The BBC asks, slyly, is the White House really a dump?
Why no, who said it was? Bette Davis?
Haha just kidding; of course not, it was Our Donnie, chatting to fellow bozos on one of his golf courses.
According to Golf.com, Mr Trump has explained his frequent appearances at various courses across America to patrons by saying: “That White House is a real dump.”
It led Chelsea Clinton, who is more than a little familiar with the interior of the White House, to tweet: “Thank you to all the White House ushers, butlers, maids, chefs, florists, gardeners, plumbers, engineers & curators for all you do every day.”
So, is it really a dump?
Well, it certainly doesn’t look like that in photographs released by Architectural Digest in July.
Yes but does Architectural Digest meet Donald Trump’s high standards?
Now that is tasteful elegance.
If the current president is displeased by his new residence, it may be due to a clash of personal taste.
After all, Architectural Digest described the private rooms at the White House as “an oasis of civility and, yes, refined taste”.
But how about Mr Trump’s personal home? His penthouse in New York’s Trump Towers certainly has a different aesthetic.
Yes, that different aesthetic is the style known as “really globbing it on.”
“At one level, [the decor is] aspirational, meant to project the wealth so many citizens can only dream of,” author Peter York wrote in Politico. “But it also has important parallels – not with Italian Renaissance or French baroque, where its flourishes come from, but with something more recent. The best aesthetic descriptor of Trump’s look, I’d argue, is dictator style.”
According to Mr York, who has written a book called Dictator Style, the apartment screams “I am tremendously rich and unthinkably powerful” – which is more than a little at odds with Washington’s more understated style. After all, its ” neoclassical public buildings” are supposed to “evoke stability and trustworthiness through their restraint”, he wrote.
Dictator Really Globbing It On.
By that standard the White House no doubt does look very restrained and minimalist, aka a dump.
Comments
10 responses to “Which twin has the dump?”
I’ve seen bits of the White House. Tours and things. Of course, you’d don’t see everything. But, still, yep, that was my impression. It’s got that stable old money look. ‘Twas nice…
… in contrast, I wouldn’t want to go near Donnie’s apartment. At the very least, I figure I’d probably leave with a migraine. If I were so foolish as to go _in_ with a migraine, I’d probably leave on a stretcher.
(Oh, also: I’ve seen some of the photos in Dictator Style … never seen the book itself. Alternately hilarious and jarring; think about the living conditions where some of these ghouls are living, also pretty much disgusting. And yeah, about that apartment., as the author notes, it’d fit in pretty well, there.)
“Most walls go up to ten. Mine goes to eleven.”
But, but, just in February Toddler-in-chief was so excite about the White House that he felt compelled to point out to the Japanese PM just how famous it was:
With apologies to the Rolling Stones; I see your good taste and I want to paint it gold.
More like “Mobster Revival ” I’d say.
It’ll morph to Dictator Style given time I fear.
We can hope it goes to “Chateau D’If Under” eventually.
Article nails it. Trump embodies the mythical “nouveau riche” to a T — to a degree that P. G. Wodehouse would have called “a bit over the top.” Old money takes its privilege completely for granted, and acts as if all this is simply the way things are. New money tries way too hard to act rich, with the effect of appearing not at all rich but only tacky.
One could say that the very elegance of the White House is its own brand of disgusting: the man (it’s always a man) who has the power to destroy civilization goes about his day in understated elegance. What need the trappings of power, when the reality of your power would have impressed the folks on Mt. Olympus?
Of course this means nothing to Trump. Reality is not what matters to a malignant narcissist. The whole point is to be seen as powerful. Whether or not one is powerful is irrelevant. So naturally you want squadrons of fighter planes and a parade of tanks on your inauguration day.
He’s perfectly, entirely welcome to leave the White House. I think he can count on record-breaking crowds cheering him on then!
Saddam style.