To the editor:
When citizens picture the Oval Office, we think of dignity, history, and restraint—symbols of democracy, not monarchy. Now, after a wave of gold leaf, carved cherubs, and gilded trim, we are told the White House “glows with greatness.” But what it really glows with is vanity.
Florida craftsman John Icart—reportedly Trump’s personal “gold guy”—was flown in, even on Air Force One, to transform the nation’s executive office into something between a casino lobby and a Versailles souvenir shop. The White House claims Trump is footing the bill himself, though no one knows the true cost. In a house maintained by taxpayers, even “private” spending sends a public message about taste, judgment, and values.
Foreign visitors, accustomed to understated elegance in state buildings, are said to be stunned—“freaked out,” in Trump’s own words—by the room’s opulence. Their reaction is hardly admiration; it is disbelief. The world sees a country once proud of its republican simplicity now dressing itself in gaudy self-regard.
The American presidency does not need more gold—it needs more gravitas. The people’s house deserves to reflect the people, not the ego of its temporary occupant.
Daniel Markham
Williamstown
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