Scaffolding Remains at White House As Trump Posts Photo of Ornate Columns

[Botany]

Source: Newsweek

Scaffolding has appeared around several columns on the White House's North Portico, prompting a fresh wave of speculation about whether President Donald Trump could be preparing another change to the executive mansion as his administration continues an extensive makeover of both the White House complex and wider Washington, D.C. landmarks.

Images shared on social media over the July 4 weekend showed workers standing on scaffolding erected around the White House's iconic white columns. One widely circulated post claimed Trump was planning to replace the columns entirely, fueling renewed debate over the future appearance of one of the nation's most recognizable buildings.

Snip

Questions about the columns have been circulating for months following comments from Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, who suggested replacing the North Portico's existing Ionic columns with more ornate Corinthian columns.

"Corinthian is the highest order [of column], and that's what our other two branches of government have," Cook told The Washington Post. "Why the White House didn't originally use them, at least on the north front, which is considered the front door, is beyond me."

The proposal immediately drew criticism from architects and historic preservation advocates, who argued that altering the column style would fundamentally change the building's appearance and historic character.









Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/scaffolding-remains-white-house-trump-posts-photo-ornate-columns-12160151

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Call your Senators and Congress Critters the White House is not Trump’s property and he has to
stop fucking it up.

[Ritabert]

1. Another waste of taxpayer money.

And Corinthian columns are too ornate. Ionic is fine.

[Botany]

2. The old columns are just fine.

Last edited Mon Jul 6, 2026, 12:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Trump and his henchmen are trying to see just how much shit they can get away with.

[slightlv]

12. They're trying to see how fast they can bankrupt the country completely, all at Putin's demand!

[gab13by13]

3. Doric is OK for me.

Another no bid grift where Krasnov will choose the person who sends him the most crypto.

[EuterpeThelo]

4. This

spree of destruction is making me HEARTSICK. Besides just the colossal WASTE of OUR money that should be being used to feed the hungry, house the homeless and provide access to healthcare for we the people, it's NOT HIS! He just has to imprint his tacky, tin-pot dictator ego b.s. on EVERYTHING that should be sacred to all of us.

I cannot believe what the entire WORLD is being forced to go through simply because one effed-up family didn't love their evil spawn.

Thank the gods my mother isn't alive to see this.

[Botany]

6. And to know he only got to be President because of massive cheating is galling.

The White House was just fine as it was I can’t help but think that he is doing all of this hideous crap
to D.C. as a test by Stephen Miller to see just how much crap he can get away with and to grift as much
as possible. As a teen he had to go to military school to avoid going to a juvenile detention facility and
he should have been in prison for a # of crimes as an adult. We executed 2 people (the Rosenbergs)
and another (Robert Hansen FBI agent) for doing what he did with those stolen documents and now
he changed the name of America 250 to Freedom 250 and stole all the money.

[LudwigPastorius]

5. Trump will demand that the load-bearing columns be replaced, not individually, but all at once.

...leading to the collapse of the north portico.

Because he knows better than George Washington's hand picked architect.

[Botany]

8. Trump is a cancer on America

He knows more about architecture and building then Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt,*
the designer of Jackie Kennedy’s Rose Garden and Jackie’s other White House Garden (east wing),
Rachel Mellon, and the man who oversaw the construction of Jackie’s Gardens who went onto be
the head of The Brooklyn Botanical Garden.


* The East Wing



Hand Split Granite Cobbles at the door to the East Wing that Trump had removed and used as
filler material on D.C. golf courses.

[Bayard]

16. Oh--and they must be solid gold.

[2naSalit]

7. As I have baeen saying since about 2018...

There's so much bad juju going on in that house that there is not enough sage on the planet to smudge it all out and we'll probably have to burn it down ourselves just to rid the world of the evil that goes on there now.

Then we can rebuild it properly.

[maxsolomon]

9. "highest order" of columns?

where is he getting that horseshit? "most ornate" is not equal to "highest".

I don't see any scaffolding in those pictures?

[Botany]

10. Click on the link to the article and scroll down

N/t

[maxsolomon]

11. Welp, it could just be maintenance.

?w=750&quality=80&webp=1

I hope it's just maintenance.

[ChicagoTeamster]

13. Watch the whole front entrance and part of the attached structure collapse like the stage at his 250th fair

[The Madcap]

14. Prepping for that giant "gold" eagle attached to the columns.

So tacky.

[purr-rat beauty]

15. Once these projects start crumbling

And seeing the reflecting pool, it won't take long.....we best take the money from any and everything trump to fix it.

[Fla Dem]

17. The White House is not an ornate palace. It is a place where the people's business is conducted

and where the president and their family reside during their term in office.

[Rhiannon12866]

18. And we know that he'll f**k it up! Just look at the Reflecting Pool and the East Wing!

This is The People's House, not yours! Dammit all, why isn't he stopped before he ruins yet another historic American treasure??!!

[GenThePerservering]

19. Corinthian columns would look ridiculous on the WH

it's built in a simple, dignified Neoclassical style.