I guess that makes it OK?<\/p>\n<p>Miranda even compares Trump&rsquo;s deportation of illegally present aliens and suspected gang members to Louis XIV throwing Frenchmen into the Bastille. Because the expulsion of foreign lawbreakers, not the Biden administration&rsquo;s actual attempt to imprison its political opposition, is obviously the most analogous example to draw from here!<\/p>\n<p>She&rsquo;s not the first columnist to try to turn Trump&rsquo;s decorating style into something sinister. Last week, the Guardian&rsquo;s technology reporter Julia Carrie Wong <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2025\/apr\/17\/trump-bukele-el-salvador-meeting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared<\/a> gold to be &ldquo;a perfect emblem for Trump&rdquo; because the &ldquo;violence and displacement, suffering and grief that have accompanied the quest for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-gives-secretary-of-the-interior-nominee-doug-burgum-a-simple-directive-drill-baby-drill\/\" title=\"Trump Gives Secretary of the Interior Nominee Doug Burgum a Simple Directive: \u2018Drill Baby Drill\u2019\">gold&#038;rdquo<\/a>; make its legacy &ldquo;garish, useless, drenched in blood.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s a lot to read into a mantel and a few knick-knacks.<\/p>\n<p>CNN <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/03\/16\/politics\/oval-office-gold-decor-trump\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">found<\/a> an unnamed &ldquo;former White House official&rdquo; to describe Trump&rsquo;s decor as &ldquo;weirdly un-presidential&rdquo; and &ldquo;king-like.&rdquo; New York Magazine <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/trump-oval-office-decor-tour-stupidest-moments.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a> it &ldquo;the Emperor&rsquo;s New Oval Office.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Washington Post critic Robin Givhan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2025\/03\/25\/five-pictures-gilding-oval-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> last month that the maximalist decor &ldquo;evokes insecurity and petulance&rdquo; and fretted that &ldquo;the Oval Office has begun to look like the king&rsquo;s lair.&rdquo; Of special objection to her was Trump&rsquo;s decision to hang a framed copy of his mug shot, which she said &ldquo;gives Trump the look of a malevolent king,&rdquo; in an adjacent hallway.<\/p>\n<p>See if you can spot any changes in tone since The New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/05\/05\/arts\/design\/oval-office-art.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">covered<\/a> Biden&rsquo;s decor-maxxing this way in 2021:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In terms of sheer volume, he [Biden] has included more sculptures and paintings than other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-founding-fathers-6-prophetic-warnings-that-are-coming-true\/\" title=\"The Founding Fathers: 6 Prophetic Warnings That Are Coming True\">recent presidents<\/a>, in part, experts say, because he is trying to signal his support for an array of causes: labor, science, the importance of compromise and more.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino posted a 360-degree video of the room so you can see for yourself the office decor that is supposedly a dog-whistle for monarchy:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BEHIND THE SCENES! President Trump added additional portraits to the Oval Office here at The People&rsquo;s House. Here&rsquo;s the latest as of this morning, enjoy&#127482;&#127480;&#129413; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/m5KPkQ40FZ\">pic.twitter.com\/m5KPkQ40FZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Scavino47\/status\/1899161437102088449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Are some of the choices over the top? Sure. Are they better than Biden&rsquo;s bust of radical <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/01\/21\/why-does-biden-have-a-bust-of-an-anti-immigration-radical-in-the-oval-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cesar Chavez<\/a> or these horrible <a href=\"https:\/\/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov\/photos-and-video\/photo\/2012\/07\/president-obama-meets-vice-president-biden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Obama-era velour couches with matching Ikea-meets-patio-pavers coffee table<\/a>? Undoubtedly.<\/p>\n<p>Varieties in personal taste aside, it&rsquo;s exciting to see the Oval Office decked out with the likenesses of so many great Americans. Trump has returned the famous painting of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale that sat above the mantel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2021\/05\/05\/arts\/design\/oval-office-art.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">from<\/a> the Nixon to Reagan presidencies. Other portraits have been moved around a few times since January, but peruse recent Oval Office photos and you&rsquo;ll spot Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Martin van Buren, Franklin Roosevelt, Alexander Hamilton, James Polk, Andrew Jackson, a second portrait of Washington, and several others. Trump has also added the flags of each branch of the Armed Forces. It&rsquo;s hard to deny that both moves are patriotic.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s also maximalist and gaudy, to be sure. But maximalist decor has a decidedly, though not exclusively, American heritage. <\/p>\n<p>From fashion to movies to sports, our collective taste has always erred on the bold and exaggerated side. Commentators on NPR can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/04\/18\/nx-s1-5366630\/trump-oval-office-golden-decor-critique\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">describe<\/a> Trump&rsquo;s office decor as &ldquo;nouveau riche,&rdquo; but that&rsquo;s the attitude we&rsquo;ve always presented to the world: the loud, cocky rebels who make up for in glamor, confidence, and all-around greatness what we sometimes lack in discretion or modesty. It&rsquo;s a very charismatic kind of obnoxious, in the same way that saying &ldquo;everything&rsquo;s bigger in Texas&rdquo; annoys the other 49 states while Texans make it a point of pride.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There is something intrinsically &lsquo;American&rsquo; about maximalist interior design,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/amityworrel.com\/2022\/11\/15\/maximalist-interior-design-style-elements-and-influences\/#:~:text=There%20is%20something%20intrinsically%20%E2%80%9CAmerican,started%20to%20notice%20a%20theme.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> Austin-based interior decorator Amity Worrel in a 2022 article. She described it as &ldquo;materialistic, nostalgic,&rdquo; and &ldquo;ostentatious&rdquo; &mdash; which are all very accurate descriptors for Trump&rsquo;s new Oval Office style.<\/p>\n<p>You might not decorate your kitchen that way. But for the room that represents America to every foreign diplomat who visits it, it seems fitting. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Elle Purnell is the elections editor at The Federalist. Her work has been featured by Fox Business, RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women&#8217;s Forum. She received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @_ellepurnell.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Critics of Trump often use the flawed &#8220;Hitler also ate breakfast&#8221; argument<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1353,"featured_media":2426826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GowZPVSX0AAUH08-scaled.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[32662,4188,3634],"class_list":["post-2426824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-conspiracy-theory","tag-media","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GowZPVSX0AAUH08-scaled.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2426824"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2426829,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426824\/revisions\/2426829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2426826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2426824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2426824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2426824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}