Trump boasts that he’s turning the White House into a ‘palace’ as he gushes over his new helipad
Por Rachel Dobkin — – World RSS Feed
Trump boasts that he’s turning the White House into a ‘palace’ as he gushes over his new helipad
In an effort to put his mark on Washington, Trump has worked on renovating the White House by paving over the Rose Garden for a new patio and covering the Oval Office in gold
Rachel Dobkin in New York Tuesday 15 September 2026 02:11 BST
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President Donald Trump has boasted about turning the White House into a “palace” as he gushed over his new helipad right in the backyard.
Trump shared a photo of the newly constructed black and white granite “heliport landing zone” on the South Lawn of the White House Monday, calling it a “work of art.”
“It is an Honor, ‘in my spare time,’ to bring back the Beauty and Magnificence of the White House, to levels it has never seen before, not even after its construction in 1792. Like our Nation, under the Dumocrats, was in decline, the White House was a badly maintained ‘dump.’ Now, it is a Palace!” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Trump showed off the progress on the project last month, signing his name on one of the slabs of granite that would make up the helipad, which is designed to look like the presidential seal.
In an effort to put his mark on Washington, Trump has worked on renovating both the inside and outside of the White House, along with his other construction projects around the D.C. area, such as the restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the proposed 250-foot Triumphal Arch.
open image in galleryTrump’s comparison of “The People’s House” to the residence of a monarch is not going to help the accusations by his critics that he is acting like a king in his second term.
Anti-Trump protesters have held several waves of “No Kings” protests across the country for more than a year, starting with demonstrations against what they saw as an authoritarian administration during the president’s birthday military parade in June 2025, which was compared to the festivities of strongmen in countries like North Korea.
“For over a year, millions of people have come together to send a clear message: in America, we have no kings,” organizers of the protesters write on their website in a push to get people to vote early in the midterm elections.
“Power does not belong to billionaires, strongmen, or politicians who believe they are above accountability. Power belongs to the people, but only if we use it.”
Members of the movement have protested against issues plaguing the Trump administration such as the rising cost of everyday essentials like groceries and gas and the president’s massive immigration crackdown, which has been criticized as too aggressive.
open image in galleryTrump also raved Monday about the pathway leading up to the doors of the White House that were re-done.
“As part of the Project, the poorly conditioned asphalt at the Main Entrance was replaced with Highest Grade, 4 and 5 inch thick, White Granite!” the president wrote on Truth Social. “There will be no cracks, or defacement, EVER!”
Days after renovations on the Reflecting Pool was complete in June, algae turned the water green and the blue paint that lined the basin chipped away.
Trump blamed vandals for the damage, ranting on Truth Social that the pool “has been given a 300 foot long gash” and that “chemicals have been illegally placed in the water.”
The Justice Department initially filed charges against four of these alleged vandals, but later dropped them after finding that the damage to the pool was due to a botched job from a contractor rather than sabotage.
open image in galleryTrump called the new helipad “expensive” but said it was a “gift to America.”
At an Oval Office event in July, Trump said that Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of the mega defense contactor Lockheed Martin, was paying for the helipad because they felt “a little guilty” for not warning about the power of the fleet of helicopters they completed in 2024 for use as the president’s Marine One.
“They are paying for the cost of it – it’s about $5 or $6 million,” Trump told reporters after complaining that the new Marine One fleet would ripe out the grass when it landed on the White House lawn.
A Lockheed Martin spokesperson previously told ABC News that it made a contribution to the National Park Service and that their work with the Trump administration was being “guided by rigorous ethics and compliance standards.”
open image in galleryThe helipad is the latest renovation Trump has made to the White House after covering the Oval Office in gold, paving over the Rose Garden for a new Mar-a-Lago-style patio and redesigning the Palm Room with marble.
Trump’s biggest White House project is a huge, gilded ballroom, which has faced legal challenges. The Supreme Court recently ruled that the president can continue with construction for the time being.
In a Truth Social post Sunday, Trump shared images of the first interior renderings of the ballroom, saying it was “Massively expensive, but free of charge to the American Taxpayer.”
The project’s contractor told the administration that it would cost $600 million, with at least half expected to be covered by taxpayers, The Washington Post reported in June.
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