WASHINGTON (Web Desk) - President Donald Trump is using his postelection public appearances to talk about the lasting physical changes he hopes to leave behind at the White House.
In the two days since Republicans suffered massive losses in the midterm elections, Trump has spoken twice in public. Both times he focused on rooms and renovations at the White House.
On Thursday, Trump signed a proclamation that designates the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room as a national monument in an effort to block any significant changes to them by future presidents.
“We’re going to be declaring it a national monument, and we’re going to send it over to Congress to have it ratified,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It won’t be able to be taken down, destroyed, touched or anything else.”
Trump, who later took questions from reporters about other topics, said any “major modifications” to the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room would have to be approved by Congress, adding that he hopes “the people in Congress will be smart enough not to let that happen.”
The White House has officially been a U.S. National Historic Landmark since 1960. Trump wrote in the proclamation that “the Oval Office merits specific recognition and protective management as a discrete historic structure of national significance.”
The signing ceremony came a day after Trump spoke to reporters at the construction site for the new White House ballroom he’s building. Even though it was his first time addressing the media publicly after the Democrats swept several seats in deep red states to secure control of Congress, he focused his comments on the ballroom.
“I’m doing it because the White House is the ultimate symbol of America and it’s got to be pristine — it’s got to be perfect,” Trump said, adding that he felt “it would be appropriate to have the media here.”
Unlike the ballroom project, which involved demolishing the historic East Wing and has attracted criticism from preservation groups, the Oval Office often undergoes cosmetic changes with each new administration.
When Trump returned to office last year, he completely redecorated the Oval Office, filling it with his signature favorite: lots and lots of gold.
The proclamation signed Thursday states that future presidents would still be able to “redecorate” the Oval Office and “select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security modifications,” as long as they don’t “substantially impair the monument’s historic structure or architectural character.”
In discussing the proclamation, Trump also emphasized the “victories” he has achieved in the Oval Office, though he added, “I mean, there’s been some mistakes, too.” He didn’t elaborate.
Asked what he hopes Congress will focus on while Republicans still hold the majority for the next two months, Trump brought it back to himself.
“It’s been a tremendous two years. I don’t think there’s ever been a president that’s done more,” he said, speaking of his efforts at the border and on the stock market.
Trump’s final campaign message, on Monday, also centered in large part on his renovation efforts.
That speech was held at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been closed since July because of “botched” renovations made after Trump requested upgrades. He spent the majority of Monday’s remarks touting the pool’s reopening and his other renovation efforts around Washington.