ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
The East Wing of the White House is gone. President Trump once said that the White House would go untouched during the construction of a massive, privately funded ballroom. The sudden unannounced destruction is the latest example of the president's explicit quest to remake the White House and the presidency in his image.
I'm joined now by NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro to look at how Trump's curated image is part of how he wields power. Hey to you both.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hello.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey there.
FLORIDO: Tam, let's start with you. Images of the demolition at the White House have been pretty jarring for people who see the building as a physical symbol of the U.S. What does the ballroom symbolize for Trump, though?
KEITH: Trump often talks about this as the golden age of America - golden because he is back in office. He has an opulent ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and has long complained that the White House doesn't have a world-class ballroom. He says the ballroom he is building will be one of the most beautiful ballrooms anywhere in the world. He sees this as a necessary element of displaying American greatness to the rest of the world.
MONTANARO: You know, and in the end, this very well may turn out to be something beautiful, but it - you know, that's not quite the point. I mean, there have been two big issues. First, there's been no debate, and second, there's very little transparency.
And the White House is supposed to be the people's house, and has always been something more humble than exuberant palaces you might see in the Middle East or the very kind of monarchy the American colonies were breaking away from in the first place. All of this really is representative of how Trump has gone about his presidency - unilaterally and with little to no input or consideration from Congress or the public.
FLORIDO: I mean, and it's not just the ballroom, right? Trump has made some other physical changes at the White House.
KEITH: Yeah, there is so much gold in the Oval Office. It seems like every other day there is some new piece of flare added - always gold. Trump is obsessed with the decor in the White House. Take this from a cabinet meeting earlier this year, where he talked about selecting portraits for the cabinet room.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I love the frame of those pictures. Look at those frames, you know? I'm a frame person. Sometimes I like frames more than I like the pictures.
(LAUGHTER)
KEITH: And he has a whole bit he delivers about gold leaf.
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TRUMP: And the only question is, do you gold leaf it? - because you can't paint it. If you paint it, it won't look good 'cause they've never found a paint that looks like gold. You see that in the Oval Office.
KEITH: Trump is definitely putting his stamp on the White House in a way that is synonymous with the brand he built before he was elected.
FLORIDO: You know, you could possibly dismiss all of this as just an interest in aesthetics. But why does it matter beyond the aesthetics of it all?
KEITH: This is definitely a metaphor for Trump's approach to his second term in office. He is emboldened and unbound. In the first term, he was at least a little deferential to institutions and the way things have always been done. Like, he didn't make any major changes to the White House then. This time, he is doing what he wants, and that certainly does extend to the aesthetics. In August, Trump even signed an executive order imposing personal style choices on federal buildings, saying they need to be traditional and neoclassical. I spoke with Lynn Vavreck, who specializes in political messaging at USC (ph).
LYNN VAVRECK: A real estate developer who puts their name on many, many buildings is legacy-oriented. I think we have some clear signals that that has to be an underlying latent trait.
KEITH: She says MAGA - the red hats, the gold, the branding of it all - has been wildly effective. Like, it isn't just a political slogan. It is a social identity, like being a die-hard fan of a football team.
FLORIDO: Yeah. And I mean, Domenico, isn't this image curation TV producer Trump? It's sort of just who he always has been.
MONTANARO: Yeah, of course. I mean, this is what Trump has always been known for - branding. You know, and that really speaks to who he is and how he's governed. You know, so much of it and his life in business has been about image, the power of positive thinking. You say it's true, and it is.
You know, this is someone who took four companies into bankruptcy, and yet, with the help of "Celebrity Apprentice" on TV, his name on the sides of all those buildings that he didn't own, you know, he was able to convince a lot of people that he was wildly successful and represented luxury, when that just wasn't his reputation in New York.
FLORIDO: And what else is there to it beyond just, you know, projecting power?
MONTANARO: Well, in his view, the image becomes the power, you know, whether it's real or not. He's become a lifestyle brand meant to project wealth, power and an old-school masculinity of sorts - the tough guy who people don't mess with and gets the girls. It works for a large segment of the country, but it also has created a polarization because for half the country, his showiness, the braggadocio and lack of humility is a turnoff and something many don't see as what an American president should be.
FLORIDO: What have the real-world consequences of all of that been, Tam?
KEITH: His image has always been being a winner, and that is why the results of the 2020 election were such a low point for him. He lost, and then to this day, he refuses to acknowledge it. In part, that lack of acknowledgment led to what happened on January 6. Then in 2024, he won, but he still inflates the size of his win and overstates his mandate. He is governing in a way, though, that reflects the self-image he is projecting of dominance, inevitability, invincibility.
FLORIDO: On the flip side, though, Tam, Trump - I mean, he really is focused on attacking and diminishing the people who disagree with him. What does he achieve with that?
KEITH: Well, just look at this past weekend, where millions of people in thousands of American cities and towns showed up for No Kings protests. That showing contradicted the image that Trump has curated of ultimate power and adulation, so he downplayed the protests. Here he was on Air Force One.
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MONTANARO: The demonstrations were very small, very ineffective, and the people were wacked out. When you look at those people, those are not representative of the people of our country.
KEITH: Not representative of the people of our country - so essentially, he's saying that those who are against him aren't real Americans.
MONTANARO: Yeah. I mean, in truth, Trump's popularity is low, and he's trying to project this image that he's powerful and beloved by all. But just because something looks like gold doesn't make it so.
FLORIDO: Domenico Montanaro, Tamara Keith, thanks for swinging by.
KEITH: You're welcome.
MONTANARO: You got it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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