Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

progree

(12,020 posts)
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 03:53 PM Friday

White House Rose Garden bulldozed as work starts paving it over

Source: Newsweek via msn.com

Construction has commenced on projects at the White House ordered by President Donald Trump, with the Rose Garden having been bulldozed as work begins to pave it over.

. . .

On Monday of this week, reporters noticed that work had begun in the Rose Garden.

The Associated Press reported that the project will be completed in approximately two months, citing a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly.

. . .

Images show the process of paving over the Rose Garden, first with construction crews digging up the grass, then poles and mud in the garden area. The most recent images show the garden covered in what looks to be gravel.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-rose-garden-bulldozed-as-work-starts-paving-it-over/ar-AA1H6tKD



DJT says the grass is always wet, and it's an inconvenience for women in high heels.

Obviously, he genuinely cares about women much more than most of us at DU give him credit for

(sarc).

He also recently oversaw construction of two 30.5 meter (100') tall flagpoles. (That's when he asked construction workers if they were here illegally)

That, and he's garishly redecorated the White House with gold this and gold that and gold the other.

The article doesn't say what's going to be put there (in what was the Rose Garden) but mentions that he wants to build a ballroom like the one he has at Mar-a-Lago
80 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
White House Rose Garden bulldozed as work starts paving it over (Original Post) progree Friday OP
Please! Save the roses and replant them in anticipation of Chump kicking the bucket FakeNoose Friday #1
Looks like the actual roses/garden are being untouched. Igel Friday #41
"French Drain" has officially been renamed ... Seinan Sensei Saturday #53
Will they tear down the White House and build a Golden Palace. Oh wait, they will torch it so it won't have to be. twodogsbarking Friday #2
Nah, DENVERPOPS Friday #37
If DJT pisses off the Canadians even more... mwooldri Saturday #58
This MOTHERFUCKER!!! AZJonnie Friday #3
My reaction 100% FalloutShelter Friday #28
Pic underpants Friday #4
Pic embedded JoseBalow Friday #13
Thanks. Looks horrible 😡 underpants Friday #18
It does look horrible. Literally everything he touches turns to shit. JoseBalow Friday #24
Golf cart parking area? mpcamb Yesterday #80
Reminds me of the scene in the 1975 movie, The Stepford Wives. no_hypocrisy Friday #5
Funny off-topic story PJMcK Saturday #69
I hate him... NEOH Friday #6
Disgusting Mr. Jinx Friday #7
Agree BidenRocks Friday #42
Surely DENVERPOPS Friday #8
With all due respect, I sincerely hope you're wrong but I've even thought he has no intentions of leaving Deuxcents Friday #9
Every time in the past 8+ years DENVERPOPS Friday #34
I think God/nature will have something to say about that... regnaD kciN Friday #17
He'll fucking die, sure. But the intent is to keep his regime in power indefinitely regardless. That's how Karasu Friday #23
Good call !!!!!!!!!!! DENVERPOPS Friday #35
A ballroom....... Bayard Friday #10
Dancing generally involves moving your feet... 3catwoman3 Friday #31
It was reported that all the soldiers DENVERPOPS Friday #38
Some of those cheers have to be a soundtrack Figarosmom Friday #45
Looks like he's jacking off two elephants. Layzeebeaver Saturday #66
This message was self-deleted by its author Bayard Friday #11
Vandal JoseBalow Friday #12
At some point TACO will want "his" Secret Service to dress in pagentry uniforms. LastLiberal in PalmSprings Friday #14
I remember those. 3catwoman3 Friday #32
It looks like the roses are still there At least what Mel left.. electric_blue68 Friday #15
Poor Eddy. malthaussen Friday #16
As an American citizen, I'm a part owner of the White House. Time to sue the bastard for destroying federal sinkingfeeling Friday #19
I agree. It's OUR White House and he's a guest/caretaker of our belongings. Deuxcents Friday #36
