Obama and Clinton Mock Trump's Gold White House Makeover

A 5-to-4 Supreme Court ruling in September cleared the way for President Donald Trump's luxury ballroom to replace the White House East Wing. Now, two former presidents are mocking what that project looks like.

Barack Obama took aim at the interiors during a rally in Ohio on Saturday. His target was a video that White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino posted on X on Friday, showing construction of the president's ballroom.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovation. He should be on HGTV," Obama said. He told the crowd that Trump is building a "ballroom that's bigger than the White House." Then he questioned the aesthetic choices directly: "What's with all the gold? He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory."

Obama was not alone in his criticism. At a rally in Hollywood, Florida, on Friday, former President Bill Clinton attacked the refurbishments underway at the White House, including changes to one of its most storied outdoor spaces.

"I think Congress made a mistake not protesting turning the Rose Garden into what looks like the entrance to Liberace's bathroom," Clinton said.

What does the ruling change for the White House?

The remarks land days before the US midterm elections on November 3, with attention fixed on the executive mansion and its transformation.

The legal fight over the building is not finished, even though construction is proceeding. In September, a divided Supreme Court ruled that Trump's ballroom may go ahead as planned and replace the East Wing. The court decided by a 5-to-4 vote that the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress, lacked legal standing to bring its lawsuit, because the persons in question were not directly harmed by the project.

The National Trust signaled that it intends to keep pressing its case. "This is not the final decision on the merits of our case and does not resolve our fundamental argument—that each president is a temporary steward of the People's House and does not have the unilateral authority to demolish and redesign it without the approval of Congress," National Trust president Brent Leggs said at the time of the ruling.

Why the rhetoric matters now

The dueling comments from two former presidents turn the White House interiors into a political stage one week before the midterms. Obama framed the renovation as a distraction from governance, with a punchline built for cable television. Clinton went further, arguing that Congress itself should have objected to the redesign of the Rose Garden.

The underlying dispute — whether a president may unilaterally alter a building the National Trust calls the People's House — remains unresolved on the merits. With the midterms on November 3, voters will now weigh the question alongside the two men who once lived there.