Home Depot has been flooded with reviews that make jokes about President Donald Trump, after viral speculation that décor from the home improvement retail chain has been hung in the Oval Office.
Newsweek has contacted Home Depot outside of regular working hours via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Since returning to the White House, Trump has overseen some of the most significant renovations to the people’s house in modern presidential history, from the Rose Garden being bulldozed and paved over to bathroom renovations and the construction of a ballroom in the East Wing.
Renovations in the Oval Office have piqued particular public interest. The room has been transformed and decked out with gold medallions, gold vermeil figurines, gold eagles and gilded Rococo mirrors. Trump spoke directly about these golden accessories during a recent interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, where he addressed speculation that they were from Home Depot, saying: “This is not Home Depot stuff.”
What To Know
Though the president has directly rejected the idea that the golden objects in the Oval Office are from Home Depot, social media users are holding on to the theory that that’s exactly where they were purchased it.
Now, people have taken this theory a step further and flooded Home Depot with positive reviews, making jokes about Trump and the Oval Office.
These reviews have specifically been left on a product which has the name “Ekena Millwork 1.13 in x 14.75 in. x 35.375 in. Polyurethane Applique & Onlay Moulding.” While there are clear differences between this moulding and the one in the White House, the two items do look somewhat similar, which has likely prompted the ridicule from social media users.
One five-star review, posted on November 12 after the interview with Ingraham, read: “Made of solid gold. Very beautiful and shiney. SHINEY. Manufactured very nearby very nearby. Ted Decker gave me a GREAT DEAL on these ‘applicators’ he calls them, BULK, and he’s a great, great man. The best. Gold ain’t cheap, but these were free.”
Another five-star review posted that same day reads: “I bought this when I moved into a new office a year or so ago. They accepted gold spray paint and look really nice!”
And while these jokes and reviews have picked up steam in the days since the Ingraham interview, they have, in fact, been posted online for months.
One review, posted in July of this year, reads: “Paint it gold and it’s just like the Oval Office.”
The Home Depot discourse comes as renovations at the White House have been derided online by critics of Trump and praised by his supporters.
What People Are Saying
Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, previously shared a statement with Newsweek addressing the backlash to the renovations, which read: “President Trump is making the White House beautiful and giving it the glory it deserves. Only people with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome would find a problem with that.”
A September review of the Ekene Millwork 1.13 in x 14.75 in. x 35.375 in. Polyurethane Applique & Onlay Moulding product, posted on the Home Depot website, reads: “It really brings out the orange in the room. 10/10 would try.”
A June review of the Ekene Millwork 1.13 in x 14.75 in. x 35.375 in. Polyurethane Applique & Onlay Moulding product, posted on the Home Depot website, reads: “These mouldings are great! Totally great. Best mouldings ever created. If there was a moulding to be fitted upon, this is the moulding. All the other mouldings are awful… This one, you spray paint it gold, and you have the greatest moulding.”
Spencer Hakiman, founder of Tolou Capital Management, in a post on X: “Home Depot all over the White House.”
What Happens Next
Construction of the ballroom, which the White House has said is being funded by donors rather than taxpayer dollars, is ongoing.