By the time he gets done, the place will look like a strip mall & car lot. Buy Here, Pay Here. RedWhiteBlueIsRacist Friday #20
And it will have cost the US taxpayer a fortune to make it look that bad. Irish_Dem Friday #26
What a fucking asshole, it's to bad Trump's Dad didn't pull out in time. cstanleytech Friday #21
it will be such a pleasure to see the jackhammers breaking up that pavement when Trump is finally gone and out somaticexperiencing Friday #22
I will risk going to hell but I HATE "IT" (him). LoisB Friday #25
The man has no class - gold tchotchkes, he stinks (everyone says)..... walkingman Friday #27
Classic trumpian action: Paladin Friday #29
I am guessing a Democrat started the Rose Garden. nt doc03 Friday #30
Jackie Kennedy. Rhiannon12866 Friday #50
She is weeping in heaven.... CTyankee Saturday #59
Breaks my heart, too Rhiannon12866 Saturday #60
Would love to hear what Caroline has to say ... ificandream Saturday #73
Same here! I'm sure she was old enough to remember... Rhiannon12866 Saturday #75
Yup... buzzycrumbhunger Saturday #76
According to the article, the Rose Garden was established in 1913 by Ellen Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson progree Saturday #56
A Visual History of the Iconic White House Rose Garden progree Saturday #74
"...and it's an inconvenience for women in high heels." 3catwoman3 Friday #33
That "excuse" or whatever, is insulting.. chivalry is not an attribute he's familiar with Deuxcents Friday #40
Funny that this had not been a problem until the trumpford wives and their niyad Saturday #62
"...but never if I was going to be on grass." 3catwoman3 Saturday #63
One would have thought so, but aparently not. niyad Saturday #70
The hooker did what with my garden? LetMyPeopleVote Friday #39
Maybe its time to place the baby trump balloon up in front of the white house.........the one sitting on a toilet....... turbinetree Friday #43
Waste and abuse yellow dahlia Friday #47
Well, since malania tore it all up Figarosmom Friday #44
The bulldozing of the Rose Garden is emblematic of all the other destruction he wreaks on our Democracy... yellow dahlia Friday #46
He wants to turn the WH into a country club Diraven Friday #48
Good Grief! Not Again! Rhiannon12866 Friday #49
He has no class. CentralMass Friday #51
He's running out of room to bury ex-wives? LudwigPastorius Friday #52
Fuck this fucking piece of shit and the pieces of shit that voted for him! Initech Saturday #54
I don't really care, do you? lostnfound Saturday #55
My first thought was a staging area of sorts kkmarie Saturday #57
Here is the imbedded image displayed progree Saturday #67
It will return. It's just one more thing to add to the list that needs to be repaired, rebuilt, reconstituted, redone * Oopsie Daisy Saturday #61
"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." CTyankee Saturday #64
He is doing this just to be a prick Botany Saturday #65
Is he going to put red lights on the top of the poles for Marine One? LastLiberal in PalmSprings Saturday #68
There is already a flagpole on the roof of the WH -- at one point (WWI) there were two ... eppur_se_muova Saturday #72
I guess motoring over to Arlington Cemetery to spit on JFK's grave was too much trouble Hekate Saturday #71
A garden to symbolize their hate. nt Hotler Saturday #77
Like TACO doesn't wear heels. LilyBelle Saturday #78
tRump standing on a board in the grass in the Rose Garden progree Yesterday #79

FakeNoose

(37,637 posts)
1. Please! Save the roses and replant them in anticipation of Chump kicking the bucket
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 03:57 PM
Friday

... as soon as possible.

Igel

(36,858 posts)
41. Looks like the actual roses/garden are being untouched.
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 08:07 PM
Friday

It's the grass that's being torn up--as the OP says.

Also looks like either they're putting in some heavy duty irrigation, which seems backwards, or a drainage system, which is consistent with the claimed implied goal in the OP.

Now, will the grass be replaced when the modified french drain is done?

