Tag Archives: John F. Kennedy

Independent: Trump welcomes guests to ‘Rose Garden club’ after revamp to make iconic White House location more like Mar-a-Lago

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Trump hosted a dinner for allies in Congress and spoke at length about the changes he’s made to the iconic White House garden

President Donald Trump welcomed guests Friday evening to the “Rose Garden Club” – the iconic White House outdoor space that now appears strangely reminiscent of another exclusive location.

The new Rose Garden features a limestone patio with country club-style chairs, tables, and striped umbrellas – echoing Trump’s private Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago.

Trump hosted a dinner for allies in Congress and spoke about some of the changes he’s made to the iconic White House garden since taking office in January.

“You’re the first ones in this great place,” the president said. “We call it the Rose Garden Club and it’s a club for senators, for congresspeople, and for people in Washington, and frankly, people that can bring peace and success to our country.”

Long gone is the central grassy area that Trump claimed was prone to getting muddy and is now replaced with tiles. But flowers remain along the border.

Friday evening’s setup featured four rows of six tables with white tablecloths draped across each one. The white chairs featured bright yellow seat cushions, in the same color scheme as the umbrellas.

Each table was outfitted with a classic country club-style place setting and included a basket of rolls and a saucer with pats of butter.

White House Communications Director Stephen Cheung posted a photo on X, giving a closer look at the individual table settings. Each person appeared to receive a gold-embossed welcome paper that read “The Rose Garden Club.”

“We picked a great stone,” Trump told the audience, referencing the limestone flooring. “And we have a great speaker system.”

The president recently installed a new speaker system in the Rose Garden which he showed off to reporters last month.

Trump has received criticism for making dramatic changes to the historic Rose Garden, which was established in 1913 by former first lady Ellen Louise Wilson, wife of former president Woodrow Wilson, and renovated during former president John F. Kennedy’s administration.

The president reportedly wanted to “recreate” the patio experience at his Mar-a-Lago club to host guests and entertain people, the New York Times reported earlier this year.

Before returning to the White House, Trump often spent evening downtime sitting on the patio at Mar-a-Lago with fellow club members, the Times reported. The president enjoyed sitting back and controlling the club’s playlist from an iPad, the report said, a tech set-up he has now recreated at his Washington abode.

But the Rose Garden revamp is just one of various aesthetic projects the president has embarked upon at the White House.

The Oval Office now features a plethora of gilded accents, from the ceiling’s crown molding to the side table lamps. Every detail has seemingly been turned to the yellow-gold – even the fireplace screen.

The portraits of famous Americans hanging in the Oval Office have had their frames swapped from wood to intricate gilded ones.

Each president has control over the decor of the Oval Office. They’re allowed to switch out the rug, curtains, couches, and even the desk. Pictures and accolades are put on display to show off a president’s accomplishments.

Trump has also made small changes elsewhere – he added two 88-foot American Flag poles to the White and South lawns of the White House and moved prominent portraits of former presidents to a hidden stairwell.

More changes are coming. The president said he would add a lavish $200 million ballroom to the White House to serve as a place to host state dinners and other events.

How much are the memberships? Are any Epstein girls included?

Trump welcomes guests to ‘Rose Garden club’ after makeover to be more like Mar-a-Lago
Trump hosted a dinner for allies in Congress and spoke at length about the changes he’s made to the iconic White House garden

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-white-house-rose-garden-makeover-b2821513.html

HuffPost: Look What Donald Trump Has Done To The Oval Office

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Trump has taken an unusually personal interest in redecorating the iconic seat of the American presidency.

In the words of White Stripes singer Jack White, “It’s now a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy professional wrestler’s dressing room.”

For decades, every president has made the Oval Office his own.

John F. Kennedy specially chose a rug in Harvard crimson, although he did not live to see its installation. Richard Nixon’s office featured a navy rug with gold stars, accented by gold curtains. Jimmy Carter surrounded himself with warmer, more natural shades. George H.W. Bush opted for powder blue as both a floor and window treatment.

The presidents have chosen different sofas, different coffee tables, different books for the shelves, different knick-knacks for the tables and paintings for the walls.

But none have had the aesthetic impact of President Donald Trump.

In his second term, Trump has endeavored to leave a more lasting footprint on the White House by drawing on his long career in real estate development. He paved the Rose Garden’s grassy center, erected two enormous flag poles and revealed plans to build a large ballroom on the East Wing to host events.

Trump’s Oval Office, though, has been the site of the most striking transformation so far.

The iconic space has been positively drenched in gold — curtains, of course, but also vases, frames, trophies, platters and vast amounts of gilding, including shiny curlicued moldings that ensure no part of the wall is left blank. This style is either Rococo or decidedly not Rococo.

An ivy plant that had adorned the Oval Office fireplace for over a half-century was replaced by lifeless objects. (The Washington Post figured out the ivy had been relocated to a greenhouse for safekeeping.)

Trump, it seems, has cast aside norms in decorating just as quickly in his second term as he has cast aside norms in governing. Anyone familiar with Trump Tower in Manhattan or his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida will not be surprised to see the full extent of his changes to the Oval, given his instinct to gild the properties that bear his name.

But that is also why his changes rub some people the wrong way. The White House — the People’s House — is not Trump’s own. First families may make changes to the residence to make it feel more comfortable during their stay, but the Oval Office is not part of a Trump-branded enterprise.

In the words of White Stripes singer Jack White, “It’s now a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy professional wrestler’s dressing room.”

….

Look What Donald Trump Has Done To The Oval Office
Trump has taken an unusually personal interest in redecorating the iconic seat of the American presidency.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-oval-office-gold-gilding_n_68910956e4b06ab33893e975

Trump is the first AI slop president. That’s not good for democracy.

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The White House has become a superspreader of AI-generated videos.

Franklin Roosevelt mastered the use of radio. John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were top of the game on TV. And Donald Trump is the first AI slop president.

Since January, Trump’s administration has used artificial intelligence to churn out a steady stream of fake images on social media, from alligators in ICE hats to crying members of Congress,while the official White House account on X has used it to portray the president as Superman, the pope and a villain from “Star Wars.”

Earlier this week, Trump used his account on his personal social media platform, Truth Social, to share an AI-generated clip showing former President Barack Obama being forcibly detained by the FBI. As bizarre as it was, it fit in with his other nonsensical memes, which included various Democrats in orange prison jumpsuits as the “Shady Bunch” and a fake-looking video of a woman in a bikini catching a snake with her bare hands.

There’s a term for someone using social media this way that can’t be repeated in polite company, so let’s just call it slop-posting. It’s usually done by a 14-year-old boy, or someone who still acts like one, and it’s mostly just absurd or mildly offensive. It’s not harmless, necessarily, but it’s mostly just lame trolling.

To suggest that our President has the maturity of a 14-year-old boy is generous. Let’s not insult the kids, most of whom are more mature and better behaved than King Donald.

But when the president does it, it’s something else entirely. Even in the most harmless AI-generated memes, Trump is muddying the waters on what is real, encouraging his supporters to believe everything and nothing. Did a woman in a bikini really catch a snake? Is Obama really going to be arrested? To a Trump supporter steeped in these memes, the answer may not even matter.

…

Opinion | Trump is the first AI slop president. That’s not good for democracy.
The White House has become a superspreader of AI-generated videos.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-obama-arrest-ai-slop-video-truth-social-rcna221041

Law & Crime: ‘Different in kind’: 4-star generals, admirals serving from JFK to Obama say Los Angeles ICE protests don’t warrant deployment of National Guard to California

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4-star admirals, generals serving from JFK to Obama warn Trump’s deployment of National Guard poses ‘potentially grave risk’

Ahead of a Zoom hearing scheduled for Tuesday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a group of retired four-star generals and admirals who served under presidents ranging from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama filed court documents warning that President Donald Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard and deployment of U.S. Marines poses “potentially grave risk of irreparable harm.”

Seeking the appellate court’s leave to file a brief and enter the case as amici curiae — Latin for “friends of the court” — the retired generals, admirals, and former U.S. Army and Navy secretaries did not explicitly take Gov. Gavin Newsom’s side in the case. They did suggest Sunday, however, that the Trump administration’s bid for an emergency stay of a lower-court ruling and continued push to quell “violent riots” in Los Angeles amid nationwide “No Kings” protests over ICE raids may not pass legal muster when compared to historical precedents.

…

Again, although the retired admirals and generals did not support either party to the case, they implicitly warmed to Breyer’s ruling that the definition of “rebellion” has not been met and that, in the proposed amici’s words, the “recent and ongoing situation” in Los Angeles “appears to be different in kind” from the “extreme circumstances” of the 1992 Rodney King riots and the times when state governors “openly” and defiantly stood against the end of racial segregation during the Civil Rights era.

…

The brief concluded that Trump’s injection of the military into “domestic political controversies” — “undermining its ability to achieve its core mission of protecting the nation” — is a case in point as to why troops “should be kept out of domestic law enforcement whenever possible.”

Retired four-star generals sound alarm at 9th Circuit on Trump’s National Guard deployment
Retired four-star generals and admirals warn that Trump’s federalization of the National Guard and deployment of U.S. Marines poses “potentially grave risk.”
‘Different in kind’: 4-star generals, admirals serving from JFK to Obama say Los Angeles ICE protests don’t warrant deployment of National Guard to California

Esquire: Somehow Republicans Are Defending Kristi Noem After the Forceful Removal of Senator Alex Padilla

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I thought assaulting someone holding federal office was a crime. Not anymore, apparently.

So, apparently we’re bum-rushing US senators now. From The Guardian:

In video taken of the incident that has since gone viral on social media, Padilla is seen being restrained and removed from the room by Secret Service agents.“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla shouts, as he struggles to move past the men removing him from the premises. “Hands off!” he says at one point.Emerging afterward, Padilla, who is the ranking member of the judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship and border safety, said he and his colleagues had repeatedly asked DHS for more information on its “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions” but had not received a response to his inquiries.

This tinhorn governor of a state where nobody lives, this puppy-murdering hack whose political career outside of MAGA World was as dead as Custer, now gets to sic her black-shirted thugs on the senior senator of a state that she and her criminal boss and all their attendant lords have been lying about, and about which she had flown to Los Angeles to lie about some more.

Dumbass in a ballcap says what? She just admitted they’re blowing up the town to get rid of the mayor and governor. If the courts ever get their teeth back, this gaffe will figure prominently in many filings.

Meanwhile, Padilla is hauled into a backroom and driven to the floor and handcuffed.

And not for nothing, but threatening and/or assaulting the holder of any federal office is a felony and could draw you five to ten in the pokey. And these goons are pretty identifiable.

And, of course, the administration’s prevarication mill went into full operation almost instantly. From The New Republic via Yahoo:

In posts on X, the official DHS account and Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin released a statement attempting to justify wrestling Padilla to the ground and handcuffing him. “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” the statement read.

Tricia learned to lie like this at the AEI’s Leadership Institute.

But in a video of the altercation from Padilla’s office, the senator could be heard clearly identifying himself. “Hands off! I’m Senator Alex Padilla, and I have questions for the secretary,” said the California Democrat as a security guard pushed him out of the room.

It’s clear that the goons looked at him and just saw another angry brown face. And by their reactions, Tricia and her boss are similarly afflicted.

This is also all my bollocks. Noem knows who Padilla is and, if she doesn’t, she should, and he did identify himself. Third-rate hack with a fourth-rate alibi.

And what about Speaker Moses? What did you expect?

That sanctimonious sumbitch wants Padilla censured. And he spent the afternoon hiding. If he’s a Christian, I’m an Ostrogoth.

The day was not without its burlesque, however. In a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Maxwell Frost asked Chairman James (Jughead) Comer to issue a subpoena for Noem regarding the events of the day. Comer, of course, refused, probably because Padilla was not carrying Hunter Biden’s laptop at the time. And then we were off.

Somehow Republicans Are Defending Kristi Noem After the Forceful Removal of Senator Alex Padilla
I thought assaulting someone holding federal office was a crime. Not anymore, apparently.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65058840/senator-padilla-kristi-noem-james-comer-marjorie-taylor-greene

Hegseth asserts Trump can send troops anywhere to protect ICE agents conducting raids

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Pentagon budget official estimated LA troop deployment to cost $134 million.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump have the power to send National Guard and active-duty troops anywhere in the country to ensure Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can enforce the law, an assertion that — if carried out — would open the door to a historic clash between Trump and Democratic governors.

“We believe that ICE, which is a federal law enforcement agency, has the right to safely conduct operations in any state, in any jurisdiction in the country,” Hegseth told the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee.

“ICE ought be able to do its job, whether it’s Minneapolis or Los Angeles,” he added.

…

President Donald Trump also opened the door for possible military deployments elsewhere, telling reporters on Tuesday that if protests break out in other states “they will be met with equal or greater force.”

Civil War II is really here. 🙁

Hegseth asserts Trump can send troops anywhere to protect ICE agents conducting raids
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says President Trump has the right to send troops to “any state, in any jurisdiction in the country,”

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hegseth-testify-capitol-hill-house-dem-calls-marine/story?id=122668997

Washington Post: Trump’s shocking military plan leak epitomizes a sloppy operation

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The second Trump administration has clearly made a decision to move fast and break things. Largely gone are the establishment Republican figures and steady hands that sometimes resisted President Donald Trump during his first term. In their place are a bunch of people with less subject-matter and governmental experience but with the zeal of MAGA true believers, eager to implement Trump’s complete governmental overhaul and to bust through the traditional guardrails in the process.

The result is a very — and increasingly — sloppy first two months, by any objective measure.

The editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to the string of messages on Signal, an open-source encrypted messaging service. The group included the names of prominent administration figures, such as national security adviser Michael Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, all strategizing about the impending attacks.

The messages were sent before the strikes began last weekend and previewed almost precisely when they ultimately took place.

Trump’s shocking military plan leak epitomizes a sloppy operation