Donald Trump reportedly took full advantage of first lady Melania Trump’s absence from the White House in the early weeks of his second term to get his own way, according to a new book. The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan report in “Regime Change” that Trump took for himself some items of decor that were meant to be for his wife.
Battle Over Decorations
During an interview about their reporting on CNN’s “News Central” show, anchor John Berman asked the duo to comment on “sort of this feud going on, or battle over decorations, the president going to take the best furnishings for his bedroom rather than hers.” The president and first lady maintain separate bedrooms.
Haberman said: “I think it was a pretty one-sided battle. But it is absolutely true that while she was not there in the early stages of this second presidency, the president was very focused, as he has been a lot on decorating and decor, and she had items in the center hall of the residence that were put where, as the residence staff understood, she wanted them to be.”
Competing for Better Room
“While she wasn’t there, he started taking some of them for himself and either for the Oval Office or for his bedroom and it appeared to people as if he was competing to have a better room,” she added. “And they ended up resorting to sending her photos of things that could be items that they would put out.”
Haberman also noted how Trump “took over her signature project from term one which was the Rose Garden, she was very proud of it” and “paved over it, put stones down there without her desired interest in his project.”
Melania Unhappy With Ballroom
Swan, meanwhile, said Melania Trump “was not thrilled about the ballroom” either, for which her husband controversially razed the East Wing. FLOTUS “didn’t want to live in a construction zone,” he said.
“And Trump acknowledges that,” Swan said. “He says, ‘She’s a minimalist,’ that’s the way he says it, surrounded by all the gold.” “He’s a maximalist,” Haberman added.