Dunno. Might not be a french drain at all--just "stylist" gravel with PVC pipe scattered about on top. That seems unlikely to me, though.

twodogsbarking

(14,095 posts)
2. Will they tear down the White House and build a Golden Palace. Oh wait, they will torch it so it won't have to be.
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 03:57 PM
Friday

DENVERPOPS

(12,708 posts)
37. Nah,
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 07:57 PM
Friday

he will just have the exterior painted in Gilded Gold, or have it remodeled to look like the Taj Mahal........

mwooldri

(10,644 posts)
58. If DJT pisses off the Canadians even more...
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 04:56 AM
Saturday

... then the Canadians might want to pay a repeat visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

no_hypocrisy

(51,949 posts)
5. Reminds me of the scene in the 1975 movie, The Stepford Wives.
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 04:04 PM
Friday

The Tina Louise wife comes back from a week-end and her friends visit her.

The friends watch in horror as the beloved tennis court of TL is bulldozed. Her husband is down there, smiling and waving at her. She smiles back, satisfied.

She explains to her friends that she's been soooo selfish with her tennis court when her husband has always wanted a swimming pool. Well, now she only wants to make him happy.

PJMcK

(23,800 posts)
69. Funny off-topic story
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 09:01 AM
Saturday

The Stepford Wives was partly filmed in my hometown of Westport, CT which is a NY suburb.

For the tennis court/swimming pool sequence, the producers made a deal with the parents of a classmate of mine. Curiously, they filmed the sequence in reverse: the pool scene was first, then they replaced it with the tennis court. The real pool was broken and needed major repairs and my friend’s parents wanted a tennis court instead. Accordingly, the film producers paid for the change!

Mr. Jinx

(1,384 posts)
7. Disgusting
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 04:10 PM
Friday

He's trying to turn the White House into another Mag-a-loco. When he's gone, there needs to be a lot of preservation protocols put into effect.

BidenRocks

(1,701 posts)
42. Agree
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 09:10 PM
Friday

First we restore it and then preserve it in a bill which includes National Parks.
Any changes need to be approved by committee.

DENVERPOPS

(12,708 posts)
8. Surely
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 04:20 PM
Friday

him wanting a ballroom, etc is because he thinks the White House is going to be his Residence forever.........AND the Mega Donor Oligarchs want to come to the White House, rather than Mar A Gago

Deuxcents

(22,782 posts)
9. With all due respect, I sincerely hope you're wrong but I've even thought he has no intentions of leaving
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 04:36 PM
Friday

Watch what he does and not what he says comes to mind..

DENVERPOPS

(12,708 posts)
34. Every time in the past 8+ years
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 07:48 PM
Friday

I have said He/Republicans WON'T dare do that, or have said He/Republicans CAN'T do that, or it is Illegal, against the law, or un-constitutional........
................................................

Karasu

(1,421 posts)
23. He'll fucking die, sure. But the intent is to keep his regime in power indefinitely regardless. That's how
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 06:38 PM
Friday

fascists work.

Hence why I use the term "regime" in the first place. Administrations are temporary. This is not an "administration" by any comparative historical metric. They are behaving like people who think they have absolute power, and won't be giving it up voluntarily.

DENVERPOPS

(12,708 posts)
35. Good call !!!!!!!!!!!
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 07:53 PM
Friday

Mother Nature is increasingly acting out with Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Volcanoes, Floods, Droughts, etc. She is totally fed up with the way WE are treating HER planet.............When the last humanoid is wiped from the planet, My bet is that the planet will recover (she has all the time in the world)
and in 100k years she will put a new intelligent and caring species on earth and it sure won't be humans.......LOL
Have you noticed that it's mostly the RED states that have been getting hit the hardest by her?????? Especially the South East and Bible Belt...

Bayard

(25,592 posts)
10. A ballroom.......
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 04:47 PM
Friday

We've all seen his moves.



The Rose Garden was a thing of beauty and history. I'll take it over his sorry ass any day.

3catwoman3

(26,922 posts)
31. Dancing generally involves moving your feet...
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 07:28 PM
Friday

...unless you are in a wheelchair. That ain't dancing

DENVERPOPS

(12,708 posts)
38. It was reported that all the soldiers
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 08:02 PM
Friday

behind him were Hand Picked........no "fatties", and only ones showing allegiance to the MAGAot and voting Republican............

When he plays YMCA and dances to it.....he must not understand the significance of that song, and the guys who sang it......LOLOLOLOL

Figarosmom

(6,394 posts)
45. Some of those cheers have to be a soundtrack
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 10:08 PM
Friday

There were not enough people there to make that much noise. He was jerking around to empty bleachers.

Response to progree (Original post)

14. At some point TACO will want "his" Secret Service to dress in pagentry uniforms.
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 05:04 PM
Friday

1970, President Richard Nixon, inspired by the ceremonial pageantry he’d seen during European state visits, decided to revamp the uniforms of the White House Secret Service Uniformed Division. The result? A $16,000 wardrobe of white double-breasted tunics trimmed with gold braid, black pants with white stripes, and stiff, peaked hats called shakos—topped off with gold ceremonial shoulder cords.

The press and public were not impressed. Critics compared the look to everything from toy soldiers to doormen at a fancy hotel. One official even said the guards were “greeted with gales of laughter” when they first appeared.

The backlash was swift, and Nixon eventually scrapped the uniforms. In a final twist of irony, they were sold to a local high school marching band for $10.



electric_blue68

(21,927 posts)
15. It looks like the roses are still there At least what Mel left..
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 05:05 PM
Friday

"just" paving over the grass.
Which I hate. It's supposed to be a green respite!
😬

malthaussen

(18,137 posts)
16. Poor Eddy.
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 05:14 PM
Friday

Eddy was a famous White House rose who was featured in a few Doonesbury strips many years ago.

-- Mal

sinkingfeeling

(55,649 posts)
19. As an American citizen, I'm a part owner of the White House. Time to sue the bastard for destroying federal
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 05:48 PM
Friday

property. Wish I had the money t file class action suit.

22. it will be such a pleasure to see the jackhammers breaking up that pavement when Trump is finally gone and out
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 06:36 PM
Friday

walkingman

(9,425 posts)
27. The man has no class - gold tchotchkes, he stinks (everyone says).....
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 07:01 PM
Friday

calls people names, racist, homophobic, xenophobic , Islamophobic, Christian Nationalist - simply deplorable and yet almost 80M people like him.

Paladin

(30,811 posts)
29. Classic trumpian action:
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 07:09 PM
Friday

Take a beautiful, historically significant place, destroy it, and replace it with something profoundly vile and ugly.

I've seen whorehouses with more class and taste than trump's gold-plated White House. And it gets worse by the day.

Rhiannon12866

(236,995 posts)
60. Breaks my heart, too
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 06:41 AM
Saturday

It was bad enough when they messed around with the Rose Garden when they were last there, I remember it was a national story at the time. But now they're thinking of paving it over and building some kind of "ballroom?" Aren't there plenty of rooms for entertaining international visitors already in the White House?? That Rose Garden is historic and means a lot to people. And how much is this new addition going to cost the American people??

progree

(12,020 posts)
56. According to the article, the Rose Garden was established in 1913 by Ellen Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 02:08 AM
Saturday
The Rose Garden ( https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-rose-garden-pictures-1961-2021-1604230 )was established in 1913 by Ellen Wilson, the wife of President Woodrow Wilson. It was later redesigned by President John F. Kennedy to serve as a space for outdoor ceremonies. It has since become a regular venue for various events, including receptions, press briefings, and other occasions.

3catwoman3

(26,922 posts)
33. "...and it's an inconvenience for women in high heels."
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 07:40 PM
Friday

So maybe don't wear stilettos when you know you are going to the Rose Garden?

Deuxcents

(22,782 posts)
40. That "excuse" or whatever, is insulting.. chivalry is not an attribute he's familiar with
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 08:02 PM
Friday

niyad

(124,586 posts)
62. Funny that this had not been a problem until the trumpford wives and their
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 07:45 AM
Saturday

8" stilettos. Almost 60 years, after Jackie's redesign, without a problem. I used to wear 4" heels, but never if I was going to be on grass.

turbinetree

(26,262 posts)
43. Maybe its time to place the baby trump balloon up in front of the white house.........the one sitting on a toilet.......
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 09:26 PM
Friday

because this is probably the place he gets these ideas to just spend taxpayer money while at the same time trying to kick 13.5 million people off healthcare.........and thinking about all those woman in heels sinking in grass..........he really is a psychopath.........

Figarosmom

(6,394 posts)
44. Well, since malania tore it all up
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 10:01 PM
Friday

And put in cheap Iceburg white roses it wasn't much of a rose garden anyway.

What she tore up were many roses sent here during WWII to protect the species in including the Peace Rose. I sure hope the landscapers she hired to redo the garden knew what they were tearing out and took them for themselves.

yellow dahlia

(2,576 posts)
46. The bulldozing of the Rose Garden is emblematic of all the other destruction he wreaks on our Democracy...
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 10:09 PM
Friday

and all the other foundational elements of this country.

Yeh! - what's it going to be called now? Is he going to pave it over in gold and call it the gold garden.

Money and power...and no taste. (Just like the make over to the oval.)

Diraven

(1,416 posts)
48. He wants to turn the WH into a country club
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 10:31 PM
Friday

I'm pretty sure this is what's going to happen. Members (all billionaires and foreigners of course) will be required to buy $100 million of his memecoin instead of paying dues, so he can claim they're not paying bribes when of course they are.

LudwigPastorius

(12,728 posts)
52. He's running out of room to bury ex-wives?
Fri Jun 20, 2025, 11:45 PM
Friday

Maybe he's going to put up a Tomb of the Unknown Trophy Wife.

lostnfound

(17,024 posts)
55. I don't really care, do you?
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 01:43 AM
Saturday

My attachment to symbols of American idealism and power went up in smoke in November.
Too many in the US make a mockery of it, both the technocrats/oligarchs and the racist regressive base.

kkmarie

(204 posts)
57. My first thought was a staging area of sorts
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 04:40 AM
Saturday
https://imgur.com/a/TVoShgM


Something like hitler used. And on the gaint new flag poles? A trump flag possibly?

Please if someone could let me know how to post pictures videos. A few months back someone answered thus for me but I have forgotten.
I'd prefer the photo instead of the link.

progree

(12,020 posts)
67. Here is the imbedded image displayed
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 08:30 AM
Saturday


How I got it:

I went to your link https://imgur.com/a/TVoShgM
I right-clicked on the picture and chose "Copy image link" from the right click menu.
Then I pasted it (Control V) to the above.

The image's URL looks like:
ttps://i.imgur.com/KkvmYRZ.jpeg

except pre-pend an "h" to it so that it starts out https

Oopsie Daisy

(5,922 posts)
61. It will return. It's just one more thing to add to the list that needs to be repaired, rebuilt, reconstituted, redone *
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 07:38 AM
Saturday

* reconstituted, renovated, reclaimed...

It's really quite obvious that he only cares about SHITTING on everything that's beautiful, traditional, historic, sacred. We'll have a LOT to clean up.

Botany

(74,505 posts)
65. He is doing this just to be a prick
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 08:00 AM
Saturday

And he is bat shit crazy too.



This didn’t need his help.

68. Is he going to put red lights on the top of the poles for Marine One?
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 08:37 AM
Saturday

Is there even enough clearance to land a chopper safely?

Why the f*ck does he need two giant poles where none are required?

He's not going to get his deposit back when he's evicted.

eppur_se_muova

(39,188 posts)
72. There is already a flagpole on the roof of the WH -- at one point (WWI) there were two ...
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 02:23 PM
Saturday


That flag, seen in the pic, flies higher than the ones on the new flagpoles .... waste, fraud, and abuse, anyone ?

Hekate

(98,232 posts)
71. I guess motoring over to Arlington Cemetery to spit on JFK's grave was too much trouble
Sat Jun 21, 2025, 02:06 PM
Saturday

progree

(12,020 posts)
79. tRump standing on a board in the grass in the Rose Garden
Sun Jun 22, 2025, 03:16 AM
Yesterday
https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-dementia-fears-leg-1201968
The Mirror 6/11/25 (yes, I know it's not the most reliable source
Dementia fears raised as mysterious lump spotted in Trump’s pants
Donald Trump went viral on Tuesday after hawkeyed critics spotted an odd flare in his pant leg as he stood in the White House's Rose Garden, with many people speculating that it may be a catheter

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»White House Rose Garden b...