On Tuesday, Republicans lost the House and Senate. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump talked about marble in his unfinished ballroom. And on Thursday, he moved to declare two rooms in the West Wing national monuments.
Trump signed an executive order he said would designate the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room as historical landmarks, marking the second day in a row he has called the presidential pool in to hear announcements about White House renovations — even as the rest of the party deals with wide-ranging consequences from this week’s midterm elections.
“It’ll make it impossible for anybody ever to destroy this incredible space,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “It won’t be able to be taken down, destroyed, touched, or anything else.”
Last year, Trump tore down the East Wing building to make way for a ballroom project that never received congressional approval. Designating the Oval and Cabinet rooms as landmarks would seemingly prevent future presidents from taking similar actions unless Congress approves the plans, the president said.
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“If anyone ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you’ll call me wherever I may be,” Trump added. “I will come back here. And I will make sure it never happens.”
In his second public appearance since Tuesday’s trouncing, Trump did not mention Republicans losing control of both chambers, or the criticism from party members who blame the losses on the prolonged Iran war, government corruption and even Trump’s intense focus on his unpopular renovations and beautification projects.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) said that after this week’s losses, Trump should involve Congress in the renovation decisions, calling his executive actions on the ballroom and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “side issues.”
Rounds said voters have “other things that are bigger issues for us.”
In a social media post, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) cited a poll from Kansas, where Democrats won a Senate seat for the first time since 1932, that showed “Trump’s focus on monuments” was among voters’ top concerns.
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