Trump Wants to Pave Over Rose Garden: Becomes a ‘Patio’ Like Mar-a-Lago

For those of us who have spent part of a generation now covering Donald Trump and his movement, there are certain subjects that stand out as considered either universally important or evocative, even among people believing themselves to be loyal Trumpers, January 6th being one, Trump’s whole relationship with Ivanka being just another, maybe “Putin” (Global) as another…  And then there is the “Rose Garden” – which, at least as the story has it, was actually a “Melania thing” from the first term, in that it was Melania who chose to “renovate” the Rose Garden outside the White House. You know “The Rose Garden,” the one that Jackie Kennedy – “First Lady, GOAT division” – designed?  The “garden” in the White House established by a woman educated in culture and the fine arts, and the last First Lady to leave the residence a widow, that one? Alright, that “one” was quite the ignition switch when it came to anger emanating from all sides, or no side, said “Rose Garden” issues…

Yes, and it wasn’t nice. Things got more than a little vicious and I say that as someone who used to love tossing Melania out and around a bit to be pinned up with some verbal cuffs. The photographers and editors on Twitter (Now “X”) have had a good time, too:

White House Rose Garden

Left: Designed under direction of Jackie Kennedy, a floral melting pot of color and diversity

Right: Melania's newly installed White Power garden pic.twitter.com/VCZcxBwZ9Y

— Cat in the Hat ❄ (@NotMyPrecedent) August 22, 2020

And, again, these subjects weren’t notorious because they infuriated liberals. No, these were the subjects in which Trump maintained a knack for pissing off his own supporters. They didn’t like f’ing with the Rose Garden any more than anyone else. So it is more than a bit surprising to read… Actually, the single least surprising thing is that Donald Trump now intends to finish what he started, and that is the Mar-a-Lagoization of the White House. Trump wants a patio on which to eat and rumble-waddle, not a Rose Garden.

But he has managed to find time for a project closer to home: He has told associates that he wants to rip up the grass in the Rose Garden, one of the White House’s most iconic and meticulously maintained spots, and replace it with a hard surface to resemble a patio like the one he has at Mar-a-Lago.

If that fcker misses home, then build him an Oval Office AT Mar-a-Lago!! Take the West Wing to him, don’t “Florida” the West Wing! I realize that’s a bit strong but this is Jackie O’s Rose Garden, after all, and it was bad enough the first time when the goal wasn’t its utter destruction. There should be a law!

Actually, there really should be a law. It is not like presidents actually own the White House, so why should they be fully in control of that which cannot easily be reversed? Why is the White House not run as a “Joint Operation” between the Defense Department and the National Park Service (As just a musing), with a board that oversees special projects? Such a set up would actually remove some personal pressure on First Ladies – say some staff wants certain changes and go directly to the First Lady to lobby for those changes, that’s not fair to the First Lady. Have that board, one that is also schooled in culture, history, architecture, all of it – as part of a larger plan to keep the grounds historic and as beautiful as is appropriate. It is a thought, it could prevent this:

Designers have drafted options for how to remake the surface of the Rose Garden, which sits just outside the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. Mr. Trump has discussed whether it should be limestone or an easily interchangeable hard surface, with the possibility of installing hardwood floors for dancing.

Donald! Are you kidding me? Dancing? This is the White House, that is the Rose Garden. It is not TGIFs, not open-mic night, no karaoke, definitely not Mar-a-Lago, you already have a Yellow Room for all that in Washington, you have a whole Mar-a-Lago for that in Florida, so why does the Rose Garden have to go? And, before you get mad at me, Mr. President (Which is coming), perhaps it’s best that you first hear this from a liberal rather than get it through back channels that your own loyalists were furious… As has happened before!

Try to imagine being the guy who is so oblivious to literally everything such that he would want to do something like this. Amazingly, the presidency is such that Trump likely could order that the whole thing get carved under as the new foundation for the most ass-kicking patio ever created, cool tiles, bro – and then some tiki lights, a grill, a sound system, next thing you know, you have “Florida Night!” in Washington DC on Thursdays in the summer, call your Congressman about tickets. Music to be provided by the guy who loves “Cats” but does not like dogs. Jackass. This is a big deal.

President Trump has suggested paving over the grass in the White House Rose Garden for a patio like the one he has at Mar-a-Lago. nyti.ms/4139fnw

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-02-14T22:42:53.021Z

Yes, he also wants to build a ballroom for the cost of $100 million. It sounds very reasonable to me until I scratch my head. “Don’t we already have one of those? I swear, I recall seeing presidents and “balls” taking place, granddaughters getting married, things like that? We have to have one because if we didn’t, the GOAT Division, Jackie Kennedy and such would’ve built one long ago, right?”

And yes, we do have something that gets us by, or at least has until this point. “This Point” being when having a president who now considers the office “his” as in a personal ownership interest, and wanting a ballroom… Can I ask this? If a president wants a ball – and which one doesn’t – that president could have a “ball” in the lobby of the Air and Space Museum in the Smithsonian, am I right? Of course, I am right. And once you contemplate how cool it would be to dance among the space shuttles and planes, you see why you really don’t need a $100 million new ballroom on the White House grounds. The White House can bring the ball to the grounds of anything in the federal government (Which is really pretty cool), so why confine itself on this?

Eh, I don’t care about a ballroom, I just care about what might get pulverized in the name of putting up a new ballroom, the Constitution itself is near assumed. Because the White House’s charm is that it’s actually not all that huge. Sure, below ground, yes – it surely opens up like a Grand Hyatt down below ground, but that’s the point, you can’t see it, you can pretend it’s not there, that and nuclear missiles close by, forget all about them.

So back to the music man curling through tables of young conservatives, all pretending to hear Trump’s music for the first time, all trying to tell him how he has the best taste and knows exactly what to play, (Sinatra, baby!) all enough to make actual adults near-giggle thinking on it, then cry when thinking that’s all it takes, those little warm thoughts, to lose a national treasure like the iconic White House Rose Garden – all to bring some esprit de Mar-a-Lago to the “district.”

Please don’t do us like this! Damn it! It was bad enough the first time when Melania ruined the f’ing thing… Or came as close to doing so as anyone would want, until Trump decided to just finish it off… My god. Knock yourself out, have a ball.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak and now follow along on Bluesky

